This workshop is a reflection of my journey as a female Iranian student in Visual Anthropology, based on the research project that I conducted during my bachelor studies at the University of Tehran.
I investigated on the brief and forgotten history of the first audio-visual ethnography in Iran. The research is based on the life and work of Nader Afshar-Naderi, a professor of Anthropology at the University of Tehran who was the first Iranian Anthropologist who made anthropologically informed films and how to use audio-visual materials in Anthropological studies during the 1960s and 70s. He initiated a colloquium for teaching anthropology students how to combine audiovisual materials with ethnographic knowledge.
His trailblazing method was isolated and marginalized after the Islamic revolution of 1979. As the main part of this research is shaped around looking for archives, dreaming about archives, and following them, in this workshop I would like to focus on archival silence and accessibility of knowledge. My film UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE OAK TREE (2022) is about this brief history. It will be screened and discussed within this session.
Sadaf Biglari is an Iranian Visual Anthropology student based in Münster, Germany. Prior to her current studies, she received a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Tehran. UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE OAK TREE (2022) is her first student film. The research itself was the starting point of her journey into audio-visual Anthropology.
The Workshop will be held in English.
