Paul Henley
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 75391 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Paul Henley |
| NOMBRES | Paul |
| APELLIDO | Henley |
| FIRMA | HENLEY P |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Manchester |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4694-2787 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 52 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 161 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 52 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1980 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2024 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
Moser, Brian (1935–2023)
Brian Moser was a key figure in the development of a distinctively British ethnographic film format through his role as the founding series producer of the long‐running and much copied Granada Television strand, Disappearing World (1970–93). The format of this strand broke with previous presenter‐led television formats, aiming instead to provide greater access to the voice of the film subjects. It was also innovative in that every film was typica…
Making Sense of an Unfinished Masterpiece
Heinz Förthmann (1915-1978) was one of the most talented film-makers in the history of Brazilian ethnographic film. But the films that he made at the height of his powers, in the 1950s, now exist only in degraded or fragmentary form, or have been lost entirely, and for this reason, he has not received the recognition that he deserves. Following a review of Förthmann’s career, and on the basis of an incomplete rough-cut lacking both soundtrack and…
Applications of Anthropology
At the beginning of the twenty-first century the demand for anthropological approaches, understandings and methodologies outside academic departments is shifting and changing. Through a series of fascinating case studies of anthropologists’ experiences of working with very diverse organizations in the private and public sector this volume examines existing and historical debates about applied anthropology. It explores the relationship between the…
The Making of an Ethnographic Film of the Hopi Snake Dance in August 1898
This article was prompted by a plate published in the foundational text, Principles of Visual Anthropology, which purports to show a film being made by Thomas Edison of the Snake Dance as performed in the Hopi village of Orayvi, Arizona, in August 1898. This footage is now lost but could still have been one of the first ethnographic films ever made—depending on how one defines “ethnographic.” Here, contesting its attribution to Edison, we seek to…
Préface pour anthropologie et cinéma
Trop souvent dans la littérature de langue anglaise l’histoire du film ethnographique est présentée principalement comme un projet anglo-saxon qui va de A.C. Haddon, grâce à Robert Flaherty, Margaret Mead et Gregory Bateson, à John Marshall, Robert Gardner, Ian Dunlop, Timothy Asch ainsi que David et Judith MacDougall. Dans ce grand récit autour de l’épanouissement du cinéma ethnographique, Rudolf Pöch, Franz Boas, Jean Rouch, Asen Balikci et, pl…
Préface for anthropologie et cinéma
Too often in the English-language literature, the history of ethnographic film is presented as predominantly an Anglo-saxon project, running from A.C. Haddon through Robert Flaherty, Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, to John Marshall, Robert Gardner, Ian Dunlop, Timothy Asch and David and Judith MacDougall. In this epic account of the great ascent of ethnographic cinema, Rudolf Pöch, Franz Boas, Jean Rouch, Asen Balikci and, more rarely, Christo…
Translations, an autoethnography
Translations is a personal history written at the intersection of colonial anthropology, creative practice and migrant ethnography. Renowned postcolonial scholar, public artist and radio maker, UK-born Paul Carter documents and discusses a prodigiously varied and original trajectory of writing, sound installation and public space dramaturgy produced in Australia to present the phenomenon of contemporary migration in an entirely new light. Rejecti…
How to Subtitle Ethnographic Films
Subtitling has become a standard feature of ethnographic film across the world, yet many neophyte filmmakers underestimate the amount of time to dedicate in post-production to resolving the many issues this process poses. These relate in part to technical matters of form and timing, and in part to more editorial questions arising from the need to offer effective translations within the strict time constraints. Although some literature exists on t…
Beyond observation
Beyond Observation is structured by the argument that the 'ethnographicness' of a film should not be determined by the fact that it is about an exotic culture - the popular view - nor because it has apparently not been authored - a long-standing academic view - but rather because it adheres to the norms of ethnographic practice more generally. On these grounds, the book covers a large number of films made in a broad range of styles across a 120-y…
Beyond Observation
The evolution of Observational Cinema
This chapter considers the MacDougalls’ films after they left the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in the late 1980s. Since then, they have produced fifteen films, representing almost half their total oeuvre to date. While they have continued to draw upon key elements of Observational Cinema, they have also expanded this praxis through experimentation and innovation. One important difference with the earlier work is that only two films …
The subject as author
From the 1970s, cheap lightweight video camcorders underpinned the making of films by indigenous subjects. Often referred to as 'indigenous media', a term first coined by Faye Ginsburg in the 1980s, these works are now of a highly variable character, ranging from feature-length fiction films to modest informational videos. This chapter confines itself to a review of a limited number of indigenous media projects in which anthropologists have playe…
Robert Gardner
This chapter begins with an overview of Gardner’s career. This was of similar duration to that of Rouch, but very different in that Gardner made films in many different parts of the world, never staying long enough in any one place to learn the local language or get to know his subjects well. It is argued that this was only one of several respects in which Gardner’s praxis was at odds with certain central tenets of anthropology as an academic dis…
Participatory perspectives
The five projects discussed in this final chapter were all carried out on the basis of a participatory film-making praxis and in the course of extended immersive ethnographic fieldwork. As such, they are offered as a range of possible models for future ethnographic film-making. The first project concerns a series of films made for a cultural mapping project aimed at establishing the land rights of a displaced San people in South Africa. The secon…
Records, not movies
When John Marshall filmed the San people of the Kalahari Desert in the 1950s and Timothy Asch filmed the Yanomami in Amazonia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, little re-enactment was required to film traditional ways of living. However, these film-makers also struggled to reconcile the perceived need to produce objective film records with the requirements of making a film with a narrative structure, that is, a ‘movie’. To circumvent this dilemm…
Reflexivity and participation
In the mid-1970s, the terms ‘reflexivity’ and ‘participation’ became commonplace in discussions of English-language ethnographic film. Their emergence was associated with the recognition that the production of objective film records was an illusion and that the participation of the film-maker in the lives of the subjects should be acknowledged in an openly ‘reflexive’ manner. This primarily epistemological issue was overlain by the more ethical a…
Sonic ethnography
Sonic ethnography explores the role of sound-making and listening practices in the formation of local identities in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. The book uses a combination of text, photography and sound recording to investigate soundful cultural performances such as tree rituals, carnivals, pilgrimages, events promoting cultural heritage and more informal musical performances. Its approach demonstrates how in the acoustic domain tr…
FromVuesto Ethnofiction
This article offers an overview of the very substantial body of films of ethnographic interest produced by French filmmakers working in Africa before Jean Rouch arrived on the scene. It identifies a number of genres. For the first two decades this work largely took the form of short films of reportage, mostly shot in North and West Africa by anonymous operators working for newsreel agencies. Then, in the 1920s, longer and technically more complex…
The Authoring of Observational Cinema
Based on a series of conversations with Colin Young that have taken place over more than thirty years, this article explores how a certain set of practical and institutional circumstances, in combination with a series of philosophical and aesthetic ideas about the nature of cinema, first led to the emergence over the late 1960s and early 1970s of the approach to ethnographic filmmaking that would become known as “Observational Cinema.” Although i…
Avant Jean Rouch
En développant sa propre écriture filmique qui ne ressortit que peu à la tradition du cinéma français dit « ethnographique » tourné en Afrique subsaharienne, Jean Rouch s’affirma exemplairement comme un auto-didacte. Cela n’est certainement pas dû à son manque de connaissance et de reconnaissance d’une telle tradition, comme en témoigne son importante contribution au catalogue de l’Unesco des Films ethnographiques sur l’Afrique noire, paru en 196…
Modes of Oral Testimony in Ethnographic Film / Formas De Testemunho Oral Em Filmes Etnográficos
Este artigo parte do pressuposto de que o uso do termo "entrevista" para descrever performances verbais oferecidas em resposta aos questionamentos ou solicitações dos cineastas é restritivo e até mesmo enganoso quando empregado no contexto da realização de filmes etnográficos. Por isso, sugere-se o termo "testemunho oral". Ademais, considera-se uma ampla variedade de formas nas quais o testemunho oral tem sido usado no filme etnográfico e em gêne…
The First Ethnographic Documentary? Luiz Thomaz Reis, the Rondon Commission and the Making of Rituais e Festas Borôro (1917)
Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-28T04:04:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0\n Previous issue date: 2017-01-01
Recreating First Contact
Cine etnográfico
A pesar del entusiasmo de la generación pionera de antropólogos por la cámara como medio para la investigación etnográfica, el cine se quedó al margen del proyecto antropológico durante casi todo el curso del siglo pasado. Sin embargo, una combinación de adelantos tecnológicos y cambios recientes en los paradigmas teóricos en la antropología ofrece ahora la posibilidad de una mayor integración del cine dentro de la investigación etnográfica. El p…
From Documentation to Representation
Although the seven films made by Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, based on footage shot in Bali and New Guinea during 1936–39, are identified as a landmark in various histories of ethnographic film, these films have been the subject of remarkably little analysis in the anthropological literature. In contrast, their photographic work has received much more extended commentary. Making a close reading of the films in their final edited form, this …
The Headman and I
This article explores the inherent ambiguity and ambivalence experienced by anthropologists during fieldwork. Focusing on the relationship between the researcher and a key informant, often termed the "headman," the authors analyze the power dynamics, shifting identities, and emotional complexities that emerge. They argue that these ambiguous and ambivalent feelings, rather than being obstacles to research, are integral to the fieldwork process an…
Ethnographic film
Despite the enthusiasm of the pioneer generation of anthropologists for the camera as a means of ethnographic research, filmmaking remained marginal to the anthropological project for most of the course of the last century. However a combination of technological developments and recent theoretical paradigm shifts within anthropology generally now offers the possibility of greater integration of filmmaking into ethnographic research. This article1…
The Panare
Recent Themes in the Anthropology of Amazonia
This article reviews recent anthropological work on Amazonia, focusing on themes of history, exchange, and alterity. It argues that a significant shift has occurred in Amazonian anthropology, moving away from synchronic and structuralist analyses towards more historically grounded and processual approaches. This shift is evident in studies of indigenous systems of exchange, which now emphasize the historical embeddedness of exchange relations and…
Oral Literature of the Trio Indians of Surinam
This article presents a selection of Trio Indian myths and tales from Surinam, South America, translated and annotated by the authors. The narratives explore themes of creation, transformation, heroism, and social relations, reflecting the Trio worldview and cultural values. The collection includes stories about the origins of humans and animals, the adventures of culture heroes, and the importance of kinship and reciprocity. The authors provide …
The Authoring of Observational Cinema
Based on a series of conversations with Colin Young that have taken place over more than thirty years, this article explores how a certain set of practical and institutional circumstances, in combination with a series of philosophical and aesthetic ideas about the nature of cinema, first led to the emergence over the late 1960s and early 1970s of the approach to ethnographic filmmaking that would become known as “Observational Cinema.” Although i…
The First Ethnographic Documentary? Luiz Thomaz Reis, the Rondon Commission and the Making of Rituais e Festas Borôro (1917)
Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-28T04:04:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0\n Previous issue date: 2017-01-01
Thick Inscription and the Unwitting Witness
Due to the ability of a cine-camera to record more than the filmmaker realizes at the moment of filming-a quality referred to here as "thick inscription"-it is often possible, many years later and in the light of subsequent comparative ethnography or changing historical circumstances, to reinterpret the ethnographic significance of film footage in terms that go well beyond those imagined by the original filmmaker. In the course of a detailed anal…
British Ethnographic Film
Paul Henley is a specialist on Amazonia and is currently an RAI Leverhulme Training Fellow at the National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield. An earlier and considerably shorter version has appeared in a German publication (see bibliography), which was reviewed in RAIN 62. Perhaps the most remarkable fact about the recent history of ethnographic film-making in Britain is that any high-quality films have been made at all. For Britain is uni…
Sonic ethnography
Sonic ethnography explores the role of sound-making and listening practices in the formation of local identities in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. The book uses a combination of text, photography and sound recording to investigate soundful cultural performances such as tree rituals, carnivals, pilgrimages, events promoting cultural heritage and more informal musical performances. Its approach demonstrates how in the acoustic domain tr…
From Documentation to Representation
Although the seven films made by Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, based on footage shot in Bali and New Guinea during 1936–39, are identified as a landmark in various histories of ethnographic film, these films have been the subject of remarkably little analysis in the anthropological literature. In contrast, their photographic work has received much more extended commentary. Making a close reading of the films in their final edited form, this …
Seeing, Hearing, Feeling
Sound that is neither verbal nor musical not only adds a rich experiential dimension to the communication of the way of life that is typically the subject of an ethnographic film but also “thickens” the implicit ethnographic description. In the most imaginative hands, it can even be used to make interpretative comments on the reality portrayed. This article proposes that “visual” anthropologists reach beyond the limitations implicit even in the n…
Spirit possession, power, and the absent presence of Islam
In the history of ethnographic documentary, the late Jean Rouch's film Les maîtres fous is widely regarded as initiating a new phase in the development of the genre. It concerns the hauka spirit-possession cult of Songhay-Zerma migrants from the middle Niger river who had come to work in Accra, then the capital of the British colony of the Gold Coast, West Africa. When released in 1955, the film was both banned by the colonial authorities and sim…
Documenting Ourselves
The Effect of Observation Focus on Evaluations of Choral Rehearsal Excerpts
Seven rehearsal excerpts demonstrating research-identified teaching characteristics were presented to university music majors ( N = 176) for ratings. Subjects watched either a videotape focused on the teacher or another focused on students. Numerical ratings from 1 to 10 were assigned by subjects to 10 categories of student and teacher behavior: time use, musicianship, accuracy of presentation, student attentiveness, student performance quality, …
Le récit dans le film ethnographique
Dans cet article, on propose que les anthropologues cinéastes ont généralement été réticents à discuter les stratégies narratives qu'ils ont utilisées pour structurer leurs films. Il est suggéré que cela peut être dû au fait que de reconnaître que leur textes filmiques ont été manipulés à des fins narratives servirait à miner la « rhétorique empirique » qui continue à soutenir la réalisation de films ethnographiques, même si celle-ci peut être un…
Applications of Anthropology
At the beginning of the twenty-first century the demand for anthropological approaches, understandings and methodologies outside academic departments is shifting and changing. Through a series of fascinating case studies of anthropologists’ experiences of working with very diverse organizations in the private and public sector this volume examines existing and historical debates about applied anthropology. It explores the relationship between the…
FromVuesto Ethnofiction
This article offers an overview of the very substantial body of films of ethnographic interest produced by French filmmakers working in Africa before Jean Rouch arrived on the scene. It identifies a number of genres. For the first two decades this work largely took the form of short films of reportage, mostly shot in North and West Africa by anonymous operators working for newsreel agencies. Then, in the 1920s, longer and technically more complex…
Anthropological Film-Making
The Making of an Ethnographic Film of the Hopi Snake Dance in August 1898
This article was prompted by a plate published in the foundational text, Principles of Visual Anthropology, which purports to show a film being made by Thomas Edison of the Snake Dance as performed in the Hopi village of Orayvi, Arizona, in August 1898. This footage is now lost but could still have been one of the first ethnographic films ever made—depending on how one defines “ethnographic.” Here, contesting its attribution to Edison, we seek to…
How to Subtitle Ethnographic Films
Subtitling has become a standard feature of ethnographic film across the world, yet many neophyte filmmakers underestimate the amount of time to dedicate in post-production to resolving the many issues this process poses. These relate in part to technical matters of form and timing, and in part to more editorial questions arising from the need to offer effective translations within the strict time constraints. Although some literature exists on t…
The Aboriginal Invention of Television in Central Australia, 1982-1986
The Headman and I
This article explores the inherent ambiguity and ambivalence experienced by anthropologists during fieldwork. Focusing on the relationship between the researcher and a key informant, often termed the "headman," the authors analyze the power dynamics, shifting identities, and emotional complexities that emerge. They argue that these ambiguous and ambivalent feelings, rather than being obstacles to research, are integral to the fieldwork process an…
The Panare
The 1984 RAI Film Prize
Decade of Destruction
British Ethnographic Film
Paul Henley is a specialist on Amazonia and is currently an RAI Leverhulme Training Fellow at the National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield. An earlier and considerably shorter version has appeared in a German publication (see bibliography), which was reviewed in RAIN 62. Perhaps the most remarkable fact about the recent history of ethnographic film-making in Britain is that any high-quality films have been made at all. For Britain is uni…
Anxious Pleasures
Animal Myths and Metaphors in South America
This article examines animal myths and metaphors in South America, focusing on their role in shaping cultural understandings of the relationship between humans and the natural world. It explores how animal symbolism is used to express complex social and cosmological concepts, drawing on ethnographic examples from various indigenous societies. The authors argue that these myths and metaphors not only reflect ecological knowledge but also serve to …
Perestroika and the history of the revolution
It was not clear until after the January 1987 Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU that the writing of history was to have an important role to play in the general process of restructuring Soviet society. Until then emphasis had been on discipline at work, dealing with corruption and the need to make the existing economic system work more efficiently. At the Plenum Gorbachev presented a much broader vision of what perestroika would entail,…
Cuyagua
The Aboriginal Invention of Television in Central Australia, 1982-1986
Oral Literature of the Trio Indians of Surinam
This article presents a selection of Trio Indian myths and tales from Surinam, South America, translated and annotated by the authors. The narratives explore themes of creation, transformation, heroism, and social relations, reflecting the Trio worldview and cultural values. The collection includes stories about the origins of humans and animals, the adventures of culture heroes, and the importance of kinship and reciprocity. The authors provide …
Filming Ritual
A round-table discussion introduced and chaired by David MacDougally and based on the films screened during the symposium organized by Colette Piault, "Regards sur les Societes Europeennes" (Looking at European Socieites) in Budapest, July5-11,1987. This edited version was prepared by Paul Henley on the basis of a transcript from an audio recording
Anthropological Film-Making
Film reviews
Ethnomusicology in the Alps The Wedding of Susanna and Josef, 16 mm, 27 mins., 1986 Glattalp, 16 mm, 30 mins., 1986 Yootzing and Yodelling, 16 mm, 50 mins., 1987 Head Voice, Chest Voice, 16 mm, 23 mins., 1987 All films by Hugo Zemp, produced by CNRS Audiovisuel and the Ateliers d'Ethnomusicologie, Geneva. Available in English, French and German; also in videotape formats. The Song of Harmonics, 16 mm, 38 mins., 1990, by Hugo Zemp, produced by CNR…
Recent Themes in the Anthropology of Amazonia
This article reviews recent anthropological work on Amazonia, focusing on themes of history, exchange, and alterity. It argues that a significant shift has occurred in Amazonian anthropology, moving away from synchronic and structuralist analyses towards more historically grounded and processual approaches. This shift is evident in studies of indigenous systems of exchange, which now emphasize the historical embeddedness of exchange relations and…
Cross‐Cultural FilmmakingA Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos
Cross‐Cultural Filmmaking. Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos. Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Taylor. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997
The principles of visual anthropology reconsidered
Paul Hockings, ed. Principles of Visual Anthropology. 2nd edition. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1995. xi + 562 pp. $59.95 hdbd., $29.95 paper
Looking Two Ways
Film reviews
Survivors of the Rainforest. Director and Camera, Andy Jillings; Consultant Anthropologist, Jacques Lizot; Sound, David Goodale; Editor, John Mister; Narration, Graham Townsley; Producer, Chris Curling (CSL Films for Channel 4); Distributor (video only): enquiries to Royal Anthropological Institute, 50 Fitzroy St., London W1P 5HS, tel: +44(171) 387–0455, fax: 383–4235, email: [email protected]. 1994, 52 mins, color. Language: original Yanom…
The Effect of Observation Focus on Evaluations of Choral Rehearsal Excerpts
Seven rehearsal excerpts demonstrating research-identified teaching characteristics were presented to university music majors ( N = 176) for ratings. Subjects watched either a videotape focused on the teacher or another focused on students. Numerical ratings from 1 to 10 were assigned by subjects to 10 categories of student and teacher behavior: time use, musicianship, accuracy of presentation, student attentiveness, student performance quality, …
Documenting Ourselves
Ethnographic film
Despite the enthusiasm of the pioneer generation of anthropologists for the camera as a means of ethnographic research, filmmaking remained marginal to the anthropological project for most of the course of the last century. However a combination of technological developments and recent theoretical paradigm shifts within anthropology generally now offers the possibility of greater integration of filmmaking into ethnographic research. This article1…
Spirit possession, power, and the absent presence of Islam
In the history of ethnographic documentary, the late Jean Rouch's film Les maîtres fous is widely regarded as initiating a new phase in the development of the genre. It concerns the hauka spirit-possession cult of Songhay-Zerma migrants from the middle Niger river who had come to work in Accra, then the capital of the British colony of the Gold Coast, West Africa. When released in 1955, the film was both banned by the colonial authorities and sim…
Seeing, Hearing, Feeling
Sound that is neither verbal nor musical not only adds a rich experiential dimension to the communication of the way of life that is typically the subject of an ethnographic film but also “thickens” the implicit ethnographic description. In the most imaginative hands, it can even be used to make interpretative comments on the reality portrayed. This article proposes that “visual” anthropologists reach beyond the limitations implicit even in the n…
The Adventure of the Real
Art (35 obras) · Sociology (32 obras) · History (24 obras) · Anthropology (20 obras) · Ethnography (17 obras) · History (16 obras) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (15 obras) · Media studies (14 obras) · Visual arts (14 obras) · Aesthetics (12 obras)