Suhr, Christian, and Otto, Ton (2011) Unity through culture. [Creative Work]

	Video (MP4) (Compressed SD Video [Part 1]) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only
	Video (MP4) (Compressed SD Video [Part 2]) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only
	Video (MP4) (Compressed SD Video [Part 3]) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only
	Video (MP4) (Compressed SD Video [Part 4]) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only
	Video (MP4) (Compressed SD Video [Part 5]) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only
	Video (MP4) (Compressed SD Video [Part 6]) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only
	Video (MP4) (Compressed SD Video [Part 7]) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only

Abstract

Soanin Kilangit is determined to unite the people and attract international tourism through the revival of culture on Baluan Island in the South Pacific. He organizes the largest cultural festival ever held on the island. But some traditional leaders argue that Baluan never had culture. Culture comes from the white man and is now destroying their old tradition. Others, however, take the festival as a welcome opportunity to revolt against '70 years of cultural oppression' by Christianity. A struggle to define the past, present and future of Baluan culture erupts to the sound of thundering log drum rhythms.

Research Statement

Research Background	Hobsbawm and Ranger’s anthology, ‘The Invention of Tradition’, has generated intensive, productive and sometimes confusing debates about issues of cultural politics and continuity since its publication three decades ago. Otto has been a major contributor to these debates through his anthropological research on the politics of social transformation (Otto 1997, 2005; 2007; 2011a, b). The second in a trilogy of films developed from this research trajectory, this work extends these investigations by exploring local reflections on the changing concepts of culture on Baluan Island, PNG.
Research Contribution	‘Unity Through Culture’ is a feature-length ethnographic film that documents a festival celebrating ‘traditional culture’, and the reflexive processes by which local actors acknowledge a separation between this performative practice and other ceremonial forms and practices. Co-directed and co-produced by Otto and Christian Suhr, the film represents the bifurcation of local ideas of cultural heritage into two distinct forms: kalsa and kastam. The first work of its type to bring the voices and concerns of Baluan people to the forefront, it unearths the intellectual verve and agency of its subjects as they engage with and contest the ideologies of the West.
Research Significance	By placing Baluan voices and practices in reflexive dialogue with the ethnographer’s own understandings, the work makes a distinctive contribution to theories of social transformation in regard to agency and tradition. Screened at 16 international ethnographic film festivals and conferences, the work received two prestigious awards at the Royal Anthropological Institute Festival for Ethnographic Film (London, 2011): The Intangible Culture Film Prize, and The Richard Werbner Award for Visual Ethnography. Distributed by Documentary Education Resources in Boston and the Royal Anthropological Institute in London, the film has been used in anthropology teaching curricula internationally.
Item ID:	21610
Item Type:	Creative Work (Recorded/Rendered Work - Audio/visual recording - NTRO)
Media of Output:	DVD
Related URLs:	Author
Additional Information:	In Tok Pisin, Tok Baluan, and English with English subtitles.
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2012 23:06
FoR Codes:	20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2002 Cultural Studies > 200210 Pacific Cultural Studies @ 30% 16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1601 Anthropology > 160104 Social and Cultural Anthropology @ 70%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9599 Other Cultural Understanding > 959999 Cultural Understanding not elsewhere classified @ 50% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970116 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society @ 50%
Downloads:	Total: 4
	More Statistics