the evolution of the video in the villages project - pat aufderheide

7/30/2019 The Evolution of the Video in the Villages Project - Pat Aufderheide

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"You See the World of the Other and You Look at Your Own": The Evolution of the Video inthe Villages ProjectAuthor(s): PAT AUFDERHEIDEReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of Film and Video, Vol. 60, No. 2 (SUMMER 2008), pp. 26-34Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the University Film & Video AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688592 .

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"YouSee theWorld of theOther andYou LookatYour Own":

The Evolution f theVideo intheVillages Project

PATAUFDERHEIDE

what purpose does ethnographic film

serve?1Whom is it or? s it or cientists,tele

visionaudiences, its ubjects?Can therebeoverlapsor commongoals? This istheprickly

question underlying uch ethnographicfilm

production. It sroutinelyddressed inpracticemore than in heory, npartbecause ofthe

economics offilmmaking.nthropologists ave

notfoundfundingithertobuildfilmmakinginto ieldworkr toestablish a rigorouset of

professional tandards,although nthropolo

gists such as Jay ubyhave sturdily aintained

thatthey hould.At thesame time, ocumentarypracticehas evolved,divorced fromtheoretical concerns about scientific accuracy,

althoughdocumentarianshave often apitalizedon claims toscience (Winston).

Ethnographic ilm nd visual anthropologyhave areas ofoverlapbutalso occupydifferent

domains. Visual anthropologists, concerned

with thepoliticsof representationswell as

thechallengeofcommunicatinghe lived xpe

rience f distinct ultures,have struggled romthefirst enerationofanthropology odefine

an arenawithin nthropologicalpractice.Theyhave asked questions about the ethics and

implicationsf formal hoices inphotography,

film, nd video. Theyhavegrappledwith the

nature fsocial scientific laimsmade for heir

observations and theirmoralobligations to

their ubjects. Some of thosepeople have also

been filmmakers. eanwhile,manyfilmmak

erswithno formal raininghatsoever claimthemantle oftheterm"ethnographicfilm,so long s there is cross-culturalspect to

thesubjectmatter.Some of thosepeople are

thoughtfulnd reflectivebout their ormal

choices, relationships ith subjects, and role in

public.Manyof themworkwithoutmuch reflec

tion n thenatureofthe relationships hey ill

establish between filmmakernd subject and

filmmakernd audience. Evenwhen traditional

subjects turn ntomakers,as in heUniversityofWashington's NativeVoices program, t snotnecessarily integrated ithanthropology;NativeVoices is communications epartment

project.

Most filmmakers roducing utside a purelyacademic environmentre typicallyhainedtoproductionmodes thatrespondto televi

sionmarkets; this nsures thatthey ill adoptformal trategiesthat taywithin the ccept

able rangefor roadcast.Much workproducedfor heeducationalmarketplaceobserves thesame conventions.Teachers regularlysework

thatwas designed considering he imperativesof commercial rquasi-commercialtelevision

markets. Inevitably,othanthropologists in

cludingthose trained in isual anthropologyand those not)and professionalfilmmakershave used theterm"ethnographic ilm"tode

scribe their ork. The linebetween theworkof

social scientists nd theworkofprofessionalfilmmakers sblurryn heeyes of theviewing

public.An example isthe film he toryof the

Weeping Camel (2003). Set inMongolia, the

pat Aufderheide,professor

inthe School of

Communication at American University and direc

tor f its enter orocialMedia, ismost recentlyauthor ofDocumentary: A Very Short Introduction

(Oxford, 2007).

26 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 60.2 / SUMMER 20 8

?2008 BYTHEBOARD FTRUSTEES FTHEUNIVERSITYF ILLINOIS



film as crafted rom fictional cript evised

byMongolian and Italian oproducers, tarringnon-actors who were nonetheless cast in their

rolesand representinghe nomadic community

as farmore isolatedthan the salt trade it articipates inpermits t obe, but it as widely

reporteds an authenticrenderingfMongoliandaily life.

Anydocumentary ormrappleswith the

coreproblem ftruthfulness?notnlywhether

anyparticular act scorrect, otonlywhether

a portrayalsa fairne and setproperlyn on

text, utalso towhomandwhy it srelevant.

Ethnographicilmraises this uestion acutely

because theterm tselfmplies therness?thatethnographic ilm s lookfrom utside a cul

ture, iving he udience a glimpse inside t. his

claimtoprovide privileged aze heightens he

usual ethicalquestionsofdocumentary. akingthe thical nd epistemological uestions even

more pointed isthecommon ituation n hich

the ubjectsofan ethnographic ilm remem

bersofcultural roupswith lesspower insocietyand media than thefilmmaker.

Thequestion of thefunctionfethnographicfilm?townom it ells its ruths, ithinwhat

context, or hat purpose?is boldlyshowcased

when film rojects directlyngage thesubjectsofa film s coproducers nd co-filmmakers.Thiswas vividly aised in familiartory hat

anthropologist-filmmakerolWorthoften told

about Sam Yazzie.Worth, longwith John

Adair,conducted theNavajo Film roject in

the1970s.Theprojectstrove toteach theNa

vajo people techniquesoffilmmakingithoutimposingestheticor ideologicalfilters. lder

Sam Yazzie,when theprojectwas described,

asked, "Willmakingmovies do thesheep anyharm?"When thefilmmakersssured him,Yazzie asked, "Willmakingmovies do the

sheep good?"Well, no, theyreplied, Thenwhymake movies?" Worth wrote, "Sam Yazzie's

question keeps hauntingus" (WorthndAdair,

qtd. inRuby ).

Thisquestion has nothaunted the BrazilianprojectVideo in heVillages,2because it as

foregrounded from the start. The answer, how

ever,has shifted vertimewithpolitical, ocial,

and personal changes.The projectwas startedin1987 and has overtheyearsfacilitated he

production fdozens of films yandwith low

landsBrazilian indigenous roups.Directors

of theorganization,nonindigenousBrazilians,have also made films xplainingtheproject,for

funders nd for eneralaudiences. Theproject,which survives n internationalrivatefounda

tion upport nd on sales of its roducts,has

undergone n illustrativevolution in ts elf

definition.

Activists Speaking For...

TheVideo intheVillages projectwas bornoutof the involvementf itsfounder, incent

Carelli,with Indian auses in1969. Thiswas the

beginning fa periodof intense oliticizationof Indianrights ssues inBrazil.After two

stage right-wingoup, themilitary overnmentin he late1960s createda new Indian gency,theFunda??oNacionaldo indio, r FUNAITheNational IndianFoundation), oprotect he

rightsf Indians, ho legally ad the tatus

ofchildren. UNAI,lways a highly oliticizedagency,functionedimultaneously s official

overseeroftheacculturationf Indiansinto

Braziliansociety typicallyoward he tatusof

landlesspeasant); as an enablerofgovernment

development in heAmazon, chargedwithget

ting he Indians ut of its athand creating rotectedreserves; nd as boundarypolice around

thedefinition fwho couldbe consideredan

Indian.FUNAI nd thegeneralswanted as few

people as possible tofallunder that efinitionand tried to use "acculturation" (clothing, Por

tuguese language, interactionithBrazilians)as indicators f exclusion.

Widelypublicized "first ontact"disasters

with theopeningofnew roads in heAmazon

gave indigenous eoples nationalvisibility,but indigenous ultural ssues largelyscaped

military ensorshipand repression. ome an

thropologistsnd activists oinedorworked

with FUNAI oprotectindigenous roups; someworked independently. roupsknown s "proIndian ommissions"sprang up after 978 to

defend Indianrights,fter UNAI nnounced

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 60.2 / SUMMER 20 8 27?2O08 BYTHEBOARD FTRUSTEES FTHEUNIVERSITYF ILLINOIS



a plan to "emancipate" (i.e., disenfranchise)

so-called acculturated Indians. Issues included

the righto identifys Indian,rights o land,

and access to government services. Indian

identity?anewconcept formany lowlandsAmazoniangroups,who oftenhadminimal

contactevenwith othergroupsoutside a lan

guage group, much less Brazilians?became

a keypoliticaltool,which pro-Indian roupsfacilitatedStephanSchwartzman,Environmen

talDefense Fund,personal communication, 9March 2007).

TheVideo in heVillages project lso took

place at a timewhen internationally,ndigenous,

orFourth orldpeopleswere beginning odemand access tomedia and to recognize he

political mportancefmedia in struggle n

which they earched for llies,both indigenousand not.Thegrowth f indigenous roductionwas markedworldwide?inCanada,where ulti

matelythe Inuitstablishedan entire elevision

network for a new autonomous area (Ginsburg,

Abu-Lughod, nd Larkin 1-44; Roth); in ustra

lia nd NewZealand (Michaels); in candinavia;

and in heUnited tates (WorthndAdair),amongotherplaces. Themeaningof thisnew

media production as widelydebated?was it

Faustianbargainor a newtoolfor olitical nd

social engagement? Ginsburg; urner)VincentCarelli, first-generationrazilian,

beganworkingwith Indians s a teenager in

1969. He moved into n Indian illageat the

age oftwenty, omanticallynlovewith the

culture. I simply anted tobe Indian,"he

laterrecalled, but the Indianswanted a friendwho couldgive them thekeystounderstand

ing hatwent on around them, ohelp them

defend themselvesfromhediseases that f

flicted hevillage" (author'stranslation; orrea,

Bloch,and Carelli21).After brief nd eye

opening stintwithFUNAI, e joined advocacy

organizations.A photographer, e began to

collecthistorical hotographsfor n archive

that Indians ould consult,and they id, often

in earchof relatives ho died inthe inevitablecontagionof contact.Hewas drivenbythepolitical oal ofcultural urvivalfor ndian roups

(Aufderheide 74-88).

In1987Carelli started theVideo in heVil

lages project,undertheauspices ofan activ

ist ndigenous-rightsroup that it ventually

outgrew.Carellioriginally nderstoodthiswork

tobe puttinghis professionalcapacitiesas a

photographer nd videographer t thedisposalof Indian auses. "Iwould neverhave imaginedat thattimethatwe would train ndigenous

filmmakers," ewrote (Correa t al. 23). The

project'sgoalwas to"make accessible to

Indiansthevision, theproduction nd thema

nipulation f their wn image, nd at thesame

timetosee to it hatthese extremely solated

communities ouldget to knowothergroups,

fostering omparisonsof their raditions ndexperiencesof contactwith national society"

(Centro e Traballio Indigenista).

Activists Speaking With...

AlthoughCarellihad set out todedicate his

skillsto Indian auses, on his first ilm e dis

coveredthat Indiansdemanded some control

of theprocess. Even Indianswhowere alto

getherunfamiliar ith filmmakingecognizedthatrepresentation ad powerandwanted to

assert theirrightosome ofthatpower.A Festa

daMo?a (1987),which showed how theNam

bikwara Indians reintroduced ore traditional

elements toa ritualfter atchingtheir wn

performancef it n video, ended up beinga

coproductionwitha Nambikwara eader.The

leaderwanted tobe sure thathisgroupwas

represented s fierce nd competenttodefend

its erritorynd culture. hiswas at a timewhenIndianswere becomingaccustomed tobringingvideo into oliticalnegotiationswithBrazilians,and they hereforessociated thestorytellingwith cultural efense.

Carelli nd his now latewife,Virginia a

lad?o, an anthropologist, egan documentingIndian ife ith thehelpof Indians.Theirfirst

films, hichwere project fundraisingoolsas

well as tools for Indian self-awareness, featured

such standardstylistic lementsas stand-upinterviews and voice-over. Such interviews, of

course,plainlyposition thefilmmakers theone in charge, and voice-over establishes the


?2008 BYTHEBOARD F TRUSTEES FTHEUNIVERSITYF ILLINOIS



omniscient narrator's version of the story. The

Video in heVillages projectquickly ttracted

Brazilian anthropologists, who often were activ

ists indefense of Indian culture and were anti

FUNAI. orkingwithanthropologists onvincedCarellito reflectn his formaltrategies s

vehicles of the power of representation. He ad

opted more direct-cinema approaches, reduc

ingvoice-over and capturing Indians' debates

about issues of identityfter iewingfilms.

Thework ofVideo in heVillages revealed,

indisputably,hat Indians ere usingvideo to

reflectroductivelyn their wncultural roduction nd reproduction.he films hemselves i

rectly answered the concerns of well-intentioned

funders and viewers, who feared that access to

videomightpollute pristine ulture. arelli nd

Valad?o began documenting encounters be

tween ulturallynd linguisticallyelated ndian

groups, in series.MeetingAncestors(1993)was a notablesuccess notonlywith the Indian

groupswho made the film?oneofwhichwas

more familiar ith Brazilian ulture nd could

counsel the more newly contacted?but also

with international audiences.At the ame time, hey orkedwith Indians

toproduce less filmic ocumentations f ritual

and videos made for xchangewithothers, nd

they eveloped librariesn ome thirtyillages.

They reated thisworkon theterms he Indians

chose. Forexample,theWai?pi believe that he

video imagebrings hepresenceof theperson,and so they xercise pecial precautions hen

the ubjectsofvideo see themselves. hey lso

have a strict rinciple freciprocitynd showtheir ideos onlytopeoplewhom theyhave

"met" by video. Among the Xikrin and Xavante,

chiefsmust negotiate irectlyith each otheroverscreenings Centro e Traballio Indigenista).

The filmsmade bytheVideo in heVillagesstaff began to circulate at national and inter

nationalfilm estivals. s they id,Carellisaw

the clash between audience expectations and

hisprimaryoal.Audiences in heglobal north

wanted reinforcement of a romantic notion of a

primitive, pure, static, noble-savage way of life,

tragicallyoomed andworthy f regret. arelli

and the Indians ho coproducedwithhim,by

contrast, wanted viewers to understand them

as peoplewitha vital culture orthdefend

ing, ne thatwas constantlyhangingwith the

timesbut thathad as much integritys anyoneelse's. Frequently, Carelli noted, audiences

focused this frustrationn him.

Carellibelieved that udiences usuallyfailed

to realize the on-the-ground realities of the

Amazon. Some accused him, for instance, of

polluting hepurityf Indian ulture ybringingtelevision. But most Amazonian groups already

had access tomainstream Brazilian media by

1987.Carelliregularlyaced the accusation in

universityettings fslighting omen's stories

because Carelli nd Valad?o workedwith (uniformly) ale leadership fAmazonian tribes

and allowed themtodictate theterms f the

project.He also routinelyaced thechargethat

hewas speaking for he Indians s director,rather hanallowing n indigenous esthetic

to surface. However, festival and university

audiences did notsee thevideos thatwere

inappropriateoa festival ramework,ncludingthe extensivedocumentationmade by Indian

groupsof their wn rituals.Rather, heVideoin heVillages projectwas taking dvantageof the festival howcase in rdertodisplay itsown fundraisingideos, designed for otentialfunders as proof of the project's success.

Festival udiences also typicallyailedto

grasp thepoliticalrealities ehind theVideo

in heVillages project, ll stemming romhe

primaryoal ofsupporting nd strengtheningthepoliticalpositionof Indians is-?-vis he

Brazilian state. For instance, Carelli alwayschose toworkwith the individual r faction hat

appearedmost capable ofmakinguse of this

toolpoliticallyas opposed tosomeonewho

wanted a videomakingcareer).He accepted the

gender inequalities of power inmany Amazo

nianvillages.He revealed Indians rinkingnd

drunk hen drinking as partofa ritual ere

mony. He also, inone film, included a scene of

the Indians rguing boutwhetherthey ughtto let hite

peoplesee themdrunk

VincentCarelli,personal communication,1 July993).TheVideo in heVillagesprojecthad firmly

taken positionon thepurposeand audience

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 60.2 / SUMMER 20 8 29?2 8 BYTHEBOARD F TRUSTEES F THEUNIVERSITYF ILLINOIS



for ts ork. The corefunctionsf thevideowork

producedthroughheprojectwere neither ca

demic nor commercial, but political. Rims made

by nd with Indians eremade in he erviceof

strengtheningoth tribal dentitynd awarenessof theconcept"Indian,"withwhichsome ofthe

groups were unfamiliar. Others were not aware

of theenormouspolitical ignificance f identify

ing hemselves s Indians, ywhich they ould

act in oncert hen pressuredbytheBrazilian

governmentrbyBrazilianbusinesses. Rims

made primarilyyVincent nd otherBrazilian

filmmakersn heproject?typicallynthro

pologicalactivists?werethusmade for oth

political nd economicgoals, tokeep theprojectgoingwith internationalundingupport. hey

depended on their lose relationship ith Indian

groups in reating hework, swell as theirwn

political nalysis,tokeep theproductsusefulto

theprimary oliticalgoal.Indians uickly rasped the tatusofhaving

video capacity, video library,nd attention

fromeyondtheboundaries ofFUNAI. ndians

began touse thevideos as calling ardsas they

established relationships ith related ulturalgroups in eveloping political oalitions.Theyused their wnvideos as trainingilms or oung

people and asmemorybooks.Theygrappledwith inevitable roblems fstorage nd equipmentbreakdown, urninggain and again to

Video in heVillages fornswers.Carellifoundhimself n perpetualbattletoconvincefundersin heglobal north osupport projectthat

hadwithsuccess lost tsnovelty utnotfound

backingfrom he Indians'most importantingleresource, the Brazilian government.

IndiansMaking News

Video intheVillages seized upon newcultural

legislation hat reated theopportunityor

Indianstomake a regular rogram n1995-96on regional Amazonian television. Progama

do ?ndio a pun,given that hetermmeans

both"the Indian how" and "a boringtime," runappealing entertainment) as, stylistically,a standard magazine-format local TV news

program, with announcers, stand-ups, voice

overs, B-roll, and boosterism. It lso lasted only

a year. ForAmazonian Indians, however, itwas

a shocking nd exciting ideo projectthat is

stillwatched. Forthem, arellinoted, itmeant

seeing themselveson a parwithBrazilians theywatched on the news.

Inspired ytraining rogramshe had seen

on hisperipateticfestivaltravels, arelliorganized ameetingof Indians in1997 from anyof thevillageswhere he had workedand estab

lished libraries, odiscuss a new focusfor he

project.ThenVirginiaValad?o died unexpect

edlyofa heartcondition in 998. Herdeath,a tragedy or hefamily,hich includedtwo

school-age children, lso affected heproject.Carelli, whose work as a filmmaker on a per

petual internationalircuithad been enabled

byValad?o, lookedfor new rolefacilitatingthework ofothers.

Cinema V?rit? intheAmazon

When Carellibegan brainstormingbout devel

opinga training rogram, e turned oa Brazil

ianwho had longbeen a resident fFrance,MariCorrea.She hadworkedat theAteliers

Varan,established in1981bythecelebrated

anthropologistnd filmmaker eanRouch.

Rouch, an anthropologist who had cometo

thedisciplineafterhisworkas an engineer in

colonialWest Africa, as one ofthefounders f

modernethnographic ilm, swell as one of the

inventorsf cinemav?rit? ordirect inema,as

he eventually hose tocall it).He made more

than hundredfilms, ften in ollaborationwith his subjects. His inspirationsncluded

Robert Flaherty?for his affectionate relation

shipwithhis subjects?and RussianDziga

Vertov, or is passion for apturing ife s it

was and then eizing therightoedit that real

itynd forcingheviewerto cknowledge the

presence of the filmmaker.

Aftern early ork {LesMa?tresFous, 1955)about ritual racticesundercolonialismthat

shockedboth FrenchndAfrican iewers,Rouchrethoughthe role nd obligationsoffilmmaker.

He unceasingly xperimented ith how toex

plorehissubjects' subjectivity,ften urningo

30 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 60.2 / SUMMER 2008




fiction, antasy,nd role-playing.e began to

see thecameraas a provocation rcatalyst o

reveal ocial realities nd conflict,hich he took

furthernlookingt hisown "tribe" fParisians

in hronicle f Summer (1961).Hewanted his films ochallengethe status

quo, including nreflectivepproaches toboth

science and art in ilm.He said thathemade

films bout otherpeople for hreereasons.

Most obviously,hemade filmsfor imself nd

for eneralaudiences. He also made them,

however,for notherreason: "Filmistheonlymethod Ihave toshow another justhow I ee

him."And if t ere participatory,ilm ecame

away ofchangingtheanthropologicalrelationship: "Thankstofeedback,theanthropologistisno longern entomologist bservinghis

subjectas ifit ere an insect putting t own)but rathers if t ere a stimulant ormutual

understanding hencedignity)" Eaton60-62).Rouen'sprofoundrespectfor hesubjectivity

ofsubjects, hisprincipledbelief in hecapacityofpeople to telltheir wn stories, nd hisab

solute conviction hattheir torieswereworth

hearing nd seeing informedhecreation f theAteliersVaran.After ozambique's independence in1975,officials ontacted Rouchtoask

him nd otherstodocumentthenewsociety. In

responsehe encouraged the search for hroni

clerswithinMozambique. TheAteliersVaran

was established in arisas a trainingite for

people, particularlyromhedevelopingworld,to learn rucialstorytellingkills in hedirect

cinemastylethatRouch embraced.There,they

notonly learned ilmmakingechniquesbutalso grappledwith theethicaland philosophical dimensions of representation.

Correa ssumed a leadingrole inrestructur

ing hemission ofVideo in heVillages and

also became Carelli'swife.On thebasis of her

experiences, particularlyithan indigenous

group inNewCaledonia, Correawas commit

ted tothenotion thatpeople could and should

develop notonlydocumentationbutalso

storiesthat ould transcend heir wn culturalcircumstances. She wanted Indians tomake

films hat ouldbe seen?like thefilmsCarelli

hadmade?in festivals nd that ould serve

as narratives or n emerging ndian ulture s

well (Correa t al. 33-39)The firsthallengeCorr?amet, as someone

whowas steeped in irect inema,was that

Indiansidentifiednlytraditional ituals sappropriate ubjects for ilming. aily life as

when nothing as happening.Corr?awanted

tobreakthrough hispreconception, n rderto

servedifferentlyhesame goal that arellihad:to create awareness, both among the Indians

and amongnon-Indians, f theirhumanity

expressed through articular ultural xpressions. Film tudentsbegan followingelected

subjects through aily routines, iscovering

mini-stories n aily life. heydeveloped intimaterelationships ith their ubjects,who

participatedin haping their wn images.This

relationship henhadmoralaswell as aes

thetic mplications,ccordingtoCorrea: "On

seeing thesefilms, e are therefore otfaced

with the Indian's truereality,'utwithan in

terpretationonstituted fat leasttwopointsofview: that f thepersonfilmingnd that f

who consents tobe filmed'' Corr?a t al. 37).

In 000 theprojectVideo in heVillages,untilthen project f another rganization, ecame

a freestanding rganization.Indiansworkingthrough heseworkshops

have produceda range ffilms, hichhavea remarkable emotional and narrative grip.

Fromthe kpeng hildrentotheWorld (2002)isa charming ideo letter ade bychildren

ofanAmazonian tribe nresponse toa video

letterbout daily life eceivedfrom uba. The

DayWhen theMoon Menstruated (2004) interweaves thetelling fanAmazonianmythwith

commentsthat uggest its ifferent eaningstodifferent embersof theKuikuro ribe. hese

filmshave nowbegun aworldwide circulation

in ilm estivals.

Thisnew success has also createda politi

callymore diffusemission. Individual ilmmak

ers are not necessarily responsive or respon

sible to tribal eaders for heir ork,and the

project'swork isno longer ocusedprimarilynpoliticalobjectives.At thesame time, hework

reflects hegrowing omplexityfBrazilian

Indians'relationship otheBrazilianstateand

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 6 .2 / SUMMER 20 8 31?2008 BYTHEBOARD FTRUSTEES F THEUNIVERSITYF ILLINOIS



w?B^^^-U^-U?U?U?^?-^^-uW^ Photo Two

*!? ^^^^^ : of he ilmrie off/?

culture and to the challenges of the unceasing

adaptation that Indian cultures must undergo

to survive.

Storytelling as Politics

Indian filmmakers still often see their creative

role as supremely political. For instance, Isaac

Pinhanta, an Ashaninka filmmaker and teacher,

celebratedthe importancefmakingvideo by

noting, "You see the world of the other and you

look at your own" (Correa et al. 18). He referred

notonlytotheworld of Brazilians and Indians

but also totheviewpoints f others inhisown

tribe and the customs of other indigenous cul

tures.

Video for him is a road to understanding?

forBrazilians, understanding of Indians whom

they sed to lookupon as lazy;for lders,

understanding fyounger eoplewhowant

tounderstand traditions ong loselyheld byelders; forAshaninka, understanding of other

tribal cultures whose customs previously sim

plydisgusted them. hisunderstanding s for

him,first nd foremost, politicaltool for he

survival of Ashaninka culture: "It is important

tounderstandtheAshaninkapeople, but it

ismore important to understand the ways in

which we are defending our people and our

land." He is not worried about introducing a

piece of Brazilian technology. Pinhanta had

opposed the arrival of commercial television to

hisvillage,but it ntered thevillageanyway.He

now wants to participate in it.

Video intheVillages, he argued,gave thema way to participate inand gain some control

of this new communications option. "No mat

ter how much we strengthen our culture and

language, we are going to change ... the ques

tion isnotthat ideo isdifferent,t show to

use video ... Someone from outside our village

may teachus how touse video, but it suswhoare making this change" (Correa et al. 19).

ForWhom and forWhat?

ForVideo intheVillages, theanswer to the

question offor hom and for hat thesefilms

are made has changed overtime. However,

Video in heVillages projectorganizershave

always had an answer. Some of the films have

been made to convince funders and other

international supporters of the worthiness of

the larger project. Some?for instance/l Festa

da Mo?a?have been made inorder to allow a

people tosee itself. ome have been made byIndians to record celebrations and significant

rituals, to keep a record, tomemorialize them


?2008 BY THEBOARD F TRUSTEES F THEUNIVERSITYF ILLINOIS



selves to their escendants, and tobe able to

share their ulture ith related roups.Some

have beenmade in rderto find he stories

within theculture fdaily life nd toexplorethe

responsibilities f the torytelling roject itself.

All of thesegoals are unitedbythecommonthread of expressing, supporting, and strength

ening the identityfAmazonian Indians s

Amazonian Indians?not only as members of

a particular inguisticnd cultural roupbut

also as membersofa collectionof suchgroups,which sharea commonsetofproblems in he

face of theBrazilian state and society. It s

highly oliticalproject,butnota partisanone.

It spolitical in sense that hould be familiar

toanAmericanpublicbecause it sdesignedto create a public where there was not one

before.This is publicmobilized not to react

on partisan linesbut to react oconfigurationsof power?corporate, governmental, political?

that menace a culture's quality of life.

Video in heVillages isethnographic ilm

making at its clearest. Here, exposing the ques

tion f the function fethnographic ilmresults

in reative ffortsochange the balance of

powerthatistraditionallyeflected otonly inthe camera's gaze but also in the social and po

litical elationships hat it andotherexpressivetools) toooftenrecordsrather hanchallenges.

NOTES

.This article is informedby research and analysisfor the chapter on ethnographic film inmy book Docu

mentary Film: A VeryShort Introduction.

2. The filmsof Video intheVillages are available

inthe United States fromDocumentary

Educational

Resources inWatertown, MA (http://der.org).

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the evolution of the video in the villages project - pat aufderheide

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