It is extremely rare for us to encounter researchers’ corporeality in the field as directly shaping the appearance of ethnographic products. No matter how hot it was in the field, the published book would not retain a drop of the researchers’ sweat. No matter how tired the fieldworker was, we do not find misspellings (usually) or indecipherable handwriting from the field. We cannot share the rough sound of a keyboard being tapped by frustrated researchers. In my film ethnographic research, however, my corporeality directly shapes the final product of ethnographic film. Through my participative approach in a judo gym, I have been training together with the people I observe and with my hand held camera. Since I often train and handle the camera simultaneously, sometimes I notice that my hands holding the camera become shaky due to my pounding heart/exhausted forearms. Based on this field experience, I intend to share epistemological and ontological issues of (re)presentation in conjunction with considering the possibility of film ethnography as a non-­‐representational approach.

Speaker: Yosuke Washiya, PhD candidate, University of Toronto, Graduate school of Exercise Sciences

Join us in the Ethnography Lab Seminar Room, located in the Anthropology Building, room 330, on Friday, April 1st from 5-6pm for stimulating discussion.