Ethnofiction is a subfield of ethnography which produces works that introduce art, in the form of storytelling, "thick descriptions and conversational narratives", and even first-person autobiographical accounts, into academic works.
In addition to written texts, the term has also been used in the context of filmmaking, where it refers to ethnographic docufiction, a blend of documentary and fictional film. It is a film type in which, by means of fictional narrative or creative imagination, often improvised, the portrayed characters (natives) play their own roles as members of an ethnic or social group.
History Ethnologist Jean Rouch is considered to be the father of ethnofiction,Glossary at MAITRES_FOUS.NET with Robert Flaherty as an ancestor. Rouch discovered that a filmmaker interferes with the event he registers: the behavior of the portrayed individuals, the natives, will be affected by the camera's presence. Contrary to the principles of Marcel Griaule,Marcel Griaule (1898–1956) – Article by Sybil AmberFrom Pictorializing to Visual Anthropology1 – Chapter from "Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology" his mentor, Rouch considers it impossible for a non-participating camera to record "pure" events in ethnographic research.Father of 'cinema verite' dies – BBC newsBIOGRAPHIES: Jean Rouch – Article by Ben Michaels at Indiana UniversityA Tribute to Jean Rouch by Paul Stoller at RougeEthnographic Film (origines)Knowing Images: Jean Rouch's Ethnography <- Chapter from Sarah Cooper's monograph "Selfless Cinema?: Ethics and French Documentary" (Oxford: Legenda, 2006) at MAITRES-FOUS.net
An ethnographer cameraman, in this view, will be accepted as a natural partner by the actors who play their roles. The cameraman will be one of them, and may even be possessed by the rhythm of dancers during a ritual celebration and induced in a state of cine-trance.Cine-trance: a Tribute to Jean Rouch(Visual Anthropology, American Anthropologist) Rouch thus introduced the actor as a tool in research.Ethnofiction and the Work of Jean Rouch, article by Reuben Ross, UK Visual Anthropology, November 9, 2010Videos about ethnofiction on VimeoComing of Age as Other: Indigenous People in the Ethnofiction Film 'The Dead and The Others' – article at CINEA, 14 december 2018
Ethnofiction has also been developed in Portuguese cinema. Ethnic films have been common in Portugal since the 1930s, particularly from the 1960s to the 1980s – Abstract for a conference by Catarina Alves Costa at and in the early 21st century. The remote Trás-os-Montes region in Portugal and the former Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde islands are common subjects of such films. These films depict local realities along with legends and surreal imagery, producing works of ethnofiction.
Chronology
1910s
1914 – In the Land of the Head Hunters by Edward S. Curtis, Canada
1920s
1926 – Moana by Robert Flaherty, US
1930s
1930 – Maria do Mar by José Leitão de Barros, Portugal 1931 – Tabu written by Robert Flaherty and directed by F. W. Murnau, US 1932 – by Jean Epstein, France 1933 – Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan by Luis Buñuel, Spain 1934 – Man of Aran by Robert Flaherty, UK
1940s
1942 – Ala-Arriba! by José Leitão de Barros, Portugal 1948 – Louisiana Story by Robert Flaherty, US
1950s 1955 – Les maîtres fous (The Mad Masters) by Jean Rouch, France 1958 – Moi, un noir (Me a Black) by Jean Rouch, France
1960s
1961 – La pyramide humaine by Jean Rouch, France 1962 – Acto da Primavera (Act of Spring) by Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal 1963 – Pour la suite du monde (Of Whales, the Moon and Men) by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault, Canada 1967 – Jaguar, by Jean Rouch, France
1970s
1976 – (Gente da Praia da Vieira) by António Campos, Portugal 1976 – Trás-os-Montes by António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro, Portugal
1980s
1982 – Nelisita: narrativas nyaneka by Ruy Duarte de Carvalho, Angola 1988 – Mortu Nega (Death Denied) by Flora Gomes, Guiné-Bissau
1990s
1997 – Ossos by Pedro Costa, Portugal
2000s
2000 – No Quarto da Vanda (In Vanda's Room) by Pedro Costa, Portugal 2003 – (Remote Land) by Terra Longe, David & Golias 2006 – Colossal Youth by Pedro Costa, Portugal 2007 – Transfiction by Johannes Sjöberg
2010s
2011 – Toomelah by Ivan Sen 2012 – The Act of Killing by Joshua Oppenheimer, Indonesia 2014 – Cavalo Dinheiro (Horse Money) by Pedro Costa, Portugal 2014 – La creazione di significato (The Creation of Meaning) by Simone Rapisarda Casanova, Italy 2015 – by 2018 – Zanj Hegel la (Hegel's Angel) by Simone Rapisarda Casanova, Haiti 2018 – The Dead and the Others by João Salaviza, Portugal 2019 – Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa, Portugal 2019 – Work, or To Whom Does the World Belong, by , Spain 2024 – Anime galleggianti by Maria Giménez Cavallo, Sardinia
See also Direct cinema Docufiction Ethnographic film Ethnography Media ecology Visual anthropology
Footnotes
External links Ethnofition at The University of Manchester (watch video) Ethnofiction and Beyond: The Legacy of Projective Improvisation in Ethnographic Filmmaking by Johannes Sjöberg L'ETHNOFICTION A L'ŒUVRE: prisme et images de l'entité dogon – Article (French) by Gaetano Ciarcia at Université Montpellier III Rouch & Cie. – un quintette – Article (French) by Andrea Paganini at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales Ethnic Portraits and Ethnofiction at Mubi The war of dreams: exercises in ethno-fiction by Marc Augé (google books) Ethnofiction : drama as a creative research practice in ethnographic film at Mendley – Paper by Bloom, Elizabeth A., Ed.D., STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON, 2006 Language description and "the new paradigm": What linguists may learn from ethnocinematographers – Article by Gerrit J. Dimmendaal, University of Cologne, at University of Hawai'i at Manoa Ethnofiction and the Work of Jean Rouch at UK Visual Anthropology