Reflections on Migration through Film
In contrast to the increasing body of literature on the relationship between research and filmmaking, visual anthropology has paid scant attention to the subject of audience. This lecture discusses the reactions to the screening of the documentary ‘Living Like a Common Man’ (2011).
The lecture will be preceded by a screened of the documentary, from 15.00-16:45 hrs, also in Lipsius room 307. drinks&snacks afterwards.
In contrast to the increasing body of literature on the relationship between research and filmmaking, visual anthropology has paid scant attention to the subject of audience. This lecture discusses the reactions to the screening of the documentary ‘Living Like a Common Man’ (2011). The film traces the migration experiences of Indian youth who recently moved to Britain on a student or temporary work visa. It is the visual outcome of long-term anthropological research in Gujarat and London, and was shown to audiences in India and Europe. These screenings elicited varied reactions to the main themes in the film and made people reflect on their own past experiences and future options. Seeing the film through the eyes of different audiences resulted in additional information on the ambivalent and contradictory aspects of migration and provided directions for further study. As a result, our study of audiences’ reactions to the screening of the film strengthened the mutual relationship between anthropological research and filmmaking. For more information on the documentary 'Living Like a Common Man', see: https://sites.google.com/site/livinglikeacommonman/
Mario Rutten is Professor of Comparative Sociology and Anthropology of Asia at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, and Fellow of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam. He has extensive research experience on rural entrepreneurship and labour relations in India (Gujarat), Indonesia (Central Java), and Malaysia (Kedah State), and on Indian migrants in Europe (London). Apart from contributing to international journals and edited volumes, Mario Rutten has authored Asian Capitalists in the European Mirror (Amsterdam, VU University Press, 1994), Farms and Factories (Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1995), Rural Capitalists in Asia (London, RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); and co-edited Economic Growth and Social Welfare (Dordrecht, Foris Publications, 1993), Small Business Entrepreneurs in Asia and Europe (Delhi, Sage Publications, 1997), Development and Deprivation in Gujarat (Delhi, Sage Publications, 2002), Labour and Capitalist Transformation in Asia (Special Issue of The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 2004); and Asia in Europe, Europe in Asia (Singapore/Leiden, ISEAS-IIAS Publishers, 2004).