Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY: THE SOCIAL LIVES OF IMAGESANTH 3521/6591 (Fall Semester 2016)

Dr. Joshua A. BellThursday 1 – 3.30 pm

Cooper Room, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), 10th and Constitutionbellja@si.edu || 202.633.1935

Office hours Thursday 10-12 pm or by appointment (NMNH Rm 318)A cultural practice with no fixed outcome, making images occupies an intriguing place in our world. Not only do many of us make images daily but we are surrounded by them and consume them on smart phones, computers and television screens, in books and magazines, and on clothing, buildings and museums. We also exchange them through social media, e-mail and postcards. Ubiquitous in our social lives, too often we take images, and their making, for granted. In this seminar we will explore what still and moving images do in different cultural contexts, their social lives as they circulate and how they are transformed as objects and a technology in diverse settings. Examining vision as part of our culturally embodied sensorial experience, we shall also explore methodological questions emerging from visual anthropology, and the long history of image making in the discipline. Analyzing these cultural understandings, methods and histories the seminar will develop tools for deconstructing our own ways of seeing and thus engaging the world. We will draw on the rich photographic and film collections of the National Museum of Natural History to examine these issues, and the seminar will culminate in a visually based project.

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

Learning Outcomes By the end of this seminar students will: be conversant about the various ways people from around the world have historically engaged

with, and continue to use still and moving images in the formation of their world and social relationships;

be conversant about the role of image making within the discipline of anthropology, and the major theories that have emerged around images and their making

develop an awareness of different ways in which still and moving images are integral to constructions of the person and thus aspects of our identity (memory, gender, etc).

have developed more critical speaking, reading, image making and writing skills have developed skills to engage with archival and museum collections

Assignments 1. Class Participation and Engagement with the Readings – 10% Students will participate in each

seminar discussion – this means you will: (1) send me by noon on the day of the seminar, three questions you have about the readings. These are questions meant to demonstrate you have done the readings and need to be about content and or theoretical issues that the readings raise. (2) It means that you will each be expected to speak in class. This means saying reasonably well thought-out things that demonstrate that you have done and thought about the assigned readings. I strongly advise you to, use the questions you have sent me in the seminar.

2. Photo Essay - 10% Each student will take three to five photographs with two pages (1.5 spacing) of accompanying text to explore some aspect of our readings from Week 2. This is your chance to think creatively about the materiality of images, the technology through which they are made and the social lives of images in the world. DUE September 22nd.

3. Blog Project - 15% Each student will choose a collection from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Anthropological Archives (NAA) and or the Human Studies Film Archive (HSFA) and write a three page paper (not including images; 1.5 spaces) about the materials selected (drawing, photograph, or film). Please consult the list of materials at the end of the syllabus (Appendix I), as well as examples (Appendix II). Taking your cue from Edwards and Hart (2004), the aim of this piece is to think through the scale and scope of the selected material and then to situate it within the wider discipline of anthropology. Drawing on the seminar’s readings please consider the following when writing:

a. Biographical Details – who made the material(s)?; when and why?; how did the materials come to the NAA?

b. Forensic Details – what does the selected collection document? What are the properties of the selected material (i.e., what is it made of)?

c. Significance – what is important about this collection for academics, communities of origins and the wider public? What does this collection or object say about society at the time?

Each piece needs to have 3 to 6 images associated with the narrative about the collection using ideas that you have gathered from the seminar’s readings (please consult examples in Appendix II). This blog post is a chance for you to conduct some work on archival material, and I encourage you to be creative with your use of images. In keeping with any paper you will need to have citations.

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

Working with the staff of the NAA/HSFA we will edit the post as needed to make it publishable on one of the Smithsonian’s Blogs. Please note that you will have to schedule at least one visit to the NAA/HSFA to better acquaint yourself with the collection you select. DUE October 13.

4. Leading Seminar Discussion – 15% Each student will work in pairs to lead a seminar discussion (Weeks 7 to 11). This does not mean that you will summarize the readings for the seminar, rather working together you will prepare a set of discussion questions that will be the basis for the seminar discussion which you will lead. These questions are to be e-mailed to the entire seminar ahead of time or brought to the seminar. Please feel free to create a power-point, hand-out or bring something to help lead the discussion. I encourage you to be creative and critical.

5. Final Project – 50% Each of you will do a final research project on a topic of your choice within the broad remit of the seminar: a particular image or film, a collection at the Smithsonian, an exhibit, a media campaign, role of images in social media, a cultural pactice in which images play a role. I am more than happy to work with you to select a topic. Having chosen a topic, using the readings for the seminar, as well as other sources, you will research and produce a final project that critically examines the topic in light of what we have discussed in the seminar. This final project can take of three forms:

a. Research paper – this paper can take the form of standard research paper (15 pages, 1.5 spacing and without bibliography or images) or be more akin to an extended photographic essay (10 pages with no less then 20 images taken by you, maximum of 35). See examples here:

i. https://culanth.org/photo_essays ii. http://photo.journalism.cuny.edu/week-5/

b. A ten minute film with a four page reflection on the making of and content of the film (1.5 spacing and without bibliography included). This may seem an easier option but the success of this project necessitates you knowing how to use film and still image editing software.

c. Regardless of your choice on October 27 before seminar you will email me an outline of your final project. This outline will provide in a minimum of two pages a sketch of the aim, scope, and method of your intended paper and include a working bibliography of relevant sources. While you can draw on materials from this syllabus, I expect that you will have done research as to what exists on the given topic. This is worth 15% of your final grade on the paper. No late outlines will be accepted. To have a successful paper I strongly advise you meeting with me to discuss your project as the semester unfolds.

d. For our final two seminars (December 1 and 8) each student will give a short presentation of their project (15 minute). While I don’t expect your project to be finished at this point, I do expect a coherent and well-argued presentation. These presentations are designed to create a forum for group feedback about your topic, which will improve your final projects. They will count be 10% of your final paper grade.

The final paper is due on December 17 (before 12 midnight).

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

General guidelines for written assignments: Please submit assignments on time. Late work will not be accepted. All written assignments should be typed in standard fonts (12 point Times, Palatino, or Calibri are recommended) with 1-inch margins. Please follow the citation/bibliographic format used in Current Anthropology. Please email me all your.

I strongly advise you to read Orwell’s 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language” before you begin this and the other written assignment. Good writing takes time and thought: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

6. Attendance to this seminar is mandatory and absences must be accompanied with a valid excuse (e.g. death in the family, documented illness, natural disaster). If you need to attend a religious holiday please let me know 2 weeks in advance of the date.

Other InformationEmail Policy: Email is a necessary evil, but it creates a false sense of social relations and allows us to become increasingly alienated from our colleagues and students. Please make every effort to call me or come by my office hours if you have questions about this seminar, and its assignments.

Required texts are available for purchase at GWU bookstore and will be made available in the GWU library. Assigned articles and chapters will be available via e-mail as PDFs on blackboard. The readings are divided between required and further reading. Further readings are intended to help provide further context for the seminar.

Strassler, Karen. 2010. Refracted Visions: Popular Photography and National Modernity in Java. Durham: Duke University Press.

Meyer, B. 2015. Sensational Movies: Video, Vision and Christianity in Ghana. Oakland: University of California Press.

Pandian, Anand. 2015. Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation. Durham: Duke University Press.Mazzarella, William. 2013. Censorium: Cinema and the Open Edge of Mass Publicity. Durham: Duke

University Press.

Expectations: I expect you to come to the seminar having done the readings and ready to actively discuss the topics at hand.

Week 1 (Sept 1) Orientations – The Social Lives of Images During this initial meeting we will discuss the syllabus and seminar’s goals. Please come having read the short piece.

Reading Garnett, J. & S. Meiselas. 2007. 'On the Rights of Molotov Man: Appropriation and the art of

context.' Harper's Magazine February, 53-8.

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

Week 2 (Sept. 8) Histories I: Bursting ‘this prison-world asunder’ The invention of photography (c. 1839) and film (c. 1889) enabled new ways of representing and seeing the world. Within this seminar we will look at the implications of these inventions theoretically, what new affordances each technology enabled and what questions they raised about modernity. As part of this discussion we will discuss the agency of images - what they want from us.

Required Reading Benjamin, W. 2005. [1936]. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Pp. 217-252.

New York: Random House. 35 pagesAvailable here: https://www.marxist.org.reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Edwards, Elizabeth. 2012. "Objects of Affect: Photography Beyond the Image." Annual Review of Anthropology 41:221-234. 13 pages

Gershorn, Illana, and Joshua A. Bell. 2013. "Introduction: The Newness of New Media." Culture, Theory and Critique 54 (3): 259-264. 5 pages

Further Reading Mitchell, WJT. 2005. “What do Pictures Want?” In What Do Pictures Want? The Lives and Loves of

Images. Pp. 28-56. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 28 pages Pinney, C. 2012. "Seven Theses on photography." Thesis Eleven 00(0): 1-16. 16 pages Taussig, M. 2009. “What Do Drawings Want?” Culture, Theory & Critique 50(2-3): 263-274. 11 pages Knappett, C. 2002. “Photographs, Skeuomorphs and Marionettes: Some Thoughts on Mind, Agency

and Object.” Journal of Material Culture 7(1): 97-117. 20 pages Keane, Webb. 2003. 'Semiotics and the social analysis of material things.' Language and Communication

23:409-25.

Week 3 (Sept. 15) Histories II: Archives and Material Things* New technologies of image-making fed into the burgeoning of museums and archives in the Global North during the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. Within this seminar we will focus on images as material-visual things that circulated and came to rest in institutions, and what issues arise as they move into and through these sites.

*We will be making a trip to the Smithsonian’s Museum Support Center (MSC) which entails taking a shuttle out to suitland. The shuttle leaves at 1pm. If this posses a difficulty for people we can collectively take the metro.

Required Reading Edwards, E. & J. Hart. 2004. 'Mixed Box: The Cultural Biography of a Box of 'Ethnographic'

Photographs.' In Photographic Objects Histories: On the Materiality of Images (eds) E. Edwards & J. Hart, Pp. 47-61. London: Routledge. 15 pages

Scherer, Joanna C. 1992. "The Photographic Document: Photographs as Primary Data in Anthropological Inquiry," pp. 32-41 in Anthropology and Photography. Elizabeth Edwards, ed. New

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Haven: Yale University. 9 pages Wintle, P. 2013. “Moving Image Technology and Archives.” In Bell, JA., Brown, A. and R.J. Gordon,

eds. 2013. Recreating First Contact: Expeditions, Anthropology and Popular Culture. Pp. 31-40. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. 9 pages

Sorenson, E.R. 2003 [1975] “Visual Records, Human Knowledge, and the Future.” In P. Hockings (ed) Principles of visual anthropology Pp. 493-506. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 13 pages

Further reading Sekula, A. 1986. "The Body and the Archive." October 39: 3-64. 61 pages Buckley, Liam 2005 “Objects of Love and Decay: Colonial Photographs in a Postcolonial Archive.”

Cultural Anthropology 20(2): 249–70. 21 pages Kopytoff, Igor. 1986. The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process. In The Social

Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by A. Appadurai. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press. PAGES

Poole, Deborah. 1997. “Introduction.” Vision, race, and modernity : a visual economy of the Andean image world. Pp. 1-22. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. 22 pages

Film September 16. Mbuti Pygmy Film Study (1954; 30 min) by Colin Turnbull and Frances Chapman

DEADLINE FOR SELECTING BLOG PROJECT

Week 4 (Sept. 22) Histories III: Anthropology, Expeditions and Image Making Following Pinney, we will consider the “parallel histories” of anthropology and image making. Specifically we will discuss the ways in which images formed the basis for evidence for anthropology in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, and the rise of popular image-making associated with expeditions in the 1920s and 1930s.

Required Reading Pinney, C. 1992. 'The Parallel Histories of Anthropology and Photography.' In Anthropology and

photography 1860-1920 (ed.) E. Edwards, Pp 74-95. New Haven: Yale University Press. 21 pages Edwards, E. 2001. “Re-enactment, Salvage Ethnography and Photography in the Torres Strait.” In

Raw Histories: Photographys, Anthropology and Museums. Pp. 157-182. Oxford: Berg. 25 pages Gordon, R.J., Brown, A. and JA Bell 2013. “Expeditions, their Films and Histories: An Introduction.”

In Bell, JA., Brown, A. and R.J. Gordon, eds. Recreating First Contact: Expeditions, Anthropology and Popular Culture. Pp 1-30. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. 30 pages

Further reading Geismar, H. 2014. “Drawing It Out.” Visual Anthropology Review 30: 97–113. 16 pages Morton, C. 2009. ‘The Initiation of Kamanga: Visuality and Textuality in Evans-Pritchard’s Zande

Ethnograpy.’ In Photography, Anthropology and History: Expanding the Frame edited by C. Morton and E. Edwards. Pp. 119-142. Surrey: Ashgate. 23 pages

Schneider, A. 2011. "Unfinished Dialogues: Notes toward an Alternative History of Art and Anthropology." Pp. 108-136. In Banks, M. and Ruby, J. (eds) Made to be seen: perspectives on the history of visual anthropology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 28 pages

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

Glass, A. 2009. “Frozen Poses: Hamat’sa dioramas, recursive representation, and the making of a Kwakwaka’wakw icon.” In C. Morton and E. Edwards (eds) Photography, Anthropology, and History: Expanding the Frame. London: Ashgate Press. Pp 89-116. 27 pages

Film Sept 23. The Feast (1970; 29 min) and The Ax Fight (1975; 30 min) by Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon

PHOTO ESSAY DUE

Week 5 (Sept. 29) Histories IV: Practices of Observation and the Reflective Turn If photography faded as an explicit method in anthropology, the 1960s saw the rise of film-making as a ‘new’ method. Thinking through developments from the 1950s to the 1980s, we will consider this shift and look at the new faith placed in film, and the subsequent crisis of representation that emerged from its use through a focus on Rouch, Marshall, Gardner, Asch and the MacDougalls.

Required Reading Mead, M. 2003 [1975] "Visual Anthropology in a Discipline of Words." In P. Hockings (ed) Principles

of visual anthropology Pp. 3-12. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 8 pages Tomaselli, KG. and Homiak, JP. 1999. “Powering popular conceptions: The !Kung in the Marshall

family expedition films of the 1950s.” Visual Anthropology 12(2-3): 153-184. 21 pages Rouch, J. 2003. “The Camera and Man.” In Ciné-ethnography. Edited and translated by Steven Feld.

Pp. 29-46. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press. 17 pages Barbash, I. and Taylor, L. 1996. Reframing Ethnographic Film: A “Conversation” with David

MacDougall and Judith MacDougall. American Anthropologist, 98: 371–387. 15 pages Gardner, R. “Rushes: Forest of Bliss.” And “Camera Visions.” In Impulse to Preserve: Reflections of A

Filmmaker. Pp. 278-305; 365. New York: Other Press. 28 pages

Further reading Asch, T and Asch, P. 2003 [1975] "Film in Ethnographic Research." In P. Hockings (ed) Principles of

visual anthropology Pp. 335-360. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 37 pages Durington, M and Ruby, J. 2011. "Ethnographic Film." In Banks, M. and Ruby, J. (eds) Made to be

seen: perspectives on the history of visual anthropology. Pp. 190-208. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 18 pages

Henley, P. 2007. “Seeing, Hearing, Feeling: Sound and the Despotism of the Eye in “Visual” Anthropology.” Visual Anthropology Review, 23: 54–63. 9 pages

Ruby, J. 2000. “The Ethics of Image Making; or, ‘They’re Going to Put Me in the Movies. They’re Going to Make a Big Star Out of Me.” In Picturing Culture: Explorations of Film & Anthropology. Pp. 137-150. Chicago: University of Chicago. 13 pages

Film Sept. 30 N!ai: The Story of a !Kung Woman (1980; 59 mins) by John Marshall

Week 6 (Oct. 6) Ways of Seeing I: Returns & Reversals Influenced by the reflexive shift of anthropological filmmakers, and confronted with the sheer amount of material in archives and museums anthropologists have increasing striven to understand what

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intercultural legacies these materials partake in. Parallel to this move, indigenous communities are increasingly using media to assert their sovereignty and negotiate their identities and heritage. Within this seminar we will examine the possibilities, ethics and issues that emerge when returning historial materials to communities of origin, as well as what occurs when the camera is reversed.

Required Reading Bell, Joshua A. 2008. 'Promiscuous Things: Perspectives on Cultural Property Through Photographs

in the Purari Delta of Papua New Guinea.' International Journal of Cultural Property 15 (2):123-139. 16 pages

Tsinhanahjinne, H.J. 2003. 'When Is a Photograph Worth a Thousand Words?' In Photography's Other Histories (eds) C. Pinney & N. Peterson, Pp. 40-52. Durham: Duke University Press. 13 pages

Ginsburg, F. 2002. “Screen Memories: Resignifying the Traditional in Media.” In Ginsburg, F., Abu-Lughod, L. and B. Larkin, eds. Media Worlds: Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain. Pp. 39- 57. Berkeley: University of California Press. 18 pages

Turner, T. 1992. “Defiant Images: The Kayapo Appropriation of Video.” Anthropology Today 8(6):5-16. 11 pages

Further reading Weiner James F. 1997. ‘Televisualist anthropology: representation, aesthetics, politics.’ Current

Anthropology 38 (2): 197–235. 37 pages Bell, J.A., Kim Christen, and Mark Turin. 2013. “Introduction: After the Return.” Museum

Anthropology Review 7 (1-2):1-21. 20 pages Christen, Kim. 2011. "Opening Archives: Respectful Repatriation." American Archivist 74:185-210.

25 pages

Film Oct. 7 Trobriand Cricket (1975; 53 min) Gary Kildea and Jerry Leach

Week 7 (Oct. 13) Ways of Seeing II: Political Subjects and Communities in Java Reading Strassler’s ethnography of photography and photographic practices in Java, we will explore the particularities of photography as a medium through which history, identity and community are articulated. We will also think about the different cultural understandings of this technology and its object that Strassler’s work raises.

Required Reading Strassler, Karen. 2010. Refracted Visions: Popular Photography and National Modernity in Java.

Durham: Duke University Press.Focus on Introduction (1-28), Chapters 1 & 2 (29-122), and Chapter 6 (251-294)

Further reading/viewing Azoulay, A. 2013. “Potential History: Thinking Through Violence.” Critical Inquiry 39(3): 548-574. Pinney, C. 2003. “Notes from the Surface of the Image: Photography, Postcolonialism, and

Vernacular Modernism.” In Pinney, C. & N. Peterson. eds. Photography's other histories. Pp 202-221. Durham: Duke University Press.

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Film Oct 14 Hermógenes Cayo/Imaginero (The Image Man) (1970; 52 mins) Jorge Prelorán

BLOG PROJECT DUE

Week 8 (Oct. 20) Ways of Seeing III: Sensational Movies This week we will examine the vernacularization of video technology in Ghana through Meyer’s ethnography. In the process we will consider the ways in which this medium intersects with politics, and people’s religious and people’s world views.

Required Reading Meyer, B. 2015. Sensational Movies: Video, Vision and Christianity in Ghana. Oakland: University of

California Press. Focus on Introduction (1-38), Chapters 1 & 2 (39-115); and Chapters 4 & 5 (153-222).

Further reading Behrend H. 2003. Photo magic: photographs in practices of healing and harm in East Africa. Journal

of Religion in Africa 33 (Fasc 2):129–45 Sprague, S. 2003. "Yoruba Photography: How the Yoruba See Themselves." In C. Pinney and N.

Peterson eds. Photography's other histories. Pp. 240-260. Durham: Duke University Press. 20 pages.

Film Oct 21. Photo Wallahs (1991; 60 min) David and Judith MacDougall

Week 9 (Oct. 27) Ways of Seeing III: Censorship In this seminar we will turn our attention to Indian film censorship as articulated in Mazzarella’s ethnography. Thinking through the banning of images we will think about what images do in mass-mediated societies and what the attempts to control the publics that they help foster does and cannot do.

Required Reading Mazzarella, William. 2013. Censorium: Cinema and the Open Edge of Mass Publicity. Durham: Duke

University Press. Focus on Introduction (1-28), Chapters 1, 2 (29-155).

Further Reading Latour, B. 2010 "What is Iconoclash? Or Is There a World Beyond the Image Wars?" In On the

Modern Cult of the Factish Gods. Pp. 67-98. Durham: Duke University Press. 21 pages Pinney, C. 2001. “Piercing the Skin of the Idol.” In Pinney, C., and Thomas, N. eds. 2001. Beyond

aesthetics: art and the technologies of enchantment. Pp 157-180. Oxford: Berg.

Film Oct 28 Forest of Bliss (1986; 90 min) Robert Gardner

RESEARCH PAPER OUTLINE DUE

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

Week 10 (Nov. 3) Ways of Seeing IV: CreationStaying within South Asia, in this seminar we will discuss Panadian’s ethnography of Tamil cinema and filmmakers, and through it examine his call for “an ecology of creative process” both as manifest among his interlocutors as well as in his textual practices.

Required Reading Pandian, A. 2015. Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation. Durham: Duke University Press. Focus

on Chapters 1-10 (1-150), and Chapter 19 (267-284).

Further Reading Ingold, T. 2012. “Toward an Ecology of Materials.” Annual Review of Anthropology 41: 427-442. Hallam, E. and Ingold, T. 2007. “Creativity and Cultural Improvisation: An Introduction.” In Hallam,

T. and Ingold, T., eds. Creativity and Cultural Improvisation. Pp. 1-24. Oxford: Berg.

Film Nov 4 A Weave of Time (1986; 60 min) Susan Fanshel

Week 11 (Nov. 10) Ways of Seeing V: Digital & Social Media In this seminar we will turn to the new affordances and attending anxieties that digital, mobile and social media technologies are enabling and creating globally.

Required Reading Deger, J. 2016. "Thick Photography." Journal of Material Culture 21(1): 111-132. 21 Pages Miller, D. 2015. “Photography in the Age of Snapchat.” Anthropology & Photography. Volume 1.

London: RAI. 22 Pages https://www.therai.org.uk/images/stories/photography/AnthandPhotoVol1B.pdf

Walton, S. 2016. “Photographic Truth in Motion: The Case of Iranian Photoblogs.” Anthropology & Photography. Volume 4. London: RAI. 24 Pages http://www.therai.org.uk/images/stories/photography/AnthandPhotoVol4.pdf

Further Reading Madianou, M. & Miller, D. 2013. “Polymedia: Towards a new theory of digital media in

interpersonal communication.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 16(2): 169–187. 18 pages Horst, H. 2012. “New Media Technologies in Everyday Life.” In Horst, H. and Miller, D. eds. Digital

Anthropology. Pp. 61-79. London: Bloomsbury. 18 Pages Manning, P. and Gershon, I. 2013. “Animating interaction.” HAU 3(3): 107-37. 30 Pages

Film Nov 11. Dancing with the Incas (1992; 58 min) John Cohen

Week 12 (Nov. 19) No Seminar – American Anthropology Association Meetings Please use this week to catch up your reading and to work on your final presentations.

Week 13 (Nov. 26) Thanksgiving – No Seminar

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

Week 15 (Dec. 1) FINAL PRESENTATIONS

Week 16 (Dec. 8) FINAL PRESENTATIONS

Week 17 (Dec. 17) FINAL PROJECT DUE

APPENDIX I – Collections for Blog Post George Waite Lantern Slides - George L. Waite was a photographer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In

the spring of 1930, when he was about 60 years old, Waite volunteered as photographer in the spring of 1930 for the sixth Beloit College Logan Museum of Anthropology Algerian expedition, led by Alonzo W. Pond. His primary role was to provide photographic and cinematic documentation of the excavation activities and daily lives of the 20 expedition members. The collection consists of 47 lantern slides, some hand colored, that appear to have been made to illustrate a talk by Waite ‐entitled, “Desert Sheiks.” Images show Algerian nomadic people, their camps, and activities including animal husbandry, Algerian towns and villages, and views of the Algerian countryside. There are also several images of the Beloit College expedition camp and participants, including one photograph of George Waite taping up film cans.

Ezra Zubrow aerial photos - During the summer of 1967 or 1968, Ezra B. W. Zubrow was a graduate student at the University of Arizona and a field foreman at the Southwestern Archaeological Expedition, led by Paul S. Martin of the Field Museum of Chicago. After a flyover by United States Air Force U2 airplaines in which the planes took aerial pictures, Zubrow contacted the Air Force to obtain views of the archeological site and received these photographs in response. Dr. Ezra Zubrow is now an archeologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Buffalo and Senior Research Scientist at the National Center for Geographic Information Analysis Laboratory, which he helped found. Aerial photographs of Rio Grande Pueblos made circa 1967 from 60,000 feet by a U2 aircraft, commissioned by Ezra Zubrow. Pueblos photographed include Acoma, Cochiti, Ildefonso, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, San Juan, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Taos, Tesuque, Zia, and Zuni.

Napoleon Bonaparte photographs - The collection is comprised of nine photographic albums (two are duplicates) of Omaha, Chinese, Kalmyk, Hindu, Hottentot, Somali and Surinamese people that were assembled by Prince Roland Bonaparte and published in a series of albums entitled the “Collection Anthropologique du Prince Roland Bonaparte”. Many of the photos were undertaken at various international exhibitions of the late nineteenth century: the Kalmyk and Omaha photographs were executed in Paris at the Jardin d’Acclimatation (1884) and the Hindu, Somali, Surinamese and Chinese photographs were taken during the 1883 Colonial Exposition in Amsterdam. All of the albums, except for the volume on Surinamese peoples, is comprised of albumen prints. The Surinamese album includes photographs, collotypes, imprints, and text. Each album, except for those of the Hottentot and Surinamese people, is accompanied by an inventory produced by Bonaparte that lists the name, age, job and family lineage of each person.

Robert T. Smith papers (unprocessed) – This collection was generated by Smith while he was in the US Army stationed in the Pacific, specifically Guadalcanal, Bougainville (Piva-Torokina) and New Guinea in 1943-44. He stayed after the end of the war in New Guinea working to recover the remains of downed aircraft crews, and became fluent in Tok Pisin. The collection includes: One

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sketch book (100 pages) - 8x10 notebook, and has lots of drawings of people and drawings, some watercolors, flora and fauna (few loose pages); One painting; Pages of written/type-written folktales; letters in pidgin - stack of three inches (8x10; 11x 14).

Winifred Smeaton Thomas papers – Dr. Winifred Smeaton Thomas (1903-1987) was an anthropologist whose main focus was the Near and Middle East. In 1932, she traveled to Baghdad, Iraq, where she lived with the family of Ali Jawdat. Thomas conducted anthropological fieldwork throughout her time in Iraq. In 1934, Thomas took part in the Field Museum Anthropological Expedition, which traversed the country to collect anthropometric and other data on various ethnic groups in and around Iraq. Also in 1934 and 1935, she taught an English class at the Central High School for Girls in Baghdad. Thomas earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1940. From 1943 to 1945, she worked as a Research Analyst for the U.S. War Department, Military Intelligence Division. Her papers comprise her professional and research materials, in particular documenting her time in Iraq, 1932-1935. The collection includes writings, publications, correspondence, field diaries, photographs, passports, and class notes from Thomas's time as a student and later as a professor. It includes Thomas's photographs, writings, and research from the Field Museum Anthropological Expedition in 1934 and her time with the Jawdat family in Baghdad.

Steinberg Expedition to Samoa – In 1873 the US Department of state sent Colonel A. B. Stienberger as special agent to the Samoan Islands to report of the state of region. The 68 watercolors from this expedition are signed by Moody, and explore the expedition.

Faces of Change Series (1979-83) The series consists of 26 films of thematic similarity across 5 different geographic/cultural areas. Funded by the National Science Foundation, these films were made during the heyday of ethnographic filmmaking, and during the Cold War. All titles are cataloged in SIRIS (or shortly will be). Can be keyword searched under “Faces of Change”You could focus on one of these series, or on one of the films: 5 films from Kenya created by David MacDougall and James Blue

o Boran Herdsmeno Boran Womeno Harambee: Pull Togethero Kenya Boran Io Kenya Boran II

5 films from Afghanistan created by David Hancock and Herb Di Gioiao Afghan Nomads: The Maldaro An Afghan Villageo Afghan Womeno Naim and Jabaro Wheat Cycle

6 films from Bolivia created by Hubert Smith and Neil Reichlineo Andean Womeno The Children Knowo Magic and Catholicismo Potato Planterso The Spirit Possession of Alejandro Mamanio Viracocha

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

5 films from “China Coast” (Soko Islands) created by George Chang, Richard Chen and Norman Miller o China Coast Fishingo Hoy Fok and the Island Schoolo The Island Fishpondo Island in the China Seao Three Island Women

5 films from Taiwan created by Richard Chen and Frank Tsaio Chinese Farm Wifeo People are Many, Fields are Smallo A Rural Cooperativeo They Call Him “Ah Kung”o Wet Culture Rice

HSFA has extensive documentation including study guides, reviews, promotional information and student essays on these films that can be consulted.

Those creators still living may be available for interviewing (and it would be great to have interviews to supplement this collection)

o David MacDougallo Herb Di Gioiao Hubert Smitho Norman Millero Richard Cheno Neil Reichline

Long Bow Collection (88.5) consists of 5 edited films that were originally created for television, but they havesunk into obscurity. One could focus on the entire collection and or one of the films: 5 Edited films are cataloged in SIRIS

o All Under Heaven, 1982 (88.5.4)o Stilt Dancers of Long Bow Village, 1979 (88.5.2)o Small Happiness: the Women of a Chinese Village, 1982 (88.5.3)o To Taste a Hundred Herbs: Gods, Ancestors and Medicine in a Chinese Village, 1982

(88.5.5)o First Moon, 1987 (88.5.6)

Sandra Nichols Collection. Sandra is a cultural geographer who produced several films per the below. She could be interviewed. Titles are cataloged in SIRIS

o Maragoli, 1976 (2012.5.5) filmed in Kenyao The Fountains of Paradise, 1984 (2012.5.3), filmed in Sri Lankao The Fragile Mountain, 1982 (2012.5.1), filmed in Nepalo An African Recovery, 1988 (2012.5. 8) filmed in Niger (Sahel) (Youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xunDuo-ODSI) We have paper records documenting these films

Land Divers of Melanesia. HSFA has the Kal Muller film project, 1971 (75.1.3) shot on the Pentecost Island from which Land Divers of Melanesia was edited. HSFA also has a more

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Visual Anthroplogy: The Social Lives of Images Joshua A. Bell

“experimental” film edited by the BBC from film shot by American James Bruce, Naghol, The Tower of Land Divers, 1983 (2002.17.13), also shot on Pentecost Island.

APPENDIX II – Examples of Blog Posts June 10, 2011; The Summer of Super 8; by Adrianna Link

http://si-siris.blogspot.com/2011/06/summer-of-super-8.html Feburary 12, 2012; Archivist Michael Pahn Free Associates Among the Smithsonian’s Music and

Film Collections http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/archivist-michael-pahn-free-associates-among-the-smithsonians-music-and-film-collections-95858822/?no-ist

September 6, 2012; Real-Life Sons (and Daughters) of Anarchy; by Amelia Raines http://si-siris.blogspot.com/2012/09/real-life-sons-and-daughters-of-anarchy.html

October 24, 2012; Changing Perspective; by Karma Foley (blog post on NMNH exhibit More Than Meets the Eye) http://si-siris.blogspot.com/2012/10/changing-perspective.html

March 13, 2013; The Sweetest Sound; by Daisy Njoku http://si-siris.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-sweetest-sound.html

May 10, 2014; Invitation to Voyage; by Mark White http://si-siris.blogspot.com/2013/05/invitation-to-voyage-travelogue-films.html

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