Жоғалып бара жатқан мәдениеттерді сақтау: Этнографиялық жазбалар

Recording of practices of endangered cultures

Salvage ethnography is the recording of the practices and folklore of cultures threatened with extinction, including as a result of modernization and assimilation. It is generally associated with the American anthropologist Franz Boas; he and his students aimed to record vanishing Native American cultures. Since the 1960s, anthropologists have used the term as part of a critique of 19th century ethnography and early modern anthropology.

Frances Densmore (1867–1957), an influential ethnomusicologist, worked in the tradition of salvage ethnography. Densmore recorded the songs and lyrics of Native Americans in an attempt to preserve them permanently. Many of her original recordings, preserved on wax cylinders, are archived at the Library of Congress. Artists compounded the work of professional anthropologists during this time period. Photographer Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952) was preceded by painter George Catlin (1796–1872) in attempting to capture indigenous North American traditions that they believed to be disappearing. Both Curtis and Catlin have been accused of taking artistic license by embellishing a scene or making something appear more authentically "Native American". Curtis notes in the introduction to his series on the North American Indian: "The information that is to be gathered respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost." Salvage ethnography started to be applied methodically in visual anthropology as ethnographic film since the 1950s by filmmakers such as Jean Rouch in France, Michel Brault and Pierre Perrault in Canada, or António Campos in Portugal (early 1960s), followed by others (1970s). Salvage ethnography is often taught in film and media studies courses as a style of filmmaking that captures a civilization or people's former way of living. The best example of this would be Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North. In Nanook, Flaherty staged incidents and scenes that did not fairly represent the Inuit tribe's current way of life, but rather their "former majesty".

Elias Bonine – American photographer known for his portraits of 19th century Native Americans. George Catlin – American painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West. Edward Sheriff Curtis – American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and on Native American peoples. Frances Densmore – American anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and ethnographer focused on Native American music and culture. Germaine Dieterlen – French anthropologist and student of Marcel Marcel Griaule, known for her studies of the Dogon people of West Africa. Marcel Griaule – French anthropologist known for his studies of the Dogon people of West Africa. Alfred L. Kroeber – American cultural anthropologist. Felipe Lettersten – a Peruvian artist who believed he was preserving the Amazon rainforest cultures by casting sculptures of indigenous people. Robert H. Lowie – Austrian born American anthropologist, focused on North American Indians. Geraldine Moodie – Canadian photographer who took early photos of Indigenous peoples in Northern Canada. Jimmy Nelson – British photojournalist and photographer known for his portraits of tribal and indigenous peoples. Jean Rouch – French filmmaker and anthropologist focused on Africa.