Kirjahaku

Here, Jay Ruby - a founder of visual anthropology - distills his 30-year exploration of the relationship of film and anthropology. Spurred by a conviction that the ideal of an anthropological cinema has not even remotely begun to be realized, Ruby argues that ethnographic filmmakers should generate a set of critical standards analogous to those for written ethnographies. Cinematic artistry and the desire to entertain, he argues, can eclipse the original intention, which is to provide an anthropological representation of the subjects. The book begins with analyses of key filmmakers (Robert Flaherty, Robert Garner and Tim Asch) who have striven to generate profound statements about human behaviour on film. Ruby then discusses the idea of research film, Eric Michaels and indigenous media, the ethics of representation, the nature of ethnography, anthropological knowledge and film, and lays the groundwork for a critical approach to the field that borrows selectively from film, communication, media and cultural studies. Witty and original, yet intensely theoretical, this collection is a major contribution to the field of visual anthropology.

Here, Jay Ruby - a founder of visual anthropology - distills his 30-year exploration of the relationship of film and anthropology. Spurred by a conviction that the ideal of an anthropological cinema has not even remotely begun to be realized, Ruby argues that ethnographic filmmakers should generate a set of critical standards analogous to those for written ethnographies. Cinematic artistry and the desire to entertain, he argues, can eclipse the original intention, which is to provide an anthropological representation of the subjects. The book begins with analyses of key filmmakers (Robert Flaherty, Robert Garner and Tim Asch) who have striven to generate profound statements about human behaviour on film. Ruby then discusses the idea of research film, Eric Michaels and indigenous media, the ethics of representation, the nature of ethnography, anthropological knowledge and film, and lays the groundwork for a critical approach to the field that borrows selectively from film, communication, media and cultural studies. Witty and original, yet intensely theoretical, this collection is a major contribution to the field of visual anthropology.

The World of Francis Cooper is a biographical exploration of Francis Cooper, who practiced photography as an aesthetic recreation while a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania. It offers an unusual perspective on turn-of-the century American photography by examining the work of an unknown avocational photographer.Cooper was a native Philadelphian of sufficient means to indulge in several recreations: competitive shooting, bicycling, and photography. From 1896 to 1901 he traveled to the Pennsylvania countryside to hunt, fish, bicycle, court his wife, and photograph landscapes, genre farm scenes, and the spoils of his hunts. In the city he took snapshots of his family, and of his friends and colleagues, as well as candids and genre studies of the romance of city life. Largely confined to this five-year period, his work in photography ranged over several photographic practices from landscapes clearly attributable to the naturalistic school to pictorialist cityscapes.The World of Francis Cooper represents a social approach to photographic history and argues for a cultural understanding of photography as social practice. Reflecting on the life and work of Francis Cooper is a way to deepen our understanding of the place photography has assumed in the lives of many Americans while at the same time having the pleasure of seeing his wonderful photographs.