Taking the Long Route: Ethnographic Metacommentary as Method in the Anthropological Film Practice.

Pagtahak ng Malayong Ruta: Ethnographic Commentary bilang Metodo sa Antropolohikal na Praktika ng Pelikula.

ETHNOGRAPHIC analysis; ETHNOGRAPHIC films; ETHNOLOGY; ANTHROPOLOGICAL research; TRANSNATIONALISM

This article introduces "ethnographic metacommentary," an experiential, processual, and protracted approach to ethnography. My proposed method goes beyond stating complexity as the defining characteristic of an anthropological project, visual or otherwise. To demonstrate the method, I write an ethnographic metacommentary of my 3-minute film Performing Naturalness (2008), which is about the surveillance of foreigners in Tokyo. A number of contexts on the film are explored—the political situation from which it arose, the background of the experiment chosen for the project, and genealogies of art practice. The method includes the process of "furtherings"—self-reflexive explorations that unpack aspects of the project that often retreat from anthropological ethnography. Overall, in the process of writing this ethnographic metacommentary, this article explores the nuanced experiences of Filipinos in transnational migration, contributes to the conversation on contemporary Philippine conceptual art and its relationship with anthropology and film/art practice, and fleshes out difficulties of representation in collaborative projects due to differences in intentions and locatedness. I show how ethnographic metacommentary is a productive thought process that fleshes out ruptures in the filmmaking process that are often concealed from the audience, and even from the filmmakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ipinakilala ng artikulong ito ang "ethnographic metacommentary," isang lapit sa etnograpiya na bumabatay sa karanasan, proseso, at katagalan. Ang inihahain kong pamamaraan ng pananaliksik (metodo) ay umaalpas sa pagpapakita sa complexity bilang nagtatakdang katangian ng isang proyektong antropolohikal, biswal man o hindi. Upang ipakita ang metodo, inihahain ko sa artikulong ito ang ethnographic metacommentary ng aking tatlong minutong pelikulang pinamagatang "Performing Naturalness" (2008), na tungkol sa paniniktik sa mga dayuhan sa Tokyo. Ilan sa mga konteksto ng pelikula ang hinalughog: ang politikal na sitwasyon kung saan ito umiiral, ang background ng napiling eksperimento para sa proyekto, at mga pinag-uugatan ng praktika ng sining. Kabilang sa metodo ang proseso ng "furtherings" – ang pagnilaynilay at paghihimay ng mga aspekto ng proyekto na kadalasang nalalagpasan ng etnograpiyang antropolohikal. Sa pangkalahatan, gamit ang proseso ng pagsusulat ng ethnographic metacommentary, ang artikulong ito ay: naggagalugad ng iba't ibang karanasan ng mga migranteng Pilipinong naninirahan sa ibang bansa; umaambag sa usapin ng conceptual art sa Pilipinas at ang relasyon nito sa antropolohiya at paggawa ng pelikula/sining, at; naghihimay ng mga isyu tungkol sa representasyon dulot ng pagkakaiba sa intensyon at kinalulugaran ng mga nagko-collaborate sa isang proyekto. Ipinapakita sa artikulong ito kung paano ang ethnographic metacommentary ay isang produktibong proseso ng pagninilay-nilay na hihimay sa sala-salabat na isyung nakapaloob sa paggawa ng pelikula na hindi agad litaw sa manonood, at kahit na sa mga gumagawa mismo ng pelikula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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