Visual Presentation Of Oral Ethnography

Ethnography is the main means to represent the studies of Ethnology and Anthropology.Since the invention of the form of “scientific ethnography” by Malinowski,ethnologists have been exploring the possibility of ethnography.There have been numerous concerns on writing ethnography,such as the perspective in doing fieldwork,writing style of the ethnography as well as on ways of expression.Although some suitable written forms to match the cultural characteristics of the subject has been found for ethnography,ethnographic expression should not be only limited to the written words.Otherwise it may go against the spirit of anthropology as an inclusive study as well as the diversity of human expressions.The ability of researchers in representing their subjects in terms of expression was behind the ability of their subjects' imagination and self-representation,due to the focus on written words in the past.The visual anthropology formally came into being in the 1960 s that it not only studies the ethnic culture but also the application of images on ethnic culture with its extensive research objects.Reflections on the fieldwork and the means of creation of ethnography are the common development trend of contemporary ethnology and anthropology.Therefore,one of its main manifestations is to reflect on the relationship between researchers and research subjects during the process.Under the influence of this academic trend of thought,this paper reviewed,analyzed and reflected on the shooting and filming process of oral visual ethnography--“He Is Lama”,by effectively combining image recording,fieldwork,film editing and processing of first hand information.Above all,this paper's research content mainly deals with fieldwork and filming of oral visual ethnography,including the relevant theories and discipline principles of ethnology,anthropology and filmology concerning the two aspects.This thesis consists of four parts including the introduction,video recording(fieldwork practice of visual oral ethnography),film editing(post production of the film and alternation between the etic and emic)and conclusion.The first part,introduction,gives the readers a full understanding about the aim,significance and research methodology of the thesis.This part also introduces the domestic and overseas research status of visual anthropology.The second part is the review,analysis and reflection on the fieldwork practice of “He Is Lama”.The third part mainly analyzes the materials collected during the fieldwork,summarizes the processof editing,as well as reflects on moral principles caused by alternation of etic and emic in the editing process of visual footage.In the conclusion part,the thesis is summarized respectively from the influence of fieldwork and post production on cultural information transmitted by the whole film together with the importance of the discipline principles in making visual anthropology films basing on the film making practice of “He Is Lama”.Furthermore,“He Is Lama” as a case,will be extended to the theoretical and methodological level for general visual oral ethnography research.