Type of course

Course content

The course aims at giving the students basic research skills for utilising film and text as different means in the production and mediation of ethnographic research. During the course the students will produce a film and a written thesis for their final Master's Exam.

Returning from fieldwork, the students will start to prepare the writing of their exam paper and the editing of their exam film. In the analysis of their fieldwork material, the course aims at utilizing images and texts as different modalities for producing anthropological knowledge. The film footage will be utilized for ethnographic descriptions and analysis, where film and text mutually inform and inspire each other. During the autumn term, the students will work on systematising their empirical material for film and text purposes, and present a first draft of their thesis by the end of term. In the spring term the students will edit their exam film for 2.5 months, and finalize their written dissertation. Exam film and paper must be ready for evaluation by the end of May.

Objectives of the course

Students who have successfully completed the course should have the following learning outcomes:
Knowledge:

• To know how to plan and carry out a research process by use of audiovisual tools?
• To have knowledge of theoretical and methodological approaches within visual anthropology
• Basic research skills for utilizing film and text as different means for the production and mediation of ethnographic research
• To have knowledge of the theme and the geographic area of the chosen field of research

Analytical understanding:

• Be able to master social scientific analytical perspectives
• Be able to master an analysis of visual expressions
• Perform analysis on how film and text mutually inform, inspire and contradict each other
• Be able to develop a consistent analytical argument based on the fieldwork material

Skills and competences:

• Present an overview of fieldwork experiences through a field report and a sequence list
• Make an ethnographic film based on the fieldwork material
• Present a consistent analytical argument trough a written thesis
• Collaborative insights on how to present and receive feedback on own material, and equally to give critical and constructive feedback on fellow students? presentation in film & text seminars

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

Part of the teaching is organised in 'Film and text seminars' (approx 40 hours), combined with lectures (approx. 35 hours) . The students present work-in-progress, both film and texts, in compulsory seminars. Students receive individual supervision throughout the film and text-making process.

Course attendance is compulsory, i.e. only valid absences will be approved. A minimum presence of 80 % is required.

The course will be continuously evaluated by the Student-Staff-Liaison. Every spring semester, students and lecturers will be requested to submit an anonymous online evaluation as part of the Quality Assurance System of the M-VISC programme.

Assessment

Course requirements:
In the first semester you should deliver a sequence list, a field report, three papers exploring and expanding your ideas for your Master's Thesis and the final draft for the Master's Thesis.
The second semester you should deliver a written statement of the film idea.

The final exam consists of the following elements:
Film of maximun 30 minutes duration
Master's Thesis (50 pages +/-)
Oral examination (about 60 minutes)

The evaluation of the film and the thesis will count equally, and an oral exam will follow to adjust or confirm the evaluation.
The exam committee is composed of two persons, one external and one internal examiner.
Grading will be on the scale A to F, where F=Fail.

Recommended reading/syllabus

1,000 pages related to the thesis and selected by the student and confirmed by supervisor

Suggested reading

Bauman, Z. (1996), ¿From Pilgrim to Tourist - or a Short History of Identity¿, In: Hall, S. and P. du Gay (eds.), Questions of Cultural Identity, London: SAGE Publications, pp. 18-36.

Davies, C. A. (2008), ¿Part III. Mediations¿, In: Reflexive Ethnography. A guide to researching selves and others. 2nd edition, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 231-272.

Hall, S. (1996), ¿Who Needs ¿Identity¿¿, In: Hall, S. and P. du Gay (eds.), Questions of Cultural Identity, London: SAGE Publications, pp. 1-17.

Hirsch, E. (****), ¿Landscape: Between Place and Space. Introduction¿, In: Hirsch, E. and M. O¿Hanlon (eds.), The Anthropology of Landscape. Perspectives on Place and Space, Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. ***.

Holtzman, J. (2006), ¿Food and memory¿, In: Annual Review of Anthropology, 35, pp. 361-78.

Meyer, B. and P. Geschiere (1999), ¿Globalization and Identity: Dialectics of Flow and Closure. Introduction¿, In: Meyer, B. and P. Geschiere, P., Globalization and Identity: Dialectics of Flow and Closure, ***: Blackwell, pp. ***.

Ragazzi, R. (2006), ¿Memory, Resistance and Speaking the Self: Migrant Children¿s Accounts of a Shifted Place-Time¿, In: Postma, M. and P.I. Crawford (eds.): Reflecting Visual Ethnography - using the camera in anthropological research, Højbjerg: Intervention Press, pp. 186-211.

Waage, T. (2006), ¿Coping with Unpredictability: ¿Preparing for life¿ in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon¿, In: *** Navigation Youth Generation Adulthood. Social Becoming in an African Context, Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute, pp. 61-87.