Ethnofiction is a subfield of

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

which produces works that introduce art, in the form of

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

, "thick descriptions and conversational narratives", and even first-person autobiographical accounts, into academic works. In addition to written texts, the term has also been used in the context of filmmaking, where it refers to ethnographic

docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary film, documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or ciné ...

, a blend of documentary and fictional film. It is a film type in which, by means of fictional narrative or creative imagination, often improvised, the portrayed characters ( natives) play their own roles as members of an ethnic or social group.

History

Ethnologist

Jean Rouch Jean Rouch (; 31 May 1917 – 18 February 2004) was a French Filmmaking, filmmaker and anthropologist. He is considered one of the founders of cinéma vérité in France. Rouch's practice as a filmmaker, for over 60 years in Africa, was char ...

is considered to be the father of ethnofiction, with Robert Flaherty as an ancestor. Rouch discovered that a filmmaker interferes with the event he registers: the behavior of the portrayed individuals, the natives, will be affected by the camera's presence. Contrary to the principles of

Marcel Griaule Marcel Griaule (16 May 1898 – 23 February 1956) was a French author and anthropologist known for his studies of the Dogon people of West Africa, and for pioneering ethnographic field studies in France. He worked together with Germaine ...

, his mentor, Rouch considers it impossible for a non-participating camera to record "pure" events in ethnographic research. An ethnographer cameraman, in this view, will be accepted as a natural partner by the actors who play their roles. The cameraman will be one of them, and may even be possessed by the

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

of dancers during a ritual celebration and induced in a state of ''cine-

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

''. Rouch thus introduced the actor as a tool in research. Ethnofiction has also been developed in Portuguese cinema. Ethnic films have been common in Portugal since the 1930s, particularly from the 1960s to the 1980s and in the early 21st century. The remote Trás-os-Montes region in Portugal and the former Portuguese colonies of

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

and the

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

islands are common subjects of such films. These films depict local realities along with legends and surreal imagery, producing works of ethnofiction.

Chronology

1910s

* 1914 – '' In the Land of the Head Hunters'' by Edward S. Curtis,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

1920s

* 1926 – '' Moana'' by Robert Flaherty, US

1930s

* 1930 – '' Maria do Mar'' by José Leitão de Barros,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

* 1931 – '' Tabu'' written by Robert Flaherty and directed by F. W. Murnau, US * 1932 – ''L'or des mers'' by Jean Epstein,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

* 1933 – '' Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan'' by

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

* 1934 – ''

Man of Aran ''Man of Aran'' is a 1934 Irish fictional documentary ( ethnofiction) film shot, written and directed by Robert J. Flaherty about life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters living in premodern condition ...

'' by Robert Flaherty, UK

1940s

* 1942 – '' Ala-Arriba!'' by José Leitão de Barros,

* 1948 – '' Louisiana Story'' by Robert Flaherty, US

1950s

* 1955 – ''

Les maîtres fous LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimen ...

'' (The Mad Masters) by

* 1958 – '' Moi, un noir'' (Me a Black) by

1960s

* 1961 – '' La pyramide humaine'' by

* 1962 – ''Acto da Primavera'' (Act of Spring) by

Manoel de Oliveira Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira (; 11 December 1908 – 2 April 2015) was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about Wor ...

* 1963 – '' Pour la suite du monde'' (Of Whales, the Moon and Men) by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault,

* 1967 – ''Jaguar'', by

1970s

* 1976 – '' People from Praia da Vieira'' (Gente da Praia da Vieira) by António Campos,

* 1976 – '' Trás-os-Montes'' by António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro,

1980s

* 1982 �
''Nelisita'': narrativas nyaneka
by Ruy Duarte de Carvalho,

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

* 1988 – '' Mortu Nega'' (Death Denied) by Flora Gomes,

Guiné-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to its north and Guinea to its southeast. Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kin ...

1990s

* 1997 – '' Ossos'' by Pedro Costa,

2000s

* 2000 – '' No Quarto da Vanda'' (In Vanda's Room) by Pedro Costa,

* 2003 – ''

Terra Longe Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scienti ...

'' (Remote Land) by Daniel E. Thorbecke * 2006 – '' Colossal Youth'' by Pedro Costa,

* 2007 – ''Transfiction'' by Johannes Sjöberg

2010s

* 2011 – '' Toomelah'' by Ivan Sen * 2012 – '' The Act of Killing'' by Joshua Oppenheimer,

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, ...

* 2014 – '' Cavalo Dinheiro'' (Horse Money) by Pedro Costa,

* 2014 – '' La creazione di significato'' (The Creation of Meaning) by Simone Rapisarda Casanova,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

* 2015 – '' Dead Slow Ahead'' by Mauro Herce * 2018 – '' Zanj Hegel la'' (Hegel's Angel) by Simone Rapisarda Casanova,

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

* 2018 – '' The Dead and the Others'' by João Salaviza,

* 2019 – '' Vitalina Varela'' by Pedro Costa,

* 2019 – ''Work, or To Whom Does the World Belong'', by Elisa Cepedal, Spain * 2024 – '' Anime galleggianti'' by Maria Giménez Cavallo,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Footnotes

External links

Ethnofition
at The University of Manchester (watch video)
Ethnofiction and Beyond: The Legacy of Projective Improvisation in Ethnographic Filmmaking
by Johannes Sjöberg

– Article (French) by Gaetano Ciarcia a
Université Montpellier III

Rouch & Cie. – un quintette
– Article (French) by Andrea Paganini at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
Ethnic Portraits and Ethnofiction
a
Mubi

The war of dreams: exercises in ethno-fiction
by Marc Augé (google books)
Ethnofiction : drama as a creative research practice in ethnographic film
a
Mendley
– Paper by Bloom, Elizabeth A., Ed.D., STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON, 2006
Language description and "the new paradigm": What linguists may learn from ethnocinematographers
– Article by Gerrit J. Dimmendaal, University of Cologne, a
University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Ethnofiction and the Work of Jean Rouch
a
UK Visual Anthropology
* {{Jean Rouch Ethnography Visual anthropology Anthropology documentary films Film genres Cinematic techniques Drama genres Documentary film genres Fiction by genre Fiction forms Television genres