Kathrin Oester University of Bern, Switzerland
Bernadette Brunner University of Basel, Switzerland
DOI: 10.12835/ve2015.1-0042
Abstarct
Adapting Jean Rouch’s concept of ‘shared anthropology’,
developed with migrant workers in West Africa, we taught
visual anthropology to adolescents in Bern, Switzerland.
The article conceptualises the project’s epistemological
background and explores how we transferred methodo
logical knowledge in visual anthropology to 8th and 9th
graders. We first focus on how Rouch and his protagonists
developed a specific form of working alliance and thereby
invented a new mode of ethnographic film that mixes fact
and fiction. We conceptualise this ‘ethno-fiction’ as a ‘model’
which combines the generation of knowledge with teaching
and learning. Further, we describe how Rouch’s ‘shared
anthropology’ arose in our own project and how teaching
and research became parallel processes. Finally, we con
ceptualise the method of ‘shared anthropology’ as a specific
form of a Maussian exchange relationship and show its
pedagogical implications for both teaching pupils as well as
university students in media production.
Keywords
Jean Rouch; Representation; Youth research; Exchange;
Ethnofiction; Shared anthropology; Teaching visual anthropo
logy.
