Roundtable - Executive Session Status Awarded

Sponsored by: AAA Executive Program Committee

Of interest to: Practicing and Applied Anthropologists

Primary Theme: The Visual, Truth and reconciliation

Secondary Theme: Teaching

(4-1045) Celebrating 50 Years of Ethnographic Film: Documentary Educational Resources and The Society for Visual Anthropology

For the last 50 years Documentary Educational Resources (DER) has become synonymous with the conveyance of anthropological knowledge through ethnographic media. Originally the brainchild of ethnographic cineastes John Marshall and Timothy Asch, the catalogue reflects the organization’s central role in establishing and promoting visual anthropology as a sub-discipline and a pedagogical tool. As part of the 50 year celebration of DER, the Society for Visual Anthropology will convene a panel of legendary ethnographic media creators including John Bishop, Sarah Elder, and Allison Jablonko to discuss their ethnographic media projects and work with DER over the years. Jake Homiak will provide an overview of this work from the vantage of the Smithsonian Institution where he has been an archivist for decades. Alice Apley will provide context as director of DER. Kathryn Ramey and Matthew Durington will provide additional context as academics in visual anthropology. This panel will also provide a critical overview of the half-century history of ethnographic film and visual anthropology that runs parallel to the existence of DER. From the work of Robert Gardner to David MacDougall and dozens of other filmmakers and media creators, DER has been at the center of the academic dissemination both in the anthropological classroom and the viewing public for ethnographic film.

Organizer(s)

• Matthew Durington

  Towson University

Chair(s)

• Alice Apley

  Executive Director
  Documentary Educational Resources, Inc.

Discussant(s)

• Kathryn Ramey

  Professor
  Emerson College

Presenter(s)

• Sarah Elder

  Professor of Film
  SUNY, University at Buffalo

• Allison Jablonko

  Independent Researcher

• John Bishop

  Media-Generation

• John Homiak

  Smithsonian Institution