Wondrous Difference - Hardcover

Griffiths, Alison

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231116969 ISBN 13: 9780231116961

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2001

Synopsis

The ethical and ideological implications of cross-cultural image-making continue to stir debate among anthropologists, film scholars, and museum professionals. This innovative book focuses on the contested origins of ethnographic film from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s, vividly depicting the dynamic visual culture of the period as it collided with the emerging discipline of anthropology and the new technology of motion pictures. Featuring more than 100 illustrations, the book examines museums of natural history, world's fairs, scientific and popular photography, and the early filmmaking efforts of anthropologists and commercial producers to investigate how cinema came to assume the role of mediator of cultural difference at the beginning of the twentieth century.

About this title

Book Description:

This innovative book focuses on the contested origins of ethnographic film from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s, vividly depicting the dynamic visual culture of the period as it collided with the emerging discipline of anthropology and the new technology of motion pictures.

About the Author:

Alison Griffiths is assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Baruch College, City University of New York. The work on which this book is based won the Society for Cinema Studies dissertation prize.

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0231116969
• ISBN 13: 9780231116961
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 528