In less than a week I'll begin teaching visual anthropology at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. As far as I know, BSU's anthropology department has never offered a course in visual anthropology. My plan for this blog, at least initially, is simply to write about my experiences teaching the course.
So, a little about this course.
It's a dual-level undergraduate-graduate course so I am anticipating most students will be have some background in anthropology. I am hoping also that the course has attracted a few students from the College of Communication, Information, and Media. The course is a hybrid: part critical history of ethnographic film, part hands-on film-making. Each week we'll have two days lecture/discussion of readings and one day lab. Students will keep journals about course readings and films. Working in groups, they will make a short (3-5 minute) ethnographic film. And individually they will be blogging about their film-making process. Stay tuned to learn more.
In designing the course I've exploited the expertise of friend and former colleague Steven Rousso-Schindler, ethnographic filmmaker and assistant professor of anthropology at Cal State, Long Beach.
