Anthropology, Film and the Arctic Peoples: The First Forman Lecture

Author(s): Asen Balikci

Source: Anthropology Today, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Apr., 1989), pp. 4-10
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
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 New York: Citadel P. witches for witches. In most of them, anthropological Earth by Volkstein and Kramer (1983) into a sacred
1959. The Meaning and folkloristic material appears second hand, always ritual circle and placed it on the altar. At the appro-
of Witchcraft. London: priate ritual moment he invoked the ancient Sumerian
coloured by Wiccan interpretations, but still clearly
Aquarian P.
derivative of ethnographic and archaeological scholar- goddess by reading an ancient prayer to her from the
Gimbutas, Marija. 1974.
ship. Modem Wiccans supplement this material with book, much as a Christian priest would read from his
The Gods and Goddesses
of Old Europe, 7,000 to readings from anthropology and folklore texts them- Bible. It should also be noted that a common feature in

3,500 B.C.: Myths, selves, often finding suggestions in the bibliographies the life stories of American witches is that the concepts
Legends and Cult of the by-witches-for-witches popular volumes. of the belief system are first contacted on the library
Images. London: Skipping forward to the 1980s and my own field- shelf, not through active proselytization nor through
Thames and Hudson. work in the state of Oregon, let us examine what any type of face-to-face contact with practicing witches
Leland, Charles Godfrey. themselves.
Neopagan witches are reading today. To begin with,
N.D. Gypsy Sorcery.
many of them are familiar with Gardner and Murray. Yet, as in the past, anthropologists continue to in-
New York: Tower
Fewer of them know of Frazer's The Golden Bough fluence this new religion without the mediation of
Publications.
(1952). Leland himself has all but been forgotten, but books. Witches flock to lectures and classes on anthro-
1899. Aradia, or the
Gospel of the Witches. entire passages from his Aradia have entered the oral pology. The witch who took me under her wing to
London: David Rutt. lore of modem witches. One passage in particular is teach me as an apprentice witch taught me techniques
Mellaart, James. 1967. known to many and referred to in conversation when of hypnosis used in vision quests to contact spirits. She
Catal Huyuk: A points of faith are discussed among initiates. It has at- proudly told me that she had learned them in a
Neolithic Town in tained the status in some circles of a witches' creed. shamanism workshop from Michael Harner. In the
Anatolia. New York:
In the field of archaeology, my informants are partic- tradition of Leland, Gardner, Lethbridge and others,
McGraw-Hill.
ularly fond of recent works on ancient Greece, Crete, Harner is an anthropologist as well as a practitioner of
Murray, Margaret. 1921.
the Middle East and the British Isles. Books about the magical arts. My witch-teacher modified Hamer's
The Witch Cult in
Western Europe. Oxford: pagan worship sites are especially meaningful to them. Central American shamanic teachings only slightly to
Oxford U.P. Among these, James Mellaart's works on the Anatolian fit her Wiccan world-view. And in the tradition, I, the
1933. The God of the proto-neolithic 'city' Catal Huyuk and Jacquetta anthropologist, within a year of entering the field, went
Witches. London: Hawkes' volumes on Crete can be found on many on to teach the same technique to other budding
Sampson Low, Marston witches' bookshelves. Both sites appear to be ancient witches.
Starhawk. 1979. The
centres of goddess worship and modem worshippers of The point of all this is that anthropology does not
Spiral Dance: A Rebirth
the Great Goddess find inspiration and justification of exist in a vacuum. We influence our informants, and
of the Ancient Religion
their beliefs in them. Several of my informants used the we influence those who read our books. These in-
of the Great Goddess.
San Francisco: Harper artefact illustrations in the books as sources for their dividuals then go on to influence their cultures (or sub-
& Row. own religious art. One local artist-witch makes part of cultures), making use of the information we provide to
Wolkstein, Diane and her living by selling ceramic goddess images modelled them in ways often beyond our control, or knowledge.
Samuel Noah Kramer. after those found at Crete and in the proto-neolithic What is more, our informants influence us, and we in
1983. Inanna, Queen of sites illustrated in Marija Gimbutas' The Gods and turn influence the discipline of anthropology. This dial-
Heaven and Earth: Her
Goddesses of Old Europe (1974). These images find ogue between cultures and anthropology can have sig-
Stories and Hymns from
places on her and other witches' altars. nificant consequences. It is time we come to this
Sumer. New York:
Books play such an important role that in one ritual I realization and incorporate it into our theory, our
Harper & Row.
attended, a witch carried Inanna Queen of Heaven and methodology, and our self-concept as anthropologists.f

Anthropology, film and the Arctic

peoples
The first Forman Lecture

When I first saw The Last of the Cuiva, it came as a telling the story of a disappearing people, and his story
ASEN
revelation to me. My student Bernard Arcand was tel- was obviously adding a new depth to ethnographic
BALIKCI ling the story of a gentle and peaceful people who had filming.
suffered greatly as neighbours of encroaching cowboys. That The Last of the Cuiva was a television produc-
Asen Balikci is professor It was a sad story evoking what had happened to many tion astounded me. At the time, I was living in America
of anthropology at the
indigenous peoples around the world. The story was where I had long learned to neglect television. I did not
University of Montreal
told with simplicity and compassion in the context of know the name of Sir Denis Forman then and thought
and chairman of the
IUAES International an ethnographic film produced for television. At the that The Last of the Cuiva was an isolated achievement.
Commission for Visual time, this seemed a strange ethnographic undertaking to The continuing success of the Disappearing World ser-
Anthropology. He is of me. I was told by my teacher Margaret Mead that the ies proved my pessimism wrong. The seeds planted by
Balkan origin, educated main purpose of ethnographic film-making was to re- Sir Denis when he gave his support to Brian Moser, the
in Switzerland and
cord in an objective and detached manner, and as com- first series producer of Disappearing World, were to
trained as an
anthropologist in the
prehensively as possible. She was told by her teacher bear rich fruit, with many enlightening films about the
USA. He has carried out Franz Boas that detailed records were the foundation of lives of usually remote and exotic peoples. These have
research not only in the anthropology. Yet here on the small screen were the become an important source of information on Third
Arctic, but in Cuiva with Bernard Arcand who apparently was not World conditions for millions of viewers in many coun-
Afghanistan, Ethiopia
preoccupied with ethnographic records. Instead he was tries.

4 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 5 No 2, April 1989

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 The responsibility of the Granada film-makers and only of written materials but also of classroom games
and elsewhere. He was
in which students assumed indigenous roles and learnt
associated anthropologists is therefore very great, for it
recently Simon Visiting
Professor at the is they who structure to a considerable extent our per- the rules governing indigenous behaviour. In this peda-
University of Manchester. ception of social realities out there and far away. The gogical strategy, film was considered to be a form of
This is an edited text Disappearing World series is characterized by a sense raw ethnographic data, a substitute for actual fieldwork.
of the first Forman The student would follow closely the development of
of balance and a preoccupation with significant ethno-
Lecture, delivered on 23
graphic detail. The producers have assumed their re- local activities in a variety of settings, s/he should feel
November 1988 under
the auspices of Granada sponsibility with a great deal of good will. The viewer empathy for the personalities of indigenous protagonists
Television in has learned a lot. What more could I say? For, in televi- and gradually reach an 'understanding' of the culture
Manchester. The Lecture, sion, as Sir Denis himself has observed, 'the viewer is from within. These new ethnographic films should not
which is intended to be king'. be subtitled or dubbed, on the grounds that such dev-
an annual event, was
ices could distract the student viewers and inhibit ef-
initiated in honour of Sir
My own initiation into the world of anthropological forts to extract meaning directly from the moving
Denis Forman, who
when Chairman of film-making had absolutely no connection with televi-images. Obviously, film shooting and editing would
Granada Television was sion. Rather, it grew out of a field research project have to be closely adapted to this pedagogical strategy,
responsible for launching amongst one of the most isolated human groups of the which in turn would have to be carefully designed to
the Disappearing World
Arctic coast of North America: suit the needs of specific age groups.
series (see his article in
Cut off from the surrounding world by ice-filled seas and Remarkably enough, in the optimism of the Kennedy
A.T., December 1985),
which now numbers some
enormous trackless wastes, a little handful of people cal- years, ethnographic film as a medium for cross-cultural
43 films. ling themselves Netsilingmiut (the Seal Eskimos) have information was destined to play a crucial role in the
Dr Paul Henley, way young Americans were to perceive the world
been suffered to live their own life, entirely untrammeled
Director, Granada by outside influence, right up to the present time.(Rasmus-
around them. It was expected that continuous concen-
Centre for Visual
sen 1931: 84) tration on a very small number of protagonists would
Anthropology, University
This passage was written by Knud Rasmussen, the reduce the strangeness of the exotic setting and provoke
of Manchester,
introducing the lecturer, famous Danish explorer who studied the Netsilingmiut reflection on universal human attributes. The final
commented that despite during his sledge journey along the Arctic coast in phase of the project was to consist of a series of class-
the increasing social
1923. Almost forty years later, in the winter of 1959-room exercises in which American children were to
importance of visual
60, I began an extended field research project among compare family roles in various exotic settings with
media, in the field of
those of their own communities. This would give rise to
the Netsilingmiut of Pelly Bay, in the Northwest Terri-
anthropology 'for years,
the only patrons of tories of Canada. As my work in this area became more an appreciation of the indigenous protagonists as full
film-making in this generally known in acacdemic circles, I was invited, in human beings whose behaviour was intelligible and
country have been 1962, to organize an ethnographic film-making expedi- predictable. It was expected that this rational approach
television companies'. Of
tion there. would provoke feelings of tolerance for foreign cultures
these, the contribution of
The invitation came from a recently formed group of and reduce stereotyped prejudices.
Granada has certainly
been the most significant anthropologists and psychologists based in Boston. This Within the framework of this pedagogical pro-
and the most sustained. group was in charge of implementing a project, jointly gramme, the Eskimos were selected as the first society
funded by the National Science Foundation and the to be intensively filmed. The reason for this was simple
Ford Foundation, to improve the quality of teaching in enough. In elementary schools all across Amiierica,
American schools at all levels, in both the humanities children were taught that the Eskimos were lovable,
and the sciences, including the social sciences. In ef- happy-go-lucky people: theirs was a kindergarten cul-
fect, the project formed part of a much broader pro- ture. America loved the Eskimos, and teachers could
gramme which owed its original impulse-ironically capitalize on this sentiment to provoke curiosity and
perhaps-to the US government's concern to regain the empathy among children.
technological initiative in the aftermath of the Soviet As the ethnographer invited to participate in this pro-
Union's successful launch of Sputnik. gramme, I was to be in charge of film content. The
Even so, despite the ultimate origin of the pro- cinematographer's responsibility concerned form, style
gramme, an important implicit aspect of the project and
wassequence relatedness. The ethnographic objective
was
a dissatisfaction with the ethnocentricity inherent in encyclopaedic and holistic in two particular ways.
the
way history and social sciences were taught. A new First, we were to reconstruct and film the annual migra-
curriculum was proposed, inspired by anthropology tion cycle of the Netsilingmiut as it would have been in
considered as the comparative science of culture in all 1922, the year prior to their obtaining rifles and a regu-
its local and historical diversity. The new curriculum lar supply of ammunition. This was not a difficult task
would present a succession of type cultures of growing since, in the mid-1960s, the Netsilik still practised
complexity, from hunter-gatherers and swidden agricul- several traditional hunting and fishing methods. Our in-
turalists to pastoral nomads, peasants and city dwellers. tention was to make a detailed record of Netsilik eco-
The programme should express the philosophy of cul- logical adaptation to an extremely harsh environment
tural relativism, recognizing the originality of each cul- by linking critical features of environment to special-
ture and discouraging all conclusions as to the ized technologies, settlement pattern, group formation
superiority of one culture over another. Growing com- and forms of collaboration. It was essential therefore to
plexity in relations of production and social formations follow the Netsilik from camp to camp in their wander-
was not to be translated into notions of moral supe- ings across Arctic seas and the barren tundra and to
riority. record in the greatest detail possible how they caught
Further, the new curriculum should systematically in- salmon and hunted seals and caribou. Seasonal varia-
volve the intelligent use of audio-visual documentation. tions were very important and in this regard, we in-
A new sort of ethnographic film was to bring the tended to follow the analyses of Marcel Mauss in his
American student as close as possible to the daily famous essay on dual social morphology (Mauss 1904).
routines of indigenous peoples. Repeated viewing Second, holistic preoccupations were to guide us in
would invite the young learner to 'discover' basic rela- the context of each camp. The raison d'e^tre of a partic-
tions between environment, technology and social for- ular seasonal congregation of people in a camp was al-
mations. This process would be aided by the use, not ways a specific subsistence activity and these we were

ANTHRSOPOLOGY TODAY Vol 5 No 2, April 1989 5

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 to record first. In addition, there were many spon- budgetary restrictions on various educational projects.
taneous camp events that we intended somehow to re- Our initial plan covering all 12 grades had to be aban-
late visually to the basic subsistence strategy. In doned. A one-year course aimed at grade 5 children
applying this approach, we drew inspiration from cul- (i.e. 9 to 10 year-olds) and entitled 'Man: a course of
ture-ecology theory, particularly Julian Steward's ana- study', or MACOS, as it came to be known for short,
lyses of the Shoshone Indians (Steward 1938). was completed and distributed in the early 1970s. It in-
We had a difficult task ahead of us. Our theoretical cluded most of the Netsilik films. Close to 3000
and ethnographic ambitions were far removed from any schools subscribed to the programme.
established television style. Yet there was no estab-
lished filmic model that we could follow either. We The public reaction to both films and course was devas-
were obliged to reject the classic documentary format tating. Jean Rouch was among the first to voice criti-
with its linear narrative structure, evolving story-line cism. He wrote:
and closed statement at the end. Nor was the French The films of Asen Balikci on the Netsilik Eskimo [.. are
school of any help here. Jean Rouch's work in West for me good examples of what must not happen again. For
Africa was mainly concerned with ritual and this only [this] production a superior crew of technicians intruded
intensified the mystery of exoticism. Robert Gardner into a hostile land in spite of the presence of the anthropol-
had recently re.turned from the Dani of New Guinea but ogist (Rouch 1975:91-92).

his project followed closely the narrated documentary This distinguished critic appeared to be objecting to
tradition. Although lacking in integration with one the intrusion in the field setting of a professional
another, the films by John Marshall among the Bush- cameraman, even though he was acting under the direc-
men came closest to what we wanted to do: without the tion of the ethnographer. Now, up until this time, the
narrated commentary, The Hunters could have been ethnographer from Paris, London or New York, had
considered as a model. What we did not know at the usually gone to an extremely remote and exotic place
time was that an Australian film-maker, Ian Dunlop, where he studied the people and wrote books about
was working among the Aborigines of the Western them. The literature of exploration in exotic regions had
Desert on a project very similar to ours. further contributed to the popular perception of the
We worked rigorously according to plan. We spent ethnographer as hero. Building upon this reputation, the
13 months in the field with cameras in hand and ex- ethnocinematographer had the added advantage of
posed close to 250,000 feet (roughly 600 rolls) of film. showing to a large audience a film about strange and
Fieldwork conditions proved difficult and we had our fascinating peoples-this was a demonstration that he
share of hardships and accidents. The finished product was actually there, that the strange people liked him
consisted of an integrated series of films, lasting a total and that he liked them, otherwise how could the film
of 10?/2 hours. (This was the Netsilik Eskimo film ser- have been made? His was a lonely and daring adven-
ies, distributed by the National Film Board of Canada). ture, an exploration into the unknown, and so on. The
Meanwhile, as filming proceeded along the Arctic Netsilik film project, on the other hand, was a collec-
coast, a talented group of child psychologists headed by tive and professional enterprise following a precon-
Jerome Bruner, director of the Cognitive Studies Centre structed plan. As such, it was in direct contradiction to
at Harvard University, was at work in Boston develop- the conception of the ethnocinematographer as adven-
ing the pedagogical materials that were to accompany turous superman. It is this that may, at least partially,
the visual ethnography (Bruner 1965). Here also, in- explain the disappointment of Jean Rouch with our
novation was the word of the day. Materials normally films.
used in grade 3 were to be upgraded to the level of Meanwhile, in many parts of America strong criti-
materials normally used in grade 5; teachers were to cisms of a very different order were being voiced
lose their superordinate status in front of a passive against the course. Initially, opposition was voiced at
audience, their new function would be to facilitate au- parent-teacher committees. Soon after, in the press, on
tonomous learning; Eskimo role playing in the class- the radio and on television, ambitious politicians staged
room was to be more directly related to American an unremittingly hostile campaign against MACOS. Al-
family activities; abstract concepts such as structure though
and the controversy started in the Bible Belt of the
function were first to be applied to animal species and American South, it soon acquired national proportions.
then transferred to Eskimo and American societies, etc. It eventually found its way to Congress where on 11
Ethnographic film was regularly projected in the class- May 1976, Representative Conlan, a Republican from
room and related to other materials. Arizona, made the following statement:
All this led to strange discoveries. For instance, an MACOS is a subtle but sophisticated attack on Judaic-
American child sees his father leave home in the morn- Christian family values.[...] embedded in the MACOS
ing and come back empty-handed in the evening. material is an 'anything goes' philosophy which subtly un-
During the day the child may go to the supermarket teaches morality, patriotism, American values, Judeo-
with his mother where she will collect substantial Christian ethics and beliefs, so that children will be more
amounts of food in brown bags, put these in the car and accepting of a world view rather than an American view.
then take them back home again. The American child And, in reference to the new style of ethnographic film,
grows up with the notion that his mother is the family he added:
provider. This same child then watches the Netsilik the exaggerations of the media have always been modu-
films and sees that Itimanguerk constructs a stone weir, lated by the use of black and white and by narrated inter-
uses a leister to spear the salmon caught in it and then pretations, both of which remove the viewer from actuality
brings the fish to his family to eat. Among the Netsilik, and offer a point of view. The new films are in vivid
the father is the provider. The American child becomes colour and are silent... Every day it is violence and death.
curious about the difference and he is led to discover Of course, neither of Representative Conlan's accusa-
the true role of his father. In this way, ethnographic tions could be denied! Later, Ronald Reagan added his
film has helped children in America to better evaluate voice to the choir. The consequences were harsh:
their own family roles. despite Margaret Mead's intervention at the HIouse of
In the mid 1960s, the war in Vietnam resulted in Representatives Science and Technology Committee,

6 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 5 No 2, April 1989

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 * The Eskimos are honest, they don't steal food from their
camp fellows.

Clearly, the Eskimos were perceived as endowed with

substantial virtues. Now the sum of these virtues is very
* : .. ... . . . . ..
similar to those found at the core of the American Prot-
estant ethic. In a sense, American children, and most
E . . ' "'. Z ... .....

... .......
probably their parents as well, apparently considered
the Eskimos as primitive Protestants, disciplined and
virtuous people from the top of the world, to be con-
trasted with the bloodthirsty and warlike Indians.
It so happens however that this same primitive Prot-

- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~. . . . . . . . . . . .|. :
_ . .- . >.!' -""' . ~~4 . . . .-'-
.. .... .........
estant, for very good practical reasons, hunts caribou.
Now caribou, identical to the marvellous reindeer pull-
ing the sleigh of jolly old Saint Nicholas is also similar
in many ways to Bambi, that most graceful, gentle and
modestly noble being in the bestiary of Walt Disney.
. 4. y :0.....~ ~ 4
The confrontation was immensely cruel: the primitive
Protestant, spear in hand, attacks Bambi and lets him
bleed to death, the full vivid colour death referred to in
Congress by Representative Conlan. The American
public could not accept such a senseless contradiction
and in defense of popular ideology, the ethnographic
'The Harpooner' by not only funding for the course was terminated but the films on the Netsilik Eskimos were thrown out of the
Robert Flaherty (Photo
very curriculum development division at the National classrooms.
credit Notman
Science Foundation was disbanded. Production of But how did the positive stereotype of the Eskimos
Photographic Archives,
McCord Museum of ethnographic film in America returned to private emerge hands. in North American culture in the first place? It
Canadian History, I was doing fieldwork at the time in Afghanistan, col- is my assumption that ethnographic film again played a
Montreal.) lecting data for the second chapter of MACOS, but crucial role in this process.
National Science Foundation support for my project At first, hostility seems to have characterized many
was immediately withdrawn and I had to return home. of the early encounters between Eskimos and European
The hostile reaction of broad sectors of the American explorers. But some time during the middle Victorian
public against ethnographic film was a remarkable fact period, the Eskimos must have learnt that smiling in-
indeed and obviously in need of analysis. We knew that vited good will from the powerful strangers. This some-
the Bushmen series could not be used in the classroom what facilitated Arctic exploration with the
since the portrayal of black people living in the bush collaboration of the Eskimos. Explorers published ac-
would have reinforced too many stereotypes. The Eski- counts of their adventures and marvelled at Eskimo in-
mos however looked very similar to white people, par- genuity. These descriptions inspired European writers
ticularly when they removed their coats. Besides, who published numerous adventure novels with glow-
weren't they the most lovable of exotic peoples? Was ing and quite often fantastic statements about Eskimo
there something wrong with the Netsilik films or did manners. It was this popular literature that prepared the
American children expect to see something else, some- way for Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North, the first
thing that would be in harmony with their preconceived classic in the ethnographic film tradition, released in
notions of the way an Eskimo should be? 1922.
This question led to an investigation on the stereo- Flaherty was not preoccupied with ethnographic pre-
type of the Eskimo held by American children, grades 3 cision. As an artist, he wanted to make a dramatic state-
to 9. A 'draw an Eskimo' test was administered in ment about man in confrontation with the most extreme
classrooms, supplemented by verbal explanations. The conditions on earth. He used the strategy of intensifica-
summary results indicated the following: tion, that is, selecting an aspect of well observed be-
* The Eskimos live surrounded by snow, their environ- haviour and amplifying it to a dramatic pitch. Several
ment is white and perfectly clean, the Eskimos are thus attributes of the Eskimo stereotype, already present in
very clean people. the Victorian literature, were dramatically intensified in
* The Eskimo hunter is very courageous, he confronts this way in Nanook. More than ever, the Eskimos
singlehanded dangerous wild beasts, he never withdraws emerged as happy, lovable, clean, courageous, family
from the confrontation, he is not afraid of intense cold people endowed with great ingenuity. Nanook was very
and blinding snow storms. successful at the box office, the words 'Nanook' and
* The Eskimos, both men and women are very hard work- 'Eskimo' became immensely popular and were widely
ing people, they never sit still, they are always making used in publicity. 'Nanookmania' diffused quickly over
something for a useful purpose. several continents and the setting was ready for the tri-
* The Eskimos are very ingenious, they live in a harsh umphant entry of the Eskimos into the kindergartens of
environment and with the use of only a few materials suburban America.
manage to survive. For a long time, the Arctic has exercised a great
* The Eskimos are family people, they love their families fascination upon the minds of Western people. It was to
and take good care of them. be expected therefore that documentarians would ex-
The Eskimos are generous, they share their food with ploit this interest. Yet, strangely enough, no important
their neighbours. documentaries were made following Nanook until after
The Eskimos are democratic and free people, they are World War II. Then in the l950s, filming in the North
all alike and there are no kings and despots among started in eamnest. Amongst the wide variety of docu-
them. mentaries produced at this time, two of the most impor-
The Eskimos are peaceful, they don't fight with each
tant were Angoti and Land of the Long Day, directed by
other and don't engage in wars. Doug Wilkinson for the National Film Board of

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 5 No 2, April 1989 7

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 Canada. tographer who shot most of the Netsilik films, to go
These films were shot in bright daylight and were anywhere in the world and make more films. As a seri-
constructed around strong storylines implying how well ous ethnographer, I declined the offer and returned to
the primitive Eskimos were adapting to encroaching the Ethiopian desert, and a similar opportunity never
modernity. The Hudson's Bay Company trader was presented itself again.
portrayed as a benevolent agent, hunting was a sort of This successful CBS initiative was followed by pro-
sport which was always successful, whilst a heavy nar- ductions by many other television companies, all based
ration seemed to provide answers to everything. The on the original footage. The BBC produced a two-hour
Eskimos in these film emerged as fully content. Not a synoptic version; the National Film Board of Canada, a
word was uttered about the hidden aspects of colonial- long and somewhat banal series for children's televi-
ism, the extremely high infant mortality rate, the rav- sion; while in many countries the 10?Y hour edu-
ages of the tuberculosis epidemics taking place at the cational series was shown in full or in part, usually
time, or the deaths from starvation that had taken place dubbed. All in all, there have been over 150 television
near the filming location only a few years before. These bookings worldwide, and distribution is still going on.
films became the official, full statements on Eskimo We started with a limited pedagogical exercise and
happiness under Canadian rule, which in any case, was have ended up with a series of productions in many
portrayed as no more than light-handed. Both these different formats. That the Netsilik films could be
films were very widely distributed and repeatedly successfully adapted in this way was due, at least in
shown on television. part, to a number of characteristics of the original mate-
This brings us to the subject of the Eskimos on tele- rial: concentration on a stable cultural form, the high
vision. Since the 1950s, literally hundreds of Arctic-re- degree of ethnographic detail presented in a holistic
lated films have been produced for a variety of perspective, the visual continuity provided by a small
television audiences in many countries. Let us single number of principal protagonists and the absence of a
out no more than two endeavours, the spin-offs from constraining story line.
the Netsilik materials and Granada Television's Eski- Yet, in the last analysis, the factors affecting the
mos of Pond Inlet. success or failure of particular styles or forms of ethno-
In 1970, I was doing fieldwork among the Danakil in graphic film-making on television appear to vary
Ethiopia when a telegram from CBS urged me to return greatly from country to country. The Netsilingmiut
to New York and resume work on the Netsilik material. winter activities shown in Eskimo: fight for life, the
Obviously, network television in America was inter- 1970 CBS production, were filmed according to the
ested in broadcasting an ethnographic film. This came canons of the observational style: long takes of ongo-
as a surprise to me, for while shooting in the field we ing activities and interactions between individuals with
never envisaged such a possibility. But Eskimo: fight the intention of creating the feeling in the audience of
for life, a digest of winter activities with a sparse narra-actually being there. In compliance with the television
tion, was edited together from the original footage and documentary format of the time, a sparse commentary
A Christian wedding on broadcast on prime time TV with an extremely high rat- was added which did not however establish a storyline.
Baffin Island in the ing. It worked for America.
1970s. Missionaries
The American public apparently had an appetite for Five years later, in 1975, Michael Grigsby produced
have converted almost
all the Inuit in the area.
the ethnographic approach. The following morning, Mi- The Eskimos of Pond Inlet, with Hugh Brody's as-
(Photo i Granada chael Dann, director of programming at CBS gave a sistance as anthropological consultant. The contrast be-
Television.) carte blanche to myself and Robert Young, the cinema- tween the two films was striking. The Eskimos,

~r- - e ------ ------

_ _ -- -- ---- --

8 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 5 No 2, April 1989

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 'speechless' protagonists until then, were invited by that the popular ideology of the British people may be
Grigsby and Brody to speak for themselves and present particularly rich in preconceived notions of this sort,
their testimony on how they viewed their relations with first developed in the period of British imperial expan-
Euro-Canadians. The soft spoken revelations of the sion. For centuries past, British explorers played a lead-
Eskimos in the intimacy of their homes stood in con- ing role in the discovery of remote and mysterious
trast with the consciously dull shots of the modem vil- lands and peoples. Their explorations were translated
lage with its prefabricated frame buildings. Implicit in into written accounts which were widely read. Draw-
the film was a political message which took us beyond ings of native peoples must have provoked considerable
the observational style which was being perfected at the interest. Collections of exotic curiosities were as-
time by the MacDougalls in East Africa. It worked for sembled, exhibitions organized and natives kidnapped
Britain. for presentation in London. Even in the slides of magic
But the CBS presentation of a documentary involv- lanterns, native subjects predominated. In this way, a
ing the collaboration of an ethnographer and a film- rich store of popular knowledge about exotic peoples
maker for network television has turned out to be a was created in Britain, a store inviting additions, for, as
relatively isolated event in America. Years later, Mi- the French saying goes, 'l'appetit vient en mangeant'.
chael Ambrosino employed a number of anthropolo- The scenario I have in mind places Britain at the centre
gists in his PBS series, Odyssey. The public responded of the world, and it is from Britain that the Frobishers,
very half-heartedly and one critic proclaimed that 'no- Cooks, Burtons and many others reach the four corners
one seems to be interested in anthropology and what of the world and return home to tell their story. People
anthropologists do' (Ginsburg 1988:43). Budgetary re- believed them and wanted to learn more.
strictions on PBS and a lack of public interest in the In the contemporary setting, British television crews
documentary generally has subsequently discouraged point their cameras towards the descendants of the na-
the further broadcasting of ethnographic films. tives described in the classic travel accounts and show
While the history of the made-for-TV ethnographic their film stories to a willing audience historically pre-
documentary in America seems very short indeed, the pared for such encounters by the exposure of their an-
format has flourished in Britain. Grigsby and Brody's cestors to magic lantern shows and cabinets of
film was produced for Granada's Disappearing World curiosities. The observational style fits in very nicely
but most other anthropological documentary series pro- here.
duced either by independent companies or by the BBC In contrast, nothing of the sort has occurred in Amer-
have consistently obtained relatively high ratings. The ica. The exotic peoples in American popular ideology
sharp contrast between British success and American were the Indians of the West. Hollywood took care of
failure here is clearly in need of comment. them. We all know the grim saying: 'The only good
Much has been written about the success of ethno- Indian is a dead Indian'. This left little place for ethno-
graphic documentary on British television. Enlightened graphic film on American television.
leadership, generous funding, skilled anthropologists
and talented film-makers have all been credited. The Let us go back to the Arctic coast of Canada. One
particular characteristics of the British documentary month after our shoot among the Netsilik, large cargo
tradition and/or the unique organizational features of planes brought building materials in the area for the
British television have often been cited as being of construction of a modern village. In a very short time,
critical importance. (Just occasionally, these same insti- the Netsilik moved from igloos to frame houses and
tutional constraints have also been viewed as leading to their children were obliged to attend school. Collabora-
formulaic repetition and the exclusion of bold experi- tive hunting and fishing, together with regulated food
mentation). sharing, came to an end, as did a number of communal
But for the outsider like myself, all these arguments customs. The sedentarized band fragmented into in-
seem very parochial, being mainly concerned with en- dividual families. Large amounts of imported commodi-
tirely domestic issues or with the attitudes and activities ties became suddenly desirable necessities. A
of the small group of privileged people who are actu- benevolent government had taken the decision to offer
ally involved in the production of anthropological films the Netsilik the same services enjoyed by southern
for television. Whilst British success and parallel Amer- Canadians. Rapid change was essential, to make up for
ican failure may be explained in part by such local fac- lost time. Today, the only place where Netsilik tradi-
tors, one cannot help wondering whether certain more tional culture survives is in our ethnographic films.
general though hidden historical and ideological factors Within a very few years, the Eskimos found them-
factors influencing the reaction of the mass audience selves immersed in a new communications and media
may not be of greater significance. environment (Graburn 1982). Telephones made visiting
As the reaction to the Netsilik case demonstrated, unnecessary, multi-channel television restructured the
members of a mass television audience should not be use of home space, radio was constantly listened to and
assumed to be totally uninformed about non-Western VCR's brought additional entertainment. The new en-
societies. They lack specialist knowledge perhaps but vironment was noisy and culturally alienating. The
they seem to have certain preconceived notions and authorities reacted in an ingenious way: now that televi-
moral ideas about the strange people of the principal sion had reached the Arctic, why not make it Eskimo,
Brisebois, Debbie. 1983. culture areas of the world. These preconceptions, held or rather Inuit, as the people now preferred to be
The Inuit Broadcasting by children and adults alike, may be nothing more than called?
Corporation, in:
a confused and fantasmatic amalgam of stories read, To this end, four Inuit broadcasting corporations
Anthropologica, N.S.,
pictures seen and films viewed. But in reference to a were created, equipment was provided and many edu-
XXV, 1. 1983.
televised ethnographic film, these preconceived notions cated young Inuit were trained in television journalism
Bruner, Jerome. 1965.
stimulate curiosity, invite comparison, provoke empathy (Brisebois 1983). The expressed objectives included a
Man: A Course of
Study, Occ.Paper No. and appreciation or partially determine feelings of dis- preoccupation with cultural preservation and revitaliza-
3, Social Studies gust and rejection, thereby strengthening negative stere- tion. At the present time, the programme works well:
journalistcpdembfw

Curriculum Program, otypes.

Educational Services I would like to suggest in a purely conjectural way by educational series and documentaries about Arctic
Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 5 No 2, April 1989 9

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Asen Balikci (standing)
with Paul Henley (left)
and two students at the
Granada Centre for
Visual Anthropology at
the University of
Manchester. (Photo ?
Granada Centre.)

Ginsburg, Faye. 1968.

Ethnographies on the
- ~~~~~~~ 4
Airwaves: The
Presentation of
Anthropology on 4mmmmv s t
American, British and
Japanese Television.
Cinematographic
Theory and New
Dimensions in
Ethnographic Film, P.
Hockings and Y.
Omori, eds, Senri communities, hunting activities, festivals, events and a not seem to be stimulated by much experimental work.
Ethnological Studies variety of special subjects, mostly related to tech- In a sense, television here seems to be in competition
No. 24, National Mus.
nology. In Inuit television, the film-makers translate the with nothing other than itself.
of Ethnology, Osaka.
protagonist's point of view. Just as the seal hunter at Visual anthropology however is still in its infancy,
Grabum, Nelson. 1982.
the ice edge does, the camera will pan over the open trying hard to establish its epistemological validity. It
Television and the
Canadian Inuit, in:
water for long, long minutes waiting for a seal to sur- should not be perceived as being in competition with
Etudesllnuit/Studies, 6, face. If the hunter has five seals to butcher, all five will mainstream analytical anthropology; rather, it should be
1. be filmed in detail. Film stories follow the simple seen as complementary and its practitioners should seek
Lake, Ahnna, Linda chronological development of logically succeeding to make the best possible use of its particular potential
Peerce, Jacqueline events to the exclusion of distracting sidelines. for understanding the human condition. New ap-
Gremaud, Jacques
Clearly, the Inuit camera operates for an Inuit proaches and new fields of interest are currently being
Leroux, Guy Tessier,
audience. Strangely enough, I have not seen a single developed, such as anthropological analyses of feature
avec la collaboration
production concerned with the Inuit family. When and documentary films, the study of popular imagery or
d'Asen Balikci. 1984.
Le stereotype des
questioned, the producers replied, 'Why film something the examination of native aesthetic styles. Third World
Esquimaux chez les that is close around us'? Obviously the Inuit producers institutions assemble video records of minority cultures
eleves du niveau have not yet acquired intellectual distance in their per- with the direct help of indigenous groups concerned
primaire, in: ception of themselves, their cameras are turned out- about cultural preservation. Encapsulated societies in-
Etudes/lnuit/Studies, 8, wards and not directed to the core of society. This creasingly consider video-making as the starting point
2.
respectful shyness in the face of a new technology is of ethnic self-assertion and political liberation. Visual
Mauss, Marcel. 1904.
also highly characteristic of Inuit traditions. anthropologists are becoming involved in a variety of
Essai sur les variations
development communication projects related to agricul-
saisonnieres des
societes Eskimo.
Visual anthropology started with the legacy of Boas ture, non-formnal education, health, etc., arising from the
L'annee sociologique, and the grand design of establishing ethnographic re- need to accelerate the circulation of information at the
Paris. cords, truthful records of enduring value, with the help community level. These newly created media environ-
Nelkin, Dorothy. 1976. of modern technological aids. It continued with Mar- ments will all hopefully be submitted to anthropological
The Science Book garet Mead and the use of film as an integral part of scrutiny. All these are new activities that are being
Controversies, any anthropological research programme. At the present added to the established place of ethnographic film-
Scientific American,
time, ethnographic film is made for audiences which making within the sub-discipline of visual anthro-
April.
have grown increasingly large. The anthropologist has pology.
Rasmussen, Knud. 1931.
The Netsilik Eskimos.
also changed vocation: in the beginning, he considered Yet the future of visual anthropology depends not

VIII, Copenhagen. himself merely an objective recorder; he later came to only on new ideas but also on new institutional
Rouch, Jean. 1975. The think of himself as an analytical scientist; now, he, or developments such as the Granada Centre for Visual
Camera and Man, in: she, is only too painfully aware of the danger of be- Anthropology. From my recent travels around Europe
Principles in Visual coming an unconscious ideological manipulator. in my role as Chairman of the IUAES Commission for
Anthropology, Paul Today, it seems that some formats and approaches Visual Anthropology, I have learnt that the Manchester
Hockings, ed.
suffer from neglect. There are no new projects similar Centre is already being considered as a model institu-
Science Sept. 12, 1980.
in scope to the Bushmen, Yanomamo or Netsilik series. tion to be replicated in several European countries. In
209, 4462, p.1214.
The tradition of prolonged involvement in a single cul- this way, the original initiative of Sir Denis Forman in
Steward, Julian. 1938.
Basin-plateau ture area seems to have been lost, at least temporarily. making possible the Disappearing World series is find-
Aboriginal There are very few attempts to use the camera in an- ing new and still ramifying forms of expression within
Sociopolitical Groups, thropological field research. The Smithsonian and an international academic environment. One can only
Bureau of American Gottingen film archives are rarely consulted for analytic hope that this new setting, based on what some would
Ethnology, Bulletin purposes. Although much experimental filming is going once have regarded as an unholy alliance between aca-
120, Washington, D.C.
on there is a painful feeling that presently nobody can demic institutions and television, will allow and provide
do better than Gardner's mythopoetics, MacDougall's for bold experimentation with new formats and styles,
observational genre or Llewelyn-Davies' reflexive style. new ideas and new fields of enquiry, all so necessary to
The highly successful television format in Britain does the future of visual anthropology.O

10 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 5 No 2, April 1989

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