Screening Question

What I found striking in the Navajo Project Films is the subject matter. Out of the seven films, almost all showed what could be classified as traditional cultural acts, i.e. the spinning of blankets, the shamanistic healing rituals, the silversmithing, the shadow myth and the building of a well. Of these, several are shown to be affected by modern technology, mostly the well and the smithing, but still seem to remain local and specific to the context. For example, the silver is melted with a modern tool, but the act of collecting, in the filming of which the local flaura plays a very big part, still relies on traditional ways of locating silver. The outside influences are always presented as things that make old tradition easier, but never seem in any way to change or replace old ways of acting.

This brings to mind what Moore says about the self-ethnography, namely that "indigenous video inherits the theoretical burdens of representation" (p. 127). I think a she poses is also relevant to these films"Are these conventions learned from television and anthropologists, or do they reflect the general state of affairs as well?" (p. 128). We should also consider the indigenous "voice" (p. 131) that is activated from the outside and whether we can see ways in which the ethnographic films embrace and challenge "the savage empiricism" (p. 137). Lastly, I want to raise the question of what is at stake in the timelessness in which many of these films are presented? Especially when considering questions of authorship and audience, we should keep in mind the important role time plays in many ethnographic movies like Nanook of the North.

BW