Visual Anthropology From Latin America: An Introduction

Abstract

The idea of Latin America as an unified geopolitical entity has been called into question (Mignolo 2005), exposing claims for a specific aesthetics and epistemological modality as romantic fetishism in face of the diverse histories of economic, political, social and population developments (Canclini 1995). How can we then justify a special issue in visual anthropology with a focus on the region? What would it show us beyond a sampling of audiovisual anthropological work produced in and about Latin America? Given the dynamic exchange of technical and intellectual expertise between Latin American visual anthropologists and their counterparts across the globe, how could this regional focus contribute to broader discussions in the discipline? These were the questions we asked ourselves when we were invited to organise a panel on the trends of ethnographic filmmaking in Latin America for the 15 th Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival that took place in Bristol, UK, from 29 March to 1 April 2017. We started from the very broad agenda of examining the intersection between local anthropological work and visualimage production in the region. We ended up, however, with a common denominator, which although it does not encompass all the trends of visual anthropology work in Latin America and is certainly not a prerogative of visual anthropology studies in the region, proved itself to be a constant element that extends beyond the scope of the panel and of this special issue. Visual anthropology from a Latin American perspective is eminently concerned with the political; and it is so because it has been highly influenced not only by certain transnational conversations but, more critically, by local movements of social and political change and resistance. 2 Visual Anthropology has grown exponentially in the last three decades in Latin America with the development of different research and teaching centres within academic institutions in countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina, expanding to include experimental work made with a wide range of visual media. Our interest here, however, is not to map the teaching and production of visual anthropology in Latin American academic institutions. Rather, our focus is on how visual Visual Anthropology From Latin America: An Introduction Anthrovision, 6.2 | 2018 2. The 5 pages document and its signatories written at the Symposium on Non-Andine South America Interethnic Friction can be consulted at http://www.servindi.org/pdf/ Dec_Barbados_1.pdf 3. Cardús (2014) offers an excelente review of the production of indigenous media projects in Latin America. 4. see Dietrich and Ulfe this issue paragraph 2, 6, 8 5. see Zirión this issue paragraph 47 6. see Flores this issue paragrah 11

Visual Anthropology

“…Image-making has also been added to the ethnographer's toolkit not just for research purposes, but also as a means of giving back to the individuals and communities whose lives and experiences constitute the 'data' that makes anthropology possible (Jackson 2004, Lozada 2006. Since anthropological research takes place within global hierarchies of knowledge production, such efforts attempt to 'question hegemonic Euro/American-centric anthropological and audio-visual aesthetics and epistemologies' (Flores & Torresan 2018).…”