An Introduction to Visual Ethnography: To See and Be Seen, Enough.

About

Workshop on visual ethnography where students learn phone-based observation, filming, sound and editing and produce an ethnographic short film within a group.

Visual ethnography is the detailed representation of people, objects, and places in relation through audiovisual means. Such representation is always itself relational and ethically charged, asking who represents and why; who wishes to be represented and how; and what is sufficient for audiences to grasp situated claims and stories?

This workshop operationalises Enough as an ethic-aesthetic calibration across three constituencies: participants, ethnographers, and audiences. Participants learn core methods of visual ethnography (observation, filming, sound, editing) while developing procedures for consent, proportionate visibility, and narrative sufficiency. The emphasis is on attuned representation: images negotiated at the nexus of what ethnographers aim to show, what participants endorse, and what audiences require to follow – no more, no less

Course leader

David Lowis, Owain Astles, Deborah Sie and Gökcen Kavuk

Target group

equipment requirements: smartphone with a camera; laptop with minimum 8gb RAM

Course aim

Plan and carry out small-footprint visual ethnographic fieldwork with camera phones that articulates co-authored boundaries and purposes.

Translate ethical commitments (consent, opacity, anonymity) into concrete cinematic choices (framing, duration, voice, caption) without defaulting to absence.

Produce a concise visual ethnographic film as part of a group that is analytically clear and proportionate to participant desires and audience needs.

Fee info