A Study of William Crocker's Photographic and Film
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A STUDY OF WILLIAM CROCKER’S PHOTOGRAPHIC AND FILM ARCHIVE RELATING TO THE CANELA INDIANS OF BRAZIL Volume 1 Fabiola Iuvaro December 2017 Dissertation Submitted in Fulfilment for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sainsbury Research Unit for the Africa, Oceania & the Americas School of Art History and World Art Studies University of East Anglia This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract This doctoral research studies the anthropology of Dr. William Crocker and his recording enterprise, the Festival of Masks of the Canela groups of Maranhão state, Brazil. Crocker began field research with the Canela in 1957 and continued to do so intermittently until 2011. Photography and film played a major part in his observation and his use of these media proved extremely innovative in ethnographic study. Until now, these recordings have been largely unexamined and academically undervalued, and the footage about the group’s ceremonial life was almost unknown to anthropological and general audiences. The PhD is a detailed consideration of these important ethnographic data (footage, fields notes and photographs). This thesis is an analysis of his visual enterprise, discussing its relative neglect, the circumstances under which the images were taken, the ideas which informed them, and the general methods employed in making them. Later chapters use the visual materials to analyse the ethnographic content of the Festival of Masks ceremony. The Festival of Masks is a complex ceremony that takes place over several days, in which the participants (or at least those who dance) disguise themselves with Masks. Begging, shame and compassion are the most important picture-like qualities of the Masks. The focus of my work traces Crocker’s process of recording ‘raw’ photographs and footage about bodily-mask expressions and movements, in order to demonstrate that these images can be used as data to reassess Canela personhood. The thesis, firstly follows Crocker’s attention on the Festival, then turns to how the Festival achieves the task of helping to construct personal ‘selves’ as part of a nexus of social relations. I argue that the ceremony presents an important way by which the Canela conceptualise the nature of being a human: the central importance of sharing in the formation of Canela personhood. The Festival of Masks can be seen as a model for how to live. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 6 Preface ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter One: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 8 1.1 A brief overview of Crocker’s collection today ......................................................................11 1.2 Research questions and aims ....................................................................................................12 1.3 Contextualising Canela: lifeways, worldview and sociality ...................................................14 1.4 An overview: Festival of Masks and the Canela History .......................................................28 1.5 Chapter organisation ................................................................................................................33 Chapter Two: Historical and anthropological perspectives on William Crocker’s visual work among the Canela ......................................................................................................... 37 2.1 Crocker and study of the Canela .............................................................................................37 2.2 Parameters of the Fieldwork ....................................................................................................38 2.3 Methodology...............................................................................................................................43 2.4 A comprehensive study of the films .........................................................................................44 2.5 Preliminary discussion and analysis of the Masks .................................................................47 2.6 The overlooked ..........................................................................................................................52 Chapter Three: Practices of generosity among the Canela and the Festival of Masks ... 54 3.1 The embodied Amerindian community ...................................................................................55 3.2 Photographs as histories ...........................................................................................................57 3.3 Food practices ............................................................................................................................59 Chapter Four: The Festival of Masks: form and activities ................................................ 66 3 4.1 A general overview of the Festival ...........................................................................................67 4.2 Brief overview of the Festival phases .......................................................................................68 4.3 A description of the Masks’ forms and preparation ..............................................................68 4.4 General movements of the Masks ............................................................................................70 4.5 Council meetings........................................................................................................................71 4.6 The middle part of the Festival ................................................................................................72 4.7 The terminal part of the Festival .............................................................................................74 4.8 The ‘great days of the Mask’s dance .......................................................................................75 4.9 Brief resumé of the Festival’s events .......................................................................................76 Chapter Five: Festival of Masks: emotions and performance ........................................... 78 5.1 From anger to compassion........................................................................................................79 5.2 From shame to generosity .........................................................................................................81 5.3 Canela: reading of the body .....................................................................................................83 5.4 The importance of food in Canela sociality.............................................................................84 5.5 The language of generosity .......................................................................................................85 5.6 Discussion: ‘keeping the other happy’.....................................................................................86 Chapter Six: Sharing among the Canela ............................................................................. 88 6.1 The affective conditions of Canela sociality ............................................................................90 6.2 Weaving Canela knowledge ......................................................................................................92 6.3 Summary ....................................................................................................................................93 Chapter Seven: The myth of Awkhêê in the Festival of Masks celebration ..................... 95 7.1 The myth of Awkhêê .................................................................................................................95 7.2 The generative power of Awkhêê’s myth ................................................................................97 7.3 Masks’ circumambulation and community ..........................................................................100 7.4 Going round together ..............................................................................................................101 7.5 Summary ..................................................................................................................................101 4 Chapter Eight: Canela ethno-history ................................................................................. 103 8.1 Impact of outsiders ..................................................................................................................104 8.2 The Festival of Mask ceremony in 1960, 1964 and 1970 ......................................................109 8.3 Toward the 21st century .........................................................................................................113 Chapter Nine: Conclusion ..................................................................................................