The Cinematic Griot: The Ethnography of Jean Rouch - Softcover

Stoller, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226775488 ISBN 13: 9780226775487

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1992

Synopsis

The most prolific ethnographic filmmaker in the world, a pioneer of cinéma vérité and one of the earliest ethnographers of African societies, Jean Rouch (1917-) remains a controversial and often misunderstood figure in histories of anthropology and film. By examining Rouch's neglected ethnographic writings, Paul Stoller seeks to clarify the filmmaker's true place in anthropology.

A brief account of Rouch's background, revealing the ethnographic foundations and intellectual assumptions underlying his fieldwork among the Songhay of Niger in the 1940s and 1950s, sets the stage for his emergence as a cinematic griot, a peripatetic bard who "recites" the story of a people through provocative imagery. Against this backdrop, Stoller considers Rouch's writings on Songhay history, myth, magic and possession, migration, and social change. By analyzing in depth some of Rouch's most important films and assessing Rouch's ethnography in terms of his own expertise in Songhay culture, Stoller demonstrates the inner connection between these two modes of representation.

Stoller, who has done more fieldwork among the Songhay than anyone other than Rouch himself, here gives the first full account of Rouch the griot, whose own story scintillates with important implications for anthropology, ethnography, African studies, and film.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The most prolific ethnographic filmmaker in the world, a pioneer of cinema verite, and one of the earliest ethnographers of African societies, Jean Rouch (1917-) remains a controversial and often misunderstood figure in histories of anthropology and film. This situation, Paul Stoller suggests, results largely from the neglect of Rouch's voluminous and ongoing ethnographic writings. Stoller, who has done more fieldwork among the Songhay of Niger than anyone other than Rouch himself, here presents for the first time an extensive analysis of the ethnography in Rouch's writings and films. By doing so, he seeks to clarify Rouch's approach, hi position, and his significance to contemporary anthropological debates.

About the Author

Paul Stoller is a professor of anthropology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of many books, including ethnographies, biographies, and memoirs. In 1994 he was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2002, the American Anthropological Association named him the recipient of the Robert B. Textor Award for Excellence in Anthropology. He lectures frequently both in the United States and Europe and has appeared on various NPR programs as well as on the National Geographic Television Network.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0226775488
• ISBN 13: 9780226775487
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 266