In the first coprehensive introduction to the nature and development of
ethnographic film, Peter Loizos reviews fifty of the most important
films made between 1955 and 1985. Going beyond programmatic statements,
he analyzes the films themselves, identifying and discussing their
contributions to ethnographic documentation.
Loizos begins by reviewing works of John Marshall and Timothy Asch in
the 1950s and moves through those of Jean Rouch, Robert Gardner, and
many more recent filmmakers. He reveals a steady course of innovations
along four dimensions: production technology, subject matter, strategies
of argument, and ethnographic authentication. His analyses of individual
films address questions of realism, authenticity, genre, authorial and
subjective voice, and representation of the films' creators as well as
their subjects.
Innovation in Ethnographic Film, as a systematic and iluminating
review of developments in ethnographic film, will be an important
resource for the growing number of anthropologists and other scholars
who use such films as tools for research and teaching.