The “Marxist Ethno-Film” of Vladimir Bogoraz

Abstract

Based on previously unpublished archival documents, the article focuses on an important episode in the history of visual anthropology – theoretical developments and practical experiences of Vladimir Bogoraz, associated with the development of ethnographic cinema in the USSR at the turn of the 1920–1930s. Using the method of historical and cultural analysis and juxtaposing these documents with other relevant archival materials and thematic publications, I explore the scholarly and artistic qualities of Bogoraz’s film project that are of interest and importance to a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The presented materials from the archive of V. Bogoraz bring a double discovery: on the one hand, they uncover a history of interaction between ethnography and cinematography in the Soviet period; on the other hand, they expose an array of detailed theoretical, practical, and methodological recommendations for contemporary endeavors in the area of film research.