Visual Anthropology (journal)

Visual Anthropology is an English-language journal that publishes articles, discussions, and book and film reviews in this visual area of cultural anthropology and in closely related fields, particularly film studies and art history. The main focus is on studying human behavior through visual means, and also analyzing the visual products of specific cultures, such as arts and textiles. Considerable space is devoted to visual theories, technologies and methods for recording and analyzing behavior, especially through the use of photography and cinematography. There have also been a number of articles on the history of visual anthropology itself. Some articles examine the use of mass media in various cultures; others analyze the structuring of social reality through rituals and other performances or visual productions.^[1]

Contributors come from more than two dozen countries. Notable articles include Luc de Heusch's history, “The Cinema and Social Science: A Survey of Ethnographic and Sociological Films” (vol. 1(2): 99–156). Paul Henley has also in recent years published several long articles on the early history of ethnographic filming. An interview with the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson appeared in volume 5(3-4): 331–337. Jens Kreinath's article, published on the centenary of Émile Durkheim’s landmark book, "Basic Forms of Religious Life" (1912), shows for the first time how Durkheim's work, un-illustrated like all the rest of his highly theoretical studies, was based on a meticulous examination of published photographs of Australian Aboriginal rituals (vol. 25(5): 367-420). It is noticeable that while ethnographic films by such prominent figures as Jean Rouch, Robert Gardner, John Marshall and Timothy Asch were repeatedly reviewed and discussed, none of those four experts ever contributed a paper to the journal.

The journal was founded in 1987 by Jay Ruby, who edited the first three volumes. Since 1991 the editor has been Paul Hockings, a British anthropologist based in the United States.^[2] The journal was initially published by Gordon & Breach, but from 2002 onwards its publisher has been Taylor & Francis, a British publisher who brings out the journal from Philadelphia under the Routledge mark. There were four issues a year until 2004, increasing to five issues a year from 2005, appearing in January, March, May, August and November. Detailed analytic cumulative indexes have been published at the ends of volumes 10, 20 and 30.

In 2008 Gareth Davey analysed the content of the first twenty volumes.^[3] He found that although 48% of papers in those papers had originated in the United States, “The articles ... covered 80 countries, authored by scholars in 25 countries.” Among all contributors in these volumes, 57% were male and 43% female. Of those who were in academic institutions, 49% were in anthropology departments, while a further 17% were in media studies.^[3]

Each volume of the journal since 2005 has run to nearly 500 pages. Several hundred copies of each issue are published, for academic libraries and subscribers, but the online usage of certain articles can sometimes exceed twenty thousand. In this regard Michael FitzHenry’s article, “China Art by Phone: Mobile Movies” (vol. 21(3): 202-216) probably holds the record for downloads. The journal is printed on high-gloss paper for the best presentation of the numerous photographs, a few of which are in color. Perhaps the most attractive color presentation was in Janet Davis’s 1993 article “Spectacles of South Asia at the American Circus, 1890–1940” (vol. 6(2): 121–138).

Visual Anthropology is indexed in Anthropological Index Online, Anthropological Literature, Abstracts in Anthropology, Films: Visualization of Anthropology, and the International Bibliography of Periodical Literature on the Humanities and Social Sciences.^[4]

References