Course for international guest/part time students

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences

Organization

TÁTK Department of Cultural Anthropology

Code

EKAN123_U

Title

Visual Anthropology

Usual semester

Spring

Published semester

2025/26/2

ECTS

3

Language

en

Learning outcomes

This course is an introduction to the history of documentary film of visual anthropology. Content Advisory: Please note that some of the films screened in this course contain scenes and themes that may be disturbing or emotionally challenging for some viewers (including, but not limited to, violence, sexuality, trauma, or discrimination).

Course content

Content Advisory: Please note that some of the films screened in this course contain scenes and themes that may be disturbing or emotionally challenging for some viewers (including, but not limited to, violence, sexuality, trauma, or discrimination). The tentative schedule is as follows: 9th Febr. . Introduction + First part of Lumière! (2016) 16th Febr. . Second part of Lumière! (2016) 23rd Feb. . Nanook of the North (Robert L. Flaherty, 1922) 2nd March . Человек с киноаппаратом (Chelovek s kinoapparatom)/Man with a Movie Camera (Дзига Вертов/Dziga Vertov, 1929) 9th March . Trance and Dance in Bali (Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, 1952) . خانه سیاه است (Khaneh siah ast)/The House is Black (Forough Farrokhzad/فروغ فرخزاد, 1962) 16th March . MIDTERM TEST . Spare Time (Humphrey Jennings, 1939) . Thursday’s Children (Guy Brenton, Lindsay Anderson, 1954) 23rd March . Muzykanci/The Musicians (Kazimierz Karabasz, 1960) . Gadające głowy/Talking Heads (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1980) . A lőrinci fonóban/At the Lőrinc Spinnery (Mészáros Márta, 1971) 30th March . Les maîtres fous/The Mad Masters (Jean Rouch, 1955) – invited guest: Ferenc Markó (Research Director of Africa Research Group of Eötvös Loránd University) 6th April SRING BREAK 13th April . Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, 1967) – invited guest: Titanilla Fiáth (Associate Professor of Eötvös Loránd University) 20th April . First part of Forest of Bliss (1985, Robert Gardner) – invited guest: Endre Kovács (PhD Researcher of the Eötvös Loránd University) 27th April . Second part of Forest of Bliss (1985, Robert Gardner) – invited guest: Endre Kovács (PhD Researcher of the Eötvös Loránd University) 4th May . The Ferry (Laila Pakalniņa, 1994) . Szafari (Pölcz Róbert, Pölcz Boglárka, 1999) . A Short Lesson in Cinema (Jean-Stéphane Bron, 2013) . Outtakes from the Life of a Happy Man (Jonas Mekas, 2012) – only about 3 minutes from it 11th May FINAL TEST

Assessment method

Requirement: Active participation in seminar classes and writing midterm test and final test (offline).

Bibliography

. Brigard, Emile de: 1995. The History of Ethnographic Film. In Principles of Visual Anthropology. Second Edition. Ed. by Paul Hockings, pp. 13-43. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter . Christie, Ian: 2007. Disbelieving Documentary. In Building Bridges. Ed. by Ten Brink, pp. 267-276. Wallflower . MacDougall, David: 1995. Beyond Observational Cinema. In Principles of Visual Anthropology. Second Edition. Ed. by Paul Hockings, pp. 115-132. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter . Nichols, Bill: 2001. What Types of Documentary Are There? In Introduction to Documentary, pp. 99-138. Bloomington: Indiana University Press . Rothman, William: 1997. Documentary Film Classics. Cambridge University Press . Ungar, Steven: 2007. Whose Voice? Whose Film? In Building Bridges. Ed. by Ten Brink, pp. 111-123. Wallflower . Young, Colin: 1995. Observational Cinema. In Principles of Visual Anthropology. Second Edition. Ed. by Paul Hockings, pp. 99-113. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter

Recommended bibliography

. Aitken, Ian (ed.): 1998. The Documentary Film Movement. Edinburgh University Press . Barbash, Illisa – Lucien Taylor, eds. 2007. The Cinema of Robert Gardner. Oxford/New York: Berg . Barsam, Richard Meran. 1988. The Vision of Robert Flaherty. The Artista s Myth and Filmmaker. Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University . Grant, Barry Keith. 2023. Voyages of Discovery: The Cinema of Frederick Wiseman. Revised and expanded edition. New York: Columbia University . Grimshaw, Anna: 2001. The Ethnographer’s Eye. Cambridge University Press . Henley, Paul: 2000. Beyond Observation. Manchester University Press . Hicks, Jeremy. 2007. Dziga Vertov: Defining Documentary Film. London/New York: I. B. Tauris . Macdonald, Kevin – Mark Cousins: 1996. Imagining Reality. London: Faber and Faber . Stoller, Paul. 2022. The Cinematic Griot: The Ethnography of Jean Rouch. Chicago/London: University of Chicago

Programmes of the course