Tim Asch

Tim Asch

A Celebration of Origins 1992

Dodoth Morning 1963

Patsy and Tim Asch filmed the celebration of the original rituals of the people of Wai Brama. This was actually filmed in 1980 but not released until 1992. This film focuses on a small group of leaders who are strugling to hold this Celebration after the death of the ritual leader in the community. The initiating rights of the ritual were opened by the leader died. This Celebration of Origins holds the order of important things such as relations between men and women; humans and deities and spirits; and the different clans.

A film focusing on the Dodoth people of Uganda when there was too much rain and the crop of millet was threatened. This focuses on the social roles, division of labor, religious beliefs and parent child relationships.

Tim Asch as Jay Ruby refers to him is out of sync because he was not interested in making a name for himself. His interest layer in creating a means to teach, train, and educate not only students of anthropology but anthropologists themselves. His movies were ground breaking but his purpose in the making of them even more so. He saw film as a powerful teaching tool that could be edited and manipulated as it needed

to be. He was a magnificent collaborator with many of the big names in anthropology. The following list is just a few of his over fifty films that made him famous among anthropologists even though fame was last on his mind.

Group 3

A Man Called "Bee" 1975

This film has Chagnon as one of the subjects being filmed. It shows him in various roles working alongside the Yamomano,sharing coffee with Dedeheiwa, giving medicine to villagers and as a fieldworker. Chagnon lived among the Yanomamo for 36 months over a period of 8 years and his commentary touches on being a field worker in this village.

The Medium is the Masseuse: A Balinese Massage 1983

Derek Freijomel - Films

Alnesha Bradley - Biography

Stacy Tinker - Contributions to Anthropology / Prezi

This is one of the five films Tim Asch did with his wife, Patsy Asch, regarding Jero Tpapkan who lives in a small village in Bali. She is highly esteemed for her ability to contact deities and spirits. This is one of the films that takes a candid look into her abilities.

Image from A Man Called "Bee"

Works Cited

The Feast 1969

Ruby, Jay. (2000). Picturing Culture: Exploratioins of Film and Anthropology. Out of sync: the Cinema of Tim Asch. Chicago. University of Chicago Press.

Documentary Educational Resources. Timothy Asch. www.der.org/films/filmmakers/timothy-asch.html

en.cyclopaedia.net. List of Timothy Asch Films. en.cyclopaedia.net/wiki/List-of-Timothy-Asch-film. 4/1/14.

Films. University of Houston. Timothy Asch. www.uh.edu/jjcrowder/images/visual_anthro/visual_FILMS.htm. 4/1/14.

Morning with Asch. 3/31/14

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6rx8_DD_708.

The Spear and Sword 1988

This film was also created alongside Patsy Asch. This was a film discussing bride wealth on the island of Roti in Indonesia. Women are important in joining clans together and keeping peace among clans. A bridewealth is considered very important due to its perception by the accepting family.

One of Asch's more famous films collaborating with Napoleon Chagnon following the Yanomamo Indians of the Amazon Rainforest. This film features a Feast that is ceremonial, social,economical, and political in nature. The men adorn their bodies with paint and feathers. This film represents a testing of alliences.