Explorative Storytelling [Part II]

I found a definition for the topic in which I am writing about:

[Ethnographic Cinema]

And here I thought I was original with 'Explorative Storytelling.' In my research that led me to this specific genre of filmmaking, I came across an article by Laura Catalán Eraso that I found very enlightening on why Ethnographic filmmaking is important. You can view the website here or the whole article here but allow me to utilize some of its main points to ground my position on why this type of storytelling is so foundational to you and western culture as a whole.

"Ethnographic cinema is a product of social science, especially of anthropology, and as such has mirrored the developments and "crisis of representation" within these fields. Through the audiovisual language, ethnographic cinema has proven to be a unique medium of representation, able to capture sensuality and expressiveness that can hardly be grasped through other languages."

Reason 1: Ethnographic Cinema is a unique medium of representation capable of translating emotions. I have always argued that we are a visual culture and I don't see storytelling to be any exception.

"It demonstrates the role of film in illuminating the "intercultural" dynamics between minority (participant) and majority (researcher) and in challenging the traditional power relations between the researcher and his/her "subjects". Ethnographic filmmaking is a research technique that has evolved considerably since its early colonial usage (based largely around disempowered and stereotyped representations of otherness)"

Reason 2: Otherness. Don't worry, I promise it's important.

The idea behind otherness (or alterity for a fancier word) is crucial. I think all too often Americans see other methods of living, other than their own, as wrong. The correct term should be "different."  "Different" is not necessarily "wrong".

In the next few blog posts I will give examples of different methods of living that I witnessed during my stay in Papua New Guinea that contrast the way we do things here in the States.I challenge you to view these differences as a shift in your cultural norm and allow yourself to see past your Western bias.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Giant,

~Alan

Explorative Storytelling [Part I]

There is a tribe that resides on an island in northern Papua New Guinea that exists in completely different circumstances than we do as middle class Westerners. The food they eat, the way they communicate, their methods of child rearing, their justice system; all these things are vastly divergent from our cultural norms. In the weeks that I stayed in a village there, I was able to experience these cultural shifts of my western norms. These are the stories that I want to dwell on.

This poses an interesting topic of discussing based around the central question:

 'How important are these cultural differences to our Western way of living?'

I had the privilege of living with the Sursurunga tribe in New Ireland. To me, the stories that reside with these people are unlike any stories we have heard here in the States. I was submersed in a culture that radically changed how I saw my own.

In the blog entries that follow this one I want to explore this tribe's methodologies and ideologies and analyze the worth of such beliefs to the common westerner. At this point I am unsure if there is any value in these foreign stories for an American but I want to explore it nonetheless. 

For those interested, here is the trailer for the documentary I am making on this tribe. The stories outlined in the trailer are separate from those that I will be discussing in this blog. I aim to focus on the stories of my experiences as an American rather than the stories of this tribe's cultural history and Christianity.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Giant,

~Alan