A Place to Call My Own: Navigating Life in the Margins

<p>This thesis explores the lives of people who are, or have recently been, living on the streets in Wellington City. It examines what it means to ‘be and belong’ while living on the streets, the ways in which Streeties become existentially and discursively ‘homeless’, what it means to feel ‘at home’ in the world, and the ways Streeties attempt to make a life worth living on the margins. It does this by exploring the way Streeties carve out new spaces for living in the city, how they construct their sense of self, and the ways in which they hope for a better life. Many of these Streeties had been rejected from the traditional channels which distribute socially legitimate forms of personhood and meaning, while others had actively rejected these channels for impinging on their ability to live a dignified life. Consequently, they have had to carve out new ways of relating to themselves and asserting their autonomy. None of them, however, wanted their autonomy to come at the expense of others. In fact, their struggles for autonomy were also simultaneously struggles for belonging - their autonomy was never isolated or bounded, but was always related to a respect for their position as individuals within wider systems of relations that contained relatives, other Streeties, members of the public, special places, worldviews or spiritual beliefs. The thesis is part ethnographic film, and part written thesis. The film is included on a USB accompanying this thesis.</p>

A Place to Call My Own: Navigating Life in the Margins

<p>This thesis explores the lives of people who are, or have recently been, living on the streets in Wellington City. It examines what it means to ‘be and belong’ while living on the streets, the ways in which Streeties become existentially and discursively ‘homeless’, what it means to feel ‘at home’ in the world, and the ways Streeties attempt to make a life worth living on the margins. It does this by exploring the way Streeties carve out new spaces for living in the city, how they construct their sense of self, and the ways in which they hope for a better life. Many of these Streeties had been rejected from the traditional channels which distribute socially legitimate forms of personhood and meaning, while others had actively rejected these channels for impinging on their ability to live a dignified life. Consequently, they have had to carve out new ways of relating to themselves and asserting their autonomy. None of them, however, wanted their autonomy to come at the expense of others. In fact, their struggles for autonomy were also simultaneously struggles for belonging - their autonomy was never isolated or bounded, but was always related to a respect for their position as individuals within wider systems of relations that contained relatives, other Streeties, members of the public, special places, worldviews or spiritual beliefs. The thesis is part ethnographic film, and part written thesis. The film is included on a USB accompanying this thesis.</p>

Encountering the Goddess in the Indian Himalaya: On the Contribution of Ethnographic Film to the Study of Religion

This paper examines the benefits of ethnographic film for the study of religion. It argues that the exploration of gaps between colloquial descriptions of divinities and their practical manifestation in ritual is instructive of the way religious categories are conceptualized. The argument is developed through an analysis of selected scenes from the documentary AVATARA, a meditation on goddess worship (Śaktism) among the Khas ethnic majority of the Hindu Himalaya (Himachal Pradesh, India). Centering on embodiments of the goddess in spirit possession séances, it points to a fundamental difference between the popular depiction of the deity as a virgin-child (kanyā) who visits followers in their dreams and her actual manifestation as a menacing mother (mātā) during ritual activities. These ostensibly incongruent images are ultimately bridged by the anthropologically informed edition of the material caught on camera, illustrating the added advantage of documentary filmmaking for approximating religious experiences.

Writing and translating: the place of images in ethnography.

In this article I intend to debate the place that images occupy in ethnographic research and their methodological interest, which characterizes the conditions for the insertion of a visual character in the ethnographic narrative. According to Novaes (2014), images communicate and, even in silence, it is necessary to take into account what they have to say, especially in empirical work. In this way, the article will focus on photography as an instrument that opens in gestures and expressions for field research, to think about its use as a production technology for the construction of a visual ethnographic narrative, such as the experience of ethnographic cinema, which will be presented shortly. The hypothesis to be developed here is whether photography can operate as a translation of knowledge gathered in the field. For this, it is important to highlight the methodological interest in the use of the image from the researcher-photographer to the researcher-filmmaker and, as an example, the ethnographic film Les Maîtres fous (The Crazy Teachers), by Jean Rouch (1954) is analyzed.

Basic Approaches to Ethnographic Film Usage as a Method of Developing of Ethnocultural Competence of Future Journalists

The article discusses the features of the application of the methodology of visual education based on the use of ethnographic films in the organization of independent work of future journalists. On the basis of emic and ethical approaches, the main functions of ethnographic cinema are identified and described in the light of creating an image of ethnoculture in the process of training future journalists. The principles of representation of ethnoculture in the media sphere are considered, on the basis of which the ethnological motivation of future journalists is formed as the basis of ethnocultural competence.

Book Review: The Routledge International Handbook of Ethnographic Film and Video

Book review of The Routledge International Handbook of Ethnographic Film and Video edited by Phillip Vannini. It presents theoretical and empirical works on visual ethnography, applied consistently to mediatization studies.

KABARDINO-BALKARIA ON THE SOVIET SCREEN: “ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM” BY ANATOLY TERSKOI

Исследование выполнено в рамках проекта РНФ № 21-18-00518, https://rscf.ru/project/21-18-00518 В 1920-х гг. в СССР получило развитие производство так называемых «культур­фильмов» о народностях и территориях страны. Эти фильмы имели популярность у зрителей, являясь для многих единственной возможностью совершить кино-путе­шествие по «Шестой части мира». И одним из наиболее популярных мест для съем­ки краеведческих фильмов стал Кавказ – картины, снятые в регионе, становились буквальным открытием этой территории для населения столиц и центральных областей. Была у этого процесса и политическая подоплека – проект создания «Ки­ноатласа СССР» – альманаха о советизации многонациональной страны. В статье рассматриваются непредставленные в гуманитарном обороте теоретические разра­ботки, посвященные развитию этнографического кино, и апробированные на практи­ке в виде киноматериалов о Кабардино-Балкарии, созданные режиссером А.Н. Терским при активном участии научного консультанта Н.Ф. Яковлева. Экран немого кино прямо или косвенно отражал силуэты идеологии и политики, идентичности и куль­туры самобытной территории в период исторической трансформации (из окраины Российской империи в автономную область СССР). Теоретические опыты Терского яв­ляются вкладом в науку, будучи одними из самых ранних отечественных концепций по визуальной антропологии. А в его кинокадрах просматриваются региональные осо­бенности реализации центральных программ советского строительства. Наконец, кинофильмы о Кавказе явились и выгодным экспортным товаром, широко демонстри­ровались в прокате заграничных стран, формируя в общественном сознании образ многоукладной горной страны. Делается вывод о потенциале этнографического кино­документа как исторического источника, и как актуального ресурса для применения в широком спектре современных научно-творческих практик. In the 1920s in the USSR, the production of so called “cultural films” about the nationalities and territories of the country was developed. These films were popular with viewers, being the only opportunity for many to make a film journey through the “Sixth Part of the World”. And one of the most popular places for filming local history films was the Caucasus – the films made in the region became a literal discovery of this territory for the population of the capitals and central regions. This process also had a political background – a project to create a “Cinema-Atlas of the USSR” – an almanac about Sovietization of a multinational country. The article examines theoretical developments that have not been presented in the humanitarian circulation, devoted to the development of ethnographic cinema in the USSR, and tested in practice in the form of film materials about Kabardino-Balkaria, created by film-director A. Terskoi with the active participation of the scientific consultant N. Yakovlev. The silent film screen directly or indirectly reflected the silhouettes of the ideology and politics, identity and culture of a distinctive territory during the period of historical transformation (from the outskirts of the Russian Empire to the Soviet autonomous region). Terskoi’s theoretical experiments are a contribution to science, being one of the earliest domestic concepts of visual anthropology. And his footage reveals regional features of the implementation of the central programs of Soviet construction. Finally, films about the Caucasus were a profitable export commodity – they were widely shown at the box office in foreign countries, shaping in the public consciousness the image of a multi-layered mountainous country. The conclusion is drawn about the potential of the ethnographic film document as a historical source and as an actual resource for use in a wide range of modern scientific and creative practices.