Visual takes on dance in Java

This article addresses the questions of how performances have been represented in physical form (as verbal and visual texts) and of the role of indigenous concepts of performance. Rather than discuss historical examples of texts/products as others have done, I present some of my own "physical" forms of dance from my film and video work in Java. I argue that film is a valuable research tool as well as a mode of representing performance, with reference to the literature on the contribution of film/video to the development of cross-cultural understanding, in particular the writings of filmmaker David MacDougall (1995, 1997, and 1998).Issue title: Performance Literature I

Introduction

The articles in this second issue of Anthrovision range from well-established “modern classical” visual anthropology, such as participatory cinema in the tradition of Jean Rouch and David MacDougall, to art history and iconographic analysis, and to performance and the sensorium. Katia Ballacchino presents a methodological case for using video in ethnographic research. In her longitudinal study of Gigli, the patronal feast of St Paulinus in Nola, southern Italy, the camera documents the perfor..

Bartscherer, Thomas and Coover, Roderick eds, Switching codes Thinking through digital technology in the humanities and the arts

The editors of this volume are Rod Coover, an internationally renowned visual anthropologist and digital artist based at Temple University, and Thomas Bartscherer, who is well-known for his research at Bard and CNRS into digital infrastructures to support the humanities. This collaboration has produced a fascinating series of experimental interdisciplinary conversations about many aspects of computerization, from factors involved in creating searchable online research databases through to dig..

The Importance of Ethnographic Film/Video/Multimedia in the Development and Assessment of Anthropological Understanding

This descriptive account of a project from 2002-2003 entitled ‘Visual technologies and their assessment in undergraduate teaching and learning’ originated as presentation to the IUAES conference at Manchester University, 5-10 Aug 2013, to the panel ‘Establishing academic standards of evaluation for non-literary forms of representation in anthropology’. It presents findings based on a range of practical experiences in teaching and research over the past thirty years. During that time, I have pondered questions such as whether or not we should define ethnographic film, and what the criteria for ethnographic as opposed to documentary and/or art film should be. This account draws on the website and other the results of funded research into the assessment of undergraduate video and multimedia projects to discuss these issues and to argue for the importance of including narrative video projects for undergraduate assessment as well as the now ubiquitous power-point presentations.La description du projet « Technologies visuelles et leur évaluation dans un enseignement en licence entre 2002-2003 » a d’abord été présentée à la conférence organisée lors de l’IUAES à l’université de Manchester du 5 au 10 août 2013 puis lors du panel « Définition des standards académiques dans le cas de formes non littéraires de représentation en anthropologie ». Ce travail présente les conclusions tirées d’une série d’expériences pratiques tant en enseignement qu’en recherche qui ont eues lieu sur une période d’une trentaine d’années. Pendant ce temps, j’ai réfléchi aux questions soulevées par la nécessité de définir le film ethnographique et les critères appropriés pour préciser le caractère propre de l’ethnographique du documentaire ou encore du film d’art. Ce travail utilise le site Web et d’autres résultats de recherches financées dans le cadre de l’évaluation de vidéos et de projets multimédia pour débattre ces enjeux et pour défendre l’intérêt d’inclure des argumentaires sous forme de projets vidéo dans l’enseignement ainsi que les omniprésentes présentations sous forme de Power Point.Este informe descriptivo de un proyecto de 2002-2003 titulado «Visual technologies and their assessment in undergraduate teaching and learning» (Las tecnologías visuales y su valoración en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje universitarios) tiene su origen en una presentación en la conferencia IUAES celebrada en la Universidad de Manchester del 5 al 10 de agosto de 2013, en la mesa redonda «Establishing academic standards of evaluation for non-literary forms of representation in anthropology» (Establecer estándares académicos para la evaluación de las formas no literarias de representación en antropología). En él se presentan los hallazgos basados en una serie de experiencias prácticas en la enseñanza y la investigación de los últimos treinta años. Durante ese tiempo, he reflexionado sobre preguntas como si debemos definir o no el cine etnográfico y qué criterios hay que emplear para las películas etnográficas en oposición a los documentales y/o las películas artísticas. Este informe utiliza el sitio web y otros resultados de la investigación financiada sobre la evaluación de proyectos universitarios multimedia y de vídeo para debatir estas cuestiones y argumentar a favor de la importancia de incluir proyectos de videonarrativa en las evaluaciones de los estudiantes universitarios además de las presentaciones de PowerPoint, ahora omnipresentes

The search for sense : Dance in Yogyakarta.

Dance plays an important role in how Javanese people represent themselves to each other and to non-Javanese. This study explores dance forms associated with the Sultan's palace in Yogyakarta, taken up by various interest groups after Indonesian independence. Part One presents a survey of current theoretical approaches to dance for anthropology, their limitations being illustrated by an analysis of palace dance, particularly the classification of forms, movements, and modes, and raises questions about the usefulness of the term 'dance', used here for convenience, not as an essentialised category (Chapters II-III). Implications are developed with reference to fields of aesthetics and semiotics, and I consider the relation of representations to reality (Chapter IV). Part Two introduces data about the traditional associations of these representations. Classifications and model- making in observer and informant accounts lead to how people make sense and how presuppositions generate discourses which allow meaningfulness to be delayed rather than fulfilled, and it is argued that 'poetic' features of this be rejected as constituting grounds for the formulation of the Javanese as 'other' (Chapters V-VI). How these styles of explanation affect our understanding of metaphysical dimensions is explored, from accounts of the self through Javanese theories of knowledge, to current Javanese polemics and what these make theories of communication look like, and how ideas about the past are used in the contest to define authenticity in 'classical' dance in Yogyakarta today (Chapters VII-VIII). The problem of closure in categories is the broadest concern of this study, particularly 'dance', 'Java', and also 'anthropology'. The perspectival approach aims to do justice to the ethnography, and to overcome misrepresentations arising from translations of indigenous terms and discourses. Though ignorance leads the fieldworker to take things too literally, informant ignorance is recognised. What data are is a matter of interpretation, and the conclusion hesitates to posit, and asks instead that we acknowledge our own tendency to create and rest on images, and take more note of what we are doing when we represent other societies to ourselves

A Throne for the People: Observations on the Jumenengen of Sultan Hamengku Buwono X

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