Related resources
Search for item elsewhere
University researcher(s)
Academic department(s)
Ethnofiction: genre hybridity in theory and practice-based research
Sjöberg, J E
[Thesis].Drama at the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures. Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester;2009.
Access to files
Full-text and supplementary files are not available from Manchester eScholar. Use our list of Related resources to find this item elsewhere. Alternatively, request a copy from the Library's Document supply service.
Abstract
The thesis and the two films form a practice PhD in drama exploring ethnofiction ??? anexperimental ethnographic filmmaking approach pioneered by visual anthropologistJean Rouch. In the mid-1950???s Rouch started to experiment with fiction and???projective improvisation??? in ethnographic films such as Jaguar (1957-1967), Moi, unnoir (1957) and La pyramide humaine (1959). Film critics would call these films???ethnofictions???. After agreeing a story outline, the camera simply follows the subjects???improvisations of their own, and others???, lived experiences. The aim is to showaspects of ethnographic research otherwise hard to represent. A key question of thedoctoral research has been whether a nuanced understanding of foreign cultures canbe created and mediated by combining ethnographic research methods with theprocesses of dramatic work.Even though Rouch made ethnofictions as part of his ethnographic research, heinfused the genre with elements of surrealism and poetry, and often opposed anyonetrying to establish theories about his films. Defying Rouch???s view on this matter, thisthesis explores ethnofiction as an ethnographic filmmaking method by drawing on theexperiences from fieldwork and filmmaking among transgendered Brazilians living inS??o Paulo.The fieldwork resulted in a feature-length ethnofiction and an ethnographicdocumentary short:Transfiction focuses on identity and discrimination in the daily lives of Braziliantravestis and transsexuals. Informed by transgendered artists, prostitutes, healthworkers and political activists, Fabia Mirassos projected her life through the role ofMeg, a transsexual hairdresser confronting intolerance and re-living memories ofabuse. Savana ???Bibi??? Meirelles plays Zilda who makes her living as one of the manytransgendered sex workers in S??o Paulo, as she struggles to find her way out ofprostitution.Drama Queens is an ethnographic documentary short and contains four scenes fromthe over 200 hours of rushes that were recorded during the fieldwork. The scenes arefrom S??o Paulo???s annual Pride Parade and present Bibi, Fabia and Phedra who werethe main informants of the research conducted at the theatre Os Satyros in central S??oPaulo.