Indiginous Ethnography

The ethnographic eye of the insider greatly varies from that of the traditional role of the ethnographer as outsider. We witnessed this first hand with the film Itam Hakim Hopi by filmmaker Victor Masayesva, an insider, or indigenous cosmology of the history of their people as told by a sagely elderly man. Ross Macaya (pictured) regals children with their rich oral history which Masayesva augments with rich natural imagery and dramatic reenactments of historical events. He is indirectly continuing the traditions of oral history though this modern video medium by granting the old man the privilege of talking in his own voice and sharing the rich history of his people.

Themes we saw in this film were addressed in Faye Ginsburg's Parallax Effect. Here she writes about the changing roles of ethnographers and the many hats they can wear in their creation of the process. Parallax itself means: "The apparent displacement of difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points." (64) Her article is an exercise in the politics of representation, especially of groups that have, for so long, been - pardon the pun - at the bottom of the totem pole. She wants to put the camera in the hands of the people who have been, for so long, on the other side of it. This stance is a progressive step in a more well rounded form of ethnography/social science.

Sands & Lewis also address this issue in their article Seeing With a Native Eye. The first version of Itam Hakim Hopi we saw was unsubtitled and undubbed. They address this here: "The language of the film is Hopi; the language of the images are Hopi. This is a Hopi film, made for a Hopi audience- No subtitles, no explanation, no interpretation. The audience of the film is expected to make the connections, interpret the images, understand the structure, much as the audience for a Hopi story is expected to provide context for the narrative. The audience, thus, actively participates." (388)

The origin myth of the Hopi still came through to me even watching the first version without any English in it. It was very engaging, surprisingly, to be on the outside trying to put all the pieces together in a coherent fashion. This was a great final film to see how far ethnography has come as a genre of film and understanding of culture. It had humble colonialist beginnings, but the doors have now been opened for self representation and active participation in understanding humanity as a whole.

The Role of the Gift Shop

Basics: My photo essay on the American Museum of Natural History is an ethnography dealing with spaces and the relationships people have within those spaces. The two spheres I am choosing to explore more deeply are the little enclaves of consumerism lurking about in the museum - the gift shop(s).

Gift shops have a much different function than the educational parts of the museum. They are a place where the reverence and quiet of the museum dissolve away into a much more chaotic, hands-on atmosphere. To get a real sense of how the various gift shops in the museum (there is at least one a floor) are similar and different, I went to everyone on the floor plan.

The main gift store is massive: it is 2 and a half floors on the


Main general changes in interaction:

-Bright florescent light Vs. low light of museum
-Expensive/price gouging (2 batteries= $4.32) Vs. Donation entry
-Toys Vs. Learning
-Collectibles commodified Vs. Rarities preserved in the museum
-No picture taking (other than myself) Vs. Strobe like effect of flashes in the museum
-Gift Shops individualized according to their placement in the museum.



Methodology: This is the floor plan of the museum. I went through and circled all the gift shops on each floor - planning out my journey.



































Here are some detailed pictures of the layout with some field notes written on them:











































































































































The main Museum Shop acted as a hub for all the other satilite shops. Here there was the most selection of merchandise over 2 and half floors of shopping space. Here is a break down of the space:

This is on the main floor of the museum and the upper floor of the shop. Here there were mainly goods for a person looking to spend more money. Top shelf items would be a good term used to describe them. There were lots of glass encased jewelry/rocks. Very clean and bustling with all types of people.









This is the staircase connecting the store's floors. The there were fossil decorations hanging and wall art.
























This is detail shot of the dinosaur spine railing on the staircase. No space is wasted in reminding you that you are in the American Museum of Natural History.



















This is on the bottom floor where it was mostly targeted on children. Down here it was a mess and the air was thick with screaming children cries. Lots of stuffed animals, kids books, and toys.





















This is the Water H20 special exhibit gift shop. It was the hardest to get to because unless you bought tickets to the special exhibit, you have to to walk around the long way through permanent collection. It should be noted however, that all the gift shops are open to all visitors. You can buy a t-shirt even if you didn't get a ticket.

This was a very small gift shop.





This is the planetarium gift shop. It was small but dense. There was a lot of high end stuff here, mostly centered around space and telescopes.











This is the Mythic Creatures gift shop. By far the least educationally oriented.














Case in point: DVD selection. All mermaid, dragon, and cartoon oriented. Little substance here. Everything costs almost twice what it should.

















Case in Point #2: This is a sugary, artificially flavored/colored candy at the shop.





















This is the Dinostore on the 4th floor. Here it was clear they were understaffed with little attention paid to the back room.














Stereotypical museum goods:
-Pencils
-Pens
-Bouncy Balls













Register encouraging membership/Little doo-dads.















Another gift shop staple (available in the Dinosaur area) is Freeze Dried astronaut ice cream.
























Polished rocks for sale.





















In case you get thirsty from all that learning and walking about you can purchase an over priced beverage.























Display case presenting the film Night at the Museum, and acknowledging the museum's role in the larger pop culture.





















Large dinosaur advertising the film.
























The gift shops are finished to the finest detail, here we see dino foot prints leading the way to more goodies.





















Conclusions: The gift shop appears to be the museum's financial bread and butter. It provides some necessary functions such as providing a snack or a drink throughout the cavernous museum. It also is a place that allows the children to be loud, touchy, and obnoxious after subduing themselves for the hallowed grounds of the museum. It was not uncommon to see parents utilitzing the time tested form of bribery to pacify their screaming child. It was interesting to make it a point to see every gift shop and by the end they had certainly lost all appeal to me personally- Unfortunately at the museum my batteries died and I was forced to purchase new ones for my camera at an extremely inflated price. The museum has thought of everything to emblazon with their logo/name - coffee mugs, pencils, frisbees, sweatshirts, t-shirts, ties, etc, etc.

The role of the gift shop appears to be on completely working in the museums terms and playing on the tourist or young child. It is certainly not the place to go looking for bargains. It it exsits on a different plane than the rest of the museum; one where everything is for sale. Perhaps though it is a necessary evil in keeping the museum donation funded and more readily available to the public.

Museum Culture

The American Museum of Natural History is one of those places that has come to define a moment in history as much it has the objects inside of it. There has been much examination and criticism of this space dedicated to the exploration of the realm of human culture, zoology, botany, astronomy, and history. It is a place that holds a special place in many New Yorkers hearts as an escape from the hustle bustle of the outside world (and the lobby) into a place of quiet wonderment - where visitors are able to get a closer view at the world around them and in many cases themselves.

In her essay, Teddy Bear Patriachy: Taxidermy in the Garden of Eden, New York City 1908-1936 Donna Haraway has presented the reader with an interesting view into the times and methods that this massive museum was created under. The museum is a veritable labyrinth of dioramas, display cases, little informational plaques, and mopey security guards. Haraway addresses this specific construct when she writes "A diorama is eminently a story, a part of natural history... The animals in the habitat groups are captured in a photographer's vision and a sculptor's vision. They are actors in a morality play on the stage of nature, and the eye is the critical organ." (Haraway 53) This generous acknowledgment of what the dioramas are acting out and the role they play in depicting the reality they are merely representational of quite commendable.

The Museum has also played such a large role in the contemporary image pool in the collective consciousness of NYC and the country. The name itself conjures up images of large marble pillars (pictured above), dinosaurs, exotic peoples, and even sensory details such as the smell of knowledge. The museum has taken on a muse like role inspiring people and taking on an almost mythical status as magical (Night at the Museum for example).

One other scholar who has put some time and words into trying to further understand the importance and power of this place is James Clifford, who in his book The Predicament of Culture, wrote an essay On Collecting Art and Culture further dissects what it means to organized, collect, and display objects. He writes in regards to collecting versus fetishizing, "Accumulation unfolds in a pedagogical, edifying manner. The collection itself - its taxonomic, aesthetic structure - is valued, and any priavte fixation on single objects is negatively marked as fetishism." (Clifford 219) The Museum of Natural History transcends this category of collecting because it is part of the museum's charm that it is readily available for the public to sift through, explore, and learn from for a bare minimum of cost.

The museum holds a very special place to me personally, because my parents used to take me there all the time as a child and I think it played a large role in me wanting to understand better those different from me. Despite the fact the museum may still house some antiquated notions of Western Culture's dominance over the world, it still holds many precious gems of information and deeper understanding of our world and the human condition.

BRIDGE & TUNNEL (2007)

Ethnographic Film Project






Credits:

Sebastiano
Christine
Harlan

Mararet Mead Film Fest 2007

This previous weekend - Nov. 9-11th, the 31st annual Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival took place at the Museum of Natural History and was a great venue for these contemporary visual ethnographies. The Museum itself was a buzz with its usual sunny Sunday crowds thirsting for knowledge, and it was great to work our way towards the screenings by weaving in and out of various wings, rooms, and people to finally get to the rather small festival.

The first film I attended was Judith MacDougall's The Art of Regret. This was a very intimate film directed, produced, and shot by MacDougall and her translator in China. The focus of the ethnography was on how the Chinese use, view, and bring meaning to photographs in their culture. It brought up many points about how China is very much at a cross roads in their understanding of the past and the future. In China it is very hard to get a hold of older photos as many were destroyed during their Cultural Revolution and this has taken a toll on many individual families who have lost their pasts. Also the film explores the new steps in technology and how these images can be manipulated or restored by the same digital means. The film leaves the audience wondering if photography is still an art of regret or if it has reached a new place/definition in its history.

The second film we sat in on (literally on the floor) was The Birthday by Daisy Mohr and Negin Kianfar. This film chronicled the lives of trans gendered people in Iran, a conservative Islamic government. I went into the film with much different expectations of what I would see, and enjoyed being surprised. While being very anti-homosexual, the Iranian government is actually quite supportive of their transgender folk who wish to change their sex, due to a strange Islamic loophole in the Koran. The stories of the people the filmmakers followed around were quite emotionally effective and poignant. Despite thinking that the Iranian government was very tolerant at first, I realized later that the only reason they favor this is because it reinforces their belief system and doesn't challenge the preestablished binaries that their culture lives in.

All in all I really enjoyed the Festival and liked seeing these fresh works as opposed to the classics we've been viewing in class. The stories of human struggle, history, and joy are always interesting and it was nice to see it all in such a setting of learning and knowledge.

Two References from Class:

This is the first 15 mins of the Gods Must Be Crazy (1980):




and

Joseph Campbell & the Power of Myth, below is the introduction to the show that ran on PBS.

Jean Rouch and Ethno-Fiction - Jaguar

Jean Rouch's film Jaguar (1967) almost seamlessly blends the realms of ethnographic realism with a fictitious parable of boys leaving and returning home men. The film follows it three protagonists from their homes in a small village in Niger, across Africa and to the Gold Coast of Ghana. Courtesy of Rouch the audience is also along for the ride.

A key part in understanding Rouch's interest in the region in the first place reveals itself in an interview conducted by fellow filmmaker and anthropologist Lucien Taylor. In the interview Rouch is unexpectedly candid about his work and autobiography. The filming of this movie was certainly not the first time he had ever been to Africa or Niger. During the Second World War Rouch was studying there to avoid the chaos in Europe and had this to say about the country he so delicately depicts in Jaguar: "Niger was an awful country - the climate was dreadful, the quinine tablets had ran out, and the mosquito bites could be very dangerous... there was absolutely nothing there - no gas, no cars, no clothe..." (Rouch 133)

Quite a surprising response from the way the film is handled - with its rhythm of walking, and emphasis on the simple grandeur of this odyssey - There is also a strong emphasis on a collaborative effort with those he was shooting. This is evident in the commentary of the film being lively and allowing his informants/subjects voice their opinions on what has happened to them.

Rouch's explanation of the inherent condition of ethnographic film is also quite important, "The situation is clearly this: the anthropologist has at his disposal the only tool (the partisipating camera) that offers him the extraordinary possibility of direct communication of the group he studies - the film he has made about them." (Rouch 8) This symbiotic relationship is present in Jaguar where the subjects and their journey is documented and the represented to the public at large. Rouch is saying that he and them are bonded through this film and their mutual hope that it comes out as good as possible.

I enjoyed the film and its over-all understanding of the rite of passage it was filming. Rouch's "jump-cutting" technique is a great stamp of authenticty on the project and adds a feeling of other-worldly-ness to landscape, while the men's story is all too familiar. Universality really shines through his camera lens.