Photos and Griots

Trudi Smith’s essay on repeat photography entitled “Repeat Photography as a Method in Visual Anthropology,” I found both perplexing and profound.

Interpretive repeat photography…hmmm not sure that I get it. Or maybe I just did not like the example given (figure 5).  I like the original Kurt Seel photo. I am just not as enamored of “repeat photography produces imaginative interpretive results” even if they produce, emphasize or “challenge perceptions of how space may be apprehended and experienced” (Smith 2007:193). This is probably because when it comes to photos I am a realist who doesn’t like my image subverted (Smith 2007:94).

Smith cites Joanna Scherer’s concept of archival records being the recovery of “forgotten worlds” [Scherer 1995: 201], and mixes it with Hal foster term “liberated worlds” (Smith 2007:196).  I really like that way of thinking about repeat photography.

Paul Stoller’s article “Ethnographies as Texts/Ethnographers as Griots” was an essay I found filled with wisdom. By the time I was done reading it, I was ready to pack my bags and go sit at the feet of a Songhay elder. Along the way the essay made me realize how much I have to learn and think about before I can begin to conceive of writing ethnography. The best part of this essay was his thoughts on what to do about postmodernism.  The postmodern question demands that ethnographies as Stoller says, “must now combine,

as does the West African griot, history and economics, past and present, narrative and exposition” (Stoller 1994:362)

These are some of my favorite quotes:

 “For most Songhay elders,the ultimate test of ethnographer is whether their words and images enable the young to uncover their past and discover their future” (Stoller 1994:354).
“Ethnographers, like griots, must learn history and cultural knowledge” (Stoller 1994:353).
“griots must know themselves before they let others know them (Stoller 1994:354).

Smith Trudi, Visual Anthropology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713654067

Repeat Photography as a Method in Visual Anthropology
Online Publication Date: 01 March 2007

Stoller Paul, Ethnographies as Texts/Ethnographers as Griots

Source: American Ethnologist, Vol. 21, No. 2 (May, 1994), pp. 353-366 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/645893