For an Anthropology of the Gaze: Ethnography, Representation, and the Construction of Audiovisual Data
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56247/qua.573Keywords:
Visual Anthropology, ethnographic film, Representation, methodology, audiovisual dataAbstract
This article offers a theoretical and methodological reflection
on the role of the image in anthropological research. First published in Revista de Dialectología y Tradiciones Populares (CSIC, 1998), the text explores the place of visual media within
anthropology and advocates for visual anthropology as an
open field of experimentation. The author examines the dual
dimension of the image—as ethnographic data and as cultural representation—revisiting the contributions of Mead, Bateson, Rouch, and MacDougall, among others. Ardèvol proposes a distinction between documentary ethnographic film and
exploratory ethnographic film, the latter integrating the camera into the research process and acknowledging its relational and performative nature. She also critiques the “traps” of
observational cinema and argues for a shared anthropology, in
which audiovisual production becomes part of the collective
construction of knowledge and of the critical reflection on the ethnographic gaze.
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References
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