Type of course

Admission requirements

Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS) or equivalent qualification with a minimum of 80 ECTS in anthropology, sociology, ethnology, folklore, cultural studies, visual culture or other closely related fields of study. Applicants must have a minimum grade average comparable to a Norwegian C (2,5) in the ECTS scale.

Application code: 9371

Course content

The aim of this course is to give you an insight into how ethnographic film and visual anthropology contributes to the production and communication of anthropological knowledge. Through your own presentations and analyses of films, and by comments received from teachers and fellow students, a critical thinking of visual anthropology as a way of representing knowledge will be conveyed.

The course explores the history, conceptual innovations, and technological developments of presenting anthropological knowledge in film and video. You will be introduced to major films, filmmakers and contemporary debates and will critically analyse the ways various films contribute to our understanding or misunderstanding of the diversity and similarity of human cultures. In each session, we will watch and discuss films that exemplify approaches to documenting and presenting the diverse peoples and cultures of the world.

Objectives of the course

Students who successfully complete this course should have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge - the candidate:

• knows how to present and analyse the different genres within ethnographic filmmaking.
• knows how to think critically about film as a form of representation, its veracity.
• knows various ethnographic cinematic traditions and genres

Skills - the candidate:

• is able to present and analyse how these genres and film styles are connected to different social science approaches.
• is able to critically evaluate how films have been used in the social sciences to convey knowledge in a cross-cultural context.

• is able to critically evaluate the power relations inherent in filmmaking as a research context.

General competence - the candidate:

• is able to present and analyse ethnographic films by paying attention to the relationship between the course of events in the film, how one scene is related to the other, the description of the protagonists, and the different social contexts presented in the film
• is conscious of the role of the audience in social science knowledge production.

• is able to critically evaluate the potentials of ethnographic filmmaking in cross-cultural communication and empowerment.

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods