SSA321 History of Anthropological Theory

1
SSA321 History of Anthropological Theory
In Alain Silver.doc

• Portfolio on CD-Rom
• Candidate No. 178202
• 1st May 2003

2
Introduction
I have chosen to compile research information on
Robert Flaherty (see slide 2), who was a pioneer
in ethnographic film, and whose masterpiece,
Nanook of the North,1922, is still the subject of
debate in anthropology (MacDougall 1998
103). The aim of this CD is to provide
information on Flaherty (prior to 1922), and
Nanook the references by cited authors to other
Flaherty films are not intended to be used in
this context, as they are more recent than 1922,
the so-called beginning of Structural-Functionalis
m and Modern British Anthropology. This work is,
therefore, research both on the person of
Flaherty, and the influence of Flaherty on the
development of ethnographic film as a genre
within anthropology. (Unfortunately it proved
too challenging to import a video clip from the
film, as it does not appear to be on the web.)
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Robert Flaherty
I have chosen to compile this information on
Flaherty and his work on the film Nanook of the
North. The film was published in 1922, the same
year as Malinowskis Argonauts of the Western
Pacific. My main argument is that the film has
ethnographic merit and by extension Flaherty can
be considered an early anthropologist. The time
consuming process of production for a film rules
out any Structural-Functional or Functional
influence on the making of Nanook, which predates
it. Encyclopaedia References and links on
Flaherty, the man

• http//www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0818850.htm
  l
• http//www.mr-moody.com/goldenboy/whoswho3/flahert
  y_r.htm
• Wikipedia on Flaherty.doc
• Doros on Flaherty.doc
• (Picture from http//www.mr-moody.com/goldenboy/wh
  oswho3/flaherty_r.htm)

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Still from Nanook of the North

• Released in 1922, Nanook is cited by most film
  historians as the first feature-length
  documentary
• http//www.oneworldmagazine.org/seek/nanook/nbibli
  o.htm for article by Alain Silver.

Nyla, Nanook's wife, and her baby at the
trading post
,
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Film-making

• These articles provide a general discussion on
  documentary and ethnographic film, and consider
  Flahertys position within it. Consideration is
  given to some technical aspects, as well as
  theoretical aspects of the genres. (Links to
  source websites cited in documents)
• Flaherty on Nanook.doc
• Abstract of talk by J. Ruby The Death of
  Ethnographic Film http/astro.ocis.temple.edu/rub
  y/aac/ruby.html and The Death of Ethnographic
  Film.doc
• Conversation between Shapiro and Godmilow on
  documentary film Conversation.doc
• Review of Nanook Sherwood on Film.doc
• Ethnographer as Scientist Early documentary
  filmmakers as scientists.doc

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• Film making (continued)
• Comment on the emergence of Ethnographic Film
  Prerana Reddy.doc
• Comment on the originality of Nanook in the
  Guardian Nanook of the North (Guardian).doc

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Ethnographic Merit

• Flahertys enduring work is the 1922 film Nanook
  of the North, which has prompted much discussion
  within anthropology as to its ethnographic merit.
  See MacDougall 1998 103.
• Robert Flaherty's NANOOK OF THE NORTH created the
  very genre of film documentary, with its
  documentation of Nanook the Inuit and the Eskimo
  traditions which were even then being erased by
  the influences of the white man. For close to 70
  years, what we knew of Eskimo culture was what we
  learned from NANOOK OF THE NORTH. Unfortunately,
  the documentary is as much Flaherty's artistic
  and directorial imagination as reality. This
  program revisits Inukjiak, the site of Flaherty's
  filming, where Eskimo oral tradition still
  retains the memory of Flaherty's shoot, and
  learns that, among other things, the man's name
  was not Nanook, the women said to be Nanook's
  wives were actually Flaherty's, and the Inuits
  thought what Flaherty was asking them to do for
  the camera so hilarious they couldn't stop
  laughing. (unfortunately this anecdote is
  unsubstantiated by reference but it is amusing)
• http//www.avdist.fsu.edu/V070852.htm
• macdougall on flaherty.pdf
• http//www.geocities.com/gcalla1/nanook.htm

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Visual Records and References

• Archival goods Nanook Box 23, stills from Nanook
  box 24. http//www.flahertyseminar.org/archives_ho
  me.htm
• A rough sequence of events in the film
  http//www.unb.ca/web/anthropology/nanook.htm
• http//www.npg.si.edu/exh/cb/flah1.htm
  Photographs of Flaherty
• http//momawas.moma.org/collection/depts/film_medi
  a/blowups/film_media_005.html

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Bibliography
MacDougall, D., 1998, Transcultural Cinema,
Princeton University
Press Malinowski, 1922, Argonauts of the
Western Pacific, Oxford University Press LINKS to
Bibliographies Further references to Flaherty
and Film in Bibliography Web.doc, from
www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/MultimediaStudent
Projects/98-99/950004s/project/html/bibliogr.htm
Web Resources for scholars by Ruby Flaherty
Index.htm Bibliography on Documentary Film
http//www.anotherscene.com/cinema/docubib.html
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• Bibliography (continued).
• Robert J Flaherty A Biography (ed.) Jay
  Rubyhttp//nimbus.ocis.temple.edu/jruby/wava/Flah
  erty/title.html
• Filmography
• Flaherty, R. J., 1922, Nanook of the North