The Weaver's House: Ethnography, Translation, and Video in the Highlands of Mindanao

Abstract

When short video embedded in museum exhibitions aims to present the voice of Indigenous artists, what constrains desired outcomes? This ethnographic study examines the processes behind one such video that focused on Lang Dúlay, a T'boli weaver from Mindanao, the Philippines. Written from the perspective of the researcher/director/producer newly using video in the field, it examines overlaps in ethnographic and visual anthropological theory and uses them to analyze video‐mediated events in the field. The failure to tell the story that the weaver cared most about along with responses and modes of resistance by filmed Indigenous interlocutors is also presented and analyzed.