Ethnographic Film: Failure and Promise Author(s): David MacDougall Source: Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 7 (1978), pp. 405-425 Published by: Annual Reviews Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2155700 Accessed: 27-02-2015 16:42 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Annual Reviews is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Annual Review of Anthropology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.54.146.68 on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 16:42:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Ann. Rev. AnthropoL1978. 7:405-25 Copyright X) 1978 by Annual Reviews Inc. All rights reserved ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM: *:9620 FAILURE AND PROMISE David MacDougall Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia Ethnographic films cannot be said to constitute a genre, nor is ethnographic film-making a discipline with unified origins and an established methodol- ogy. Since the first conference on ethnographic film was held at the Musee de l'Homme 30 years ago, the term has served a largely emblematic func- tion, giving a semblance of unity to extremely diverse efforts in the cinema and social sciences.