A multi-authored article to inspire experimentation with geopoetic forms of storytelling
2023, HAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory
“We plan to change Visual Anthropology and employ it in the fight for socio-environmental justice. It starts on ‘home turf’ with film practitioners and the academic community.”
- Full title: A Proposition to Collaborate: (Dis)Appearing World, Geopoetic Films & Beyond
- Editors: Blake Paul Kendall and Pavel Borecký
- Authors: editors + Fabiane M. Borges, Grian A. Cutanda, Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed, Mike Poltorak, Gerrit Stollbrock Trujillo, Nadine Wanono, Pedro Afonso Branco, Hugh Brody, Benedito Cunha Carvalho, Sasha Litvintseva, M. Nazif Shahrani, Eda Elif Tibet, Loten Namling, Andrew J. Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart (Strathern)
- Journal: HAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory, forthcoming (2023)
- Language: English
- My contribution: editor and author
- Key words: Anthropocene, Visual Anthropology, Disappearing World, methodology, geopoetry
Publication Context
This collective multimedia article is based on the “Disappearing World Reloaded: a proposition to collaborate on Geopoetic films of the ‘terrestrial’” panel presented at the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Film Festival & Conference titled “Creative Engagement with Crisis”.
Working Abstract
As the late Bruno Latour argued, aesthetics of science, arts and politics are individually deficient to handle the renewed challenge of representation in the New Climatic Regime (Latour 2018). In our opinion, visual anthropology shall be no stranger to this predicament.
Yet, as of now, no academic medium has substantially approached the intersection of ecological crisis, relational turn and audiovisual methods. Moreover, social anthropology at large seems to be rather silent on climate change and the potential of more-than-textual research modalities.
In the Forum, the editors invited both experienced and up-and-coming film practitioners to pose the critical question: how to create environmentally-oriented films today? Offering both texts and videos, this multimedia collection tracks our discussions and insights gained over a twelve-month period. In the first episode, we share inspiration and reflect on the significance of the “Disappearing World” TV series (1970-1993).
In the second, we reassemble social and discuss more-than-human partnerships in and for a film. In the third, we consult techniques and inquire about the promise of geopoetics in the realm of visual anthropology. Finally, HAU Forum allows for an extra step in finding our common story, our collaborative plan, and broadcasting it further into the community.
In conclusion, we coin the definition of geopoetic films, demand the reboot of the “Disappearing World” model and propose a set of methodological principles for the experimentation with geopoetic forms of storytelling. The intention is threefold: to speculate around anthropocentric forms and contents, create a composite portrayal of the Planetary Emergency and prefigure post-Anthropocenic futures.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Episode I: Following in the Footsteps
- Episode II: Y si los árboles puderian hablar? (What if trees could talk?)
- Episode III: Our Futures of Life and Non-life
- Looking to the Future
- Looking to the Future: A Proposition
Disappearing World stills
