Timothy Asch (July 16, 1932 – October 3, 1994) was an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

, and ethnographic filmmaker. Along with

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...

and Robert Gardner, Asch played an important role in the development of

visual anthropology Visual anthropology is a subfield of social anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnography, ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media. More recently it has been used by historians ...

. He is particularly known for his film '' The Ax Fight'' and his role with the USC Center for Visual Anthropology.

Background

Asch was born in Southampton,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and attended The Putney School. He studied at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where he received his B.S. in anthropology in 1959. While at Columbia, he served as a teaching assistant for

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Col ...

, who encouraged his work in

. From 1950 to 1951, he served apprenticeships with Minor White, Edward Weston and

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

through the San Francisco Art Institute (formerly known as the California School of Fine Arts). He received his M.A. in

African Studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

(with an anthropology concentration at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

) in 1964.

Career

Asch was known for his work as an ethnographic filmmaker on the

Yanomami The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people of the Americas, indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. ...

in conjunction with Napoleon Chagnon. He also worked in Indonesia with anthropologists Linda Connor, James J. Fox and E. Douglas Lewis. In 1968, Asch and John Marshall co-founded

Documentary Educational Resources Documentary Educational Resources (DER), originally called the Center for Documentary Anthropology, is a US non-profit producer and distributor of film and video in anthropology and ethnology. It has been described by the Harvard Film Archive as ...

(DER), a non-profit organization whose mission is to support, produce, and distribute ethnographic, non-fiction, and documentary films. Asch's film work continues to be distributed through DER. Asch taught at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

, and

, and was a Research Fellow at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

prior to joining the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC) in 1982. He became the Director of the '' Center for Visual Anthropology'' after the death of founder Barbara Myerhoff. During his period at USC, he was involved with the Margaret Mead Film Festival. Asch acted as Director of the Center for Visual Anthropology up until his death from cancer on October 3, 1994

The Spring 1995 issue of ''Visual Anthropology Review'' (Vol. 11, No.1) was dedicated to Asch

Filmography

Asch was a prolific filmmaker with an extensive list of more than 70 films to his credit."Yanomamo Filmography"
, University of California, Santa Barbara Over 40 of these are short films on the

in collaboration with Napoleon Chagnon. Asch made most of his films for educational classroom use. He often showed his films to students and edited them based on student feedback. In one semester, Asch edited ''The Ax Fight'' up to twenty five times to make it more understandable and ideal for teaching. He was also a proponent of using film as a research and archive tool.

Marriage and family

Asch married Patricia Wood. Together they acted as partners with other anthropologists in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

to produce films widely used in education and research. They had four children: two daughters, Caya and Kim (who was adopted from South Korea) and sons Gregory (also known as DJ Olive) and Alexander.

References

Obituaries

Zsa Zsa Gershick, "ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMMAKING PIONEER TIMOTHY ASCH DIES"
''USC News'', 17 Oct 1994, University of Southern California

External links

Documentary Educational Resources * *

Filmography {{DEFAULTSORT:Asch, Tim Columbia College (New York) alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Southern California people American cultural anthropologists 1932 births 1994 deaths Visual anthropologists The Putney School alumni 20th-century American anthropologists Boston University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences alumni