Jean Rouch. Un antropòleg de les fronteres

Abstract

Jean Rouch (1917-2004) is an outstanding figure in the history of ethnographic cinema. He was a specialist in the rituals of possession in West Africa and was clearly influenced by Flaherty’s and Vertov’s cinema. His method and theoretical perspective challenged the principles of scientific positivism and the objectivist theories of ethnographic cinema. Specifically, Rouch set in motion a “shared anthropology” in his fieldwork, based on the construction of non-hierarchical relations between the anthropologist and the community studied by him. He also regarded the idea of “reflexivity” as the main axis of scientific knowledge and ethnographic cinema. The French director criticised the classical distinction between art and science, and he always claimed for creativity, experimentation and freedom of style as essential ssues for ethnographic research.