Showings at the Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting
On March 28th I stepped into a new world (for me) by joining in on the annual proceedings of the Society for Applied Anthropology.
This year they were hosting their convention right here in Portland and my documentary series colleague Dr. Arianna Huhn tipped me off months earlier. She also planned to come and present on her own work and projects so I put together a proposal to conference organizers:
Sick in Africa: A Groundbreaking New Series in Need of YOUR Help
“This film viewing and discussion focuses on a nascent documentary series ‘Sick in Africa,’ which aims to expose the gaps in healthcare that impact medical decision making in Muslim Yawo communities in northern Mozambique. Each episode examines a character’s health challenges and their agency in a world of limited yet varied choices, with the aim of telling a more complete story of African medicine. Through its immersive storytelling, the series has immense potential to promote interest in and understanding of health needs. As an outsider and former missionary, I am seeking your feedback for creating a better product.”
Aside from spending some conference time with Arianna, I hoped to get feedback from an academic audience on what was working, or not, in my current series of three episodes. While initially it looked like a dozen or more would show up according to the Whova app responses, only one person (other than me and Arianna) stayed long enough to see all three episodes and provide the input I was looking for — Prof. Coralynn Davis.
Dr. Davis is Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Anthropology at Bucknell University and was showing her own documentary, Sama in the Forest (75 min., 2023 release). I really enjoyed the story filmed in India/Nepal and found it a wonderful example of how an academic can partner with a film producer to create a compelling, educational story. It was a moving film that is a richly layered, feminist, and participatory in its approach. The film brings to life a traditional Maithili folktale through storytelling, art, ritual, and community. It explores the power of women’s narrative expression as both a vessel of cultural preservation and a lens into changing social dynamics in the Mithila region. The documentary’s producer is Carlos Gómez, Co-Founder of the nonprofit Cineminga International, “which – in addition to making community-based films – has provided workshops and access to media production tools to indigenous filmmakers in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Japan, Nepal and Taiwan.”
So Dr. Davis was not only a viewer, but an experienced anthropological filmmaker.
My film was bundled in with a film from Chun Wang (Swarthmore College) and Vivi Zhu (Tokyo University of the Arts) entitled Magic Fingers which focuses on a winsome Chinese hairdresser living in the Chinatown area of Philadelphia. Unfortunately Chun was unable to attend in person, so I screened his film and provided a way via WhatsApp video for him to share his thoughts and receive feedback from the audience.
During our discussion time, Prof. Davis was kind enough to provide some initial thoughts before moving into some suggestions on how best to use this series:
“It’s clear that there is some level of trust that people are sharing stories with you.” [People are] “thinking very forthrightly about the way they think about the medicine, healing, and different kinds of healing modalities.” Visually, she noted that “the closeness...the kinda moving in out...really is helpful. It has an intimate feel. You can see the emotion.”
She suggested that these would work well as case studies for people who are not from there, but who will be working in these contexts especially with viewers guides specific to the audience. Fortunately this is also the direction I hope to take things by providing viewers guides tailored to academics, missionaries, or medical workers.
In her own classroom, she would encourage students to consider: 1) how they would approach this specific case, 2) try to specify their best guess on what they think is going on, 3) consider what additional information do they need, 4) observe the family dynamics and how they affect decision making, 5) take into account the local health and transportation infrastructure, access to technology like mobile phones, research where the clinics or various healers may be located, etc..
One of the strong takeaways for her was that the stories indicate there is a very strong preference to try to get help from traditional healers before going to private or government health services. She assumes this is due to the local relationship structure and involves an order of doing things that show respect. She also mentioned her appreciation for the fact that there is often several months involved in the telling of some of the stories, even following up with helpful post script notes (i.e. sharing that one film subject had died possibly due to the lack of adequate health intervention or understanding).
She brainstormed about possible audiences who could benefit from this series:
Peace Corps workers
local village extension workers
in-home care providers
first level health care workers (who can be very judgmental about the less educated villagers)
Medical anthropologist and sociologist could also find this useful as students try to understand issues of health and culture, including social dynamics and healing modalities. She suggested checking with local experts to see if any of this knowledge is considered protected and should not be shared in such a public setting.
Through this conversation I also learned about Worldcat, a massive global database that educational institutions use to find resources. “WorldCat.org is a resource for locating unique, trustworthy materials that you often can’t find anywhere except in a library. By connecting thousands of libraries’ collections in one place, WorldCat.org makes it easy for you to browse the world’s libraries from one search box.“
As I searched for my own series, I was surprised to see it listed. (Here’s what Episode 1 looks like on their site.) The downside is that membership platforms like these are sometimes out of reach financially for some institutions, so having the series available online for free can be especially helpful for professors who have not planned their class sessions in advance, as well as the obvious benefit of getting far more viewership and use.
As we wrapped up our conversation, Dr. Huhn provided some concluding thoughts with her own more intimate knowledge of the series.
She feels that the greatest strength is also a weakness because I, as the filmmaker, am not sharing anything about my own perspective. While I could lead the audience, I purposely do not. This is where the viewers guides become critical. There are so many complexities to these stories, from politics to healthcare landscapes to funding needs to language and cultural diversities. It would be impossible for viewers to know how to discern the multiple layers at play. On the one hand, the stories are told in such a way that there is no greater overarching theme or narrator, so the door is left open for a professor to showcase the things they want to highlight. But it could be very easy for viewers to read into the story without understanding the larger context. (i.e. if only Bernad had taken the pills he wouldn’t have died, or that medical science is the only right answer).
Getting the word out will be a great challenge. We discussed:
Having these as free resources on YouTube, allowing for the greatest views and use cases. (At this time they only exist on Vimeo, but need to be moved onto YouTube once the versions feel finalized.)
How do we get the word out about this unique series?
Is there a way to ensure the viewers guides are somehow connected to the video?
Could I embed the discussion questions at the end?
Should a form be created that receives feedback on who wants to watch the film and for what purpose? (This way we can have some control and ensure that the purpose is used in the proper way, and some metrics could be produced to share.)
These are ideas and brainstorms to be considered as the series progresses.
Photos above from left to right: 1) conference selfie, 2) Prof. Davis showing ‘Sama in the Forest’, 3) prepping & testing the tech to show ‘Magic Fingers’
While considering how to incorporate these helpful thoughts and comments into my series, I also plan to explore other anthropological opportunities through the Society for Visual Anthropology which is a part of the American Anthropological Association. Perhaps being in the presence of other filmmakers with unique cultural lenses and stories will be a better fit in which to collaborate in this space further. The rest…TBD.
