Film, Two Way Miror of the Dogon Society

Nadine Wanono Gauthier (1, 2)

1 CEMAf - Centre d'Etudes des Mondes Africains
2 SPAN - Systèmes de Pensée en Afrique Noire

1978 is the year the idea of organizing “Regards Comparés” was born. The issue was to show the evolution of how society is represented in ethnologist films, journalist films or explorer films1. Through the screening of many movies between 1978
and 1988, ethnologists and filmmakers thus rediscovered, the Bushmen of the Kalahari,
the Yanomami Indians, the Dogons of the Bandiagara Cliff, the Inuits, or the various
populations of New-Guinea. The originality of these events lies in bringing different
outlooks to bear upon the same society. The stylistic evolution of the movies and the diverse origins of documents made it possible to grasp the gradual transformation of both
the ethnologist and society.
The Committee of Ethnographic Film proposed collaborating with the CNRS Images/Média to organize in 2000 a second “Regards Comparés” on the Dogons, in tribute to Germaine Dieterlen who passed away a year before. From the filmography
established in 19982, comprising over sixty titles, a selection was established by Laurent Pellé and myself.

A partir de l'analyse de l'organisation de la manifestation et des films projetés lors du deuxième Regards Comparés consacré au dogon nous réalisons combien les choix de mises en scènes révélent les modes de représentation de notre propre société. Quel rôle l'image a-t-elle joué dans la formation des stéréotypes liés à la société dogon ?

Mots clés: Visual Anthropology; Dogon; Jean Rouch; Germaine Dieterlen

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie

Nadine Wanono Gauthier. Film, Two Way Miror of the Dogon Society. 2008. ⟨halshs-00333864⟩