The Transition from Subject to Producer: Longhorn Miao’s Participatory Collaboration in Animation
Fig. 1 - Longhorn Miao people, photography by Miao students, 2018.
The development of animated documentaries has expanded the functions of animation art, including recording the culture and life of ethnic minority communities or particular social groups and conveying their voices. Animations like The Stitches Speak (Nina Sabnani, 2009) and They Call Us Maids: The Domestic Workers' Story (Leeds Animation Workshop, 2018) endeavoured to make animation content represent the subjects’ views more accurately. To do so, the animation team established various cooperative relationships through interviews, discussions, and the collection of feedback.
China is a multi-ethnic country. Longhorn Miao is the least populated branch (population 4000) of the Miao ethnic group in China. Since they live in the remote Suojia mountain area, they live in isolation and keep their traditional way of life (including dress and daily customs). Their traditional lifestyle has attracted mainstream media attention and explained or speculated about the different historical and cultural characteristics of Longhorn Miao from a mainstream perspective (Fig. 1).
Since the early 1990s, with the improvement of traffic conditions, the rise of local tourism and the impact of mainstream culture, it is evident that the culture of the Longhorn Miao area has shown both decline and reconstruction. On the other hand, Longhorn Miao had no written words. In the past, their culture and history were passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition, but now more and more young people are entering the city to work. Because of not living in their hometown for a long time, they have lost the opportunity to learn and understand the traditional culture. According to my survey in 2018, only three elderly people can sing the entirety of the ancient marriage folk song of Longhorn Miao.
Fig. 2 - The image of Miao wedding in Longhorn Miao’s Love Songs, Yijing Wang, 2018).
Based on this question, I cooperated with the Longhorn Miao people to complete an ethnographic animation of Longhorn Miao’s Love Songs. This project explores the way of visualizing the oral culture (ancient marriage folk song) of ethnic minorities in the form of animation. Furthermore, it focuses on using participatory cooperation to transform the Longhorn Miao people from passive subjects into active participants to ensure their natural perspectives could be reflected in the animation (Fig. 2).
I consider the potential contradiction between Longhorn Miao's emic viewpoint and my (external researcher) etic viewpoint in the practice of animation. This animation's practice was based on Clifford Geertz’s ‘experience-distant’ and ‘experience-near’ theories (Geertz 1974, 26-45) and combined methods of participatory design and ethnological fieldwork to construct a practical mode so that the viewpoint of Longhorn Miao dominates the animation.
Participants in this animation are divided into two groups: young Longhorn Miao people (G1), they have specific batik painting skills and are familiar with Miao and Mandarin. As an internal animation group, G1 participated in fieldwork and animation production. Old Longhorn Miao villagers (G2) are familiar with the marriage customs and oral culture of Longhorn Miao. G2 provides us with knowledge and cultural memory of related traditional cultures and provides suggestions for animation content.
Fig. 3 - Interviewing the Longhorn Miao community members, photography by Yijing Wang, 2018.
In the early stage of fieldwork, ethnological researchers must collect data through interviews. Therefore, G1 participants and I conducted random semi-structured one-on-one oral interviews with community members based on the film's content. According to the principles of application of interview forms in ethnographic field investigations, if researchers have a specific understanding of the respondents (insiders) in terms of their culture and social conditions, the semi-structured interview is of significant value. This is because the open questions of this format encourage respondents to answer authentically, representing the respondents' perspectives beyond the pre-conceived ideas of the researchers (Fetterman 2010, 40-41) (Fig. 3).
For example, an interview with an older man about whether he would play the traditional long-horned Miao musical instrument Sanyanxiao was conducted. To clarify, the Sanyanxiao is made from local golden bamboo; the name ‘Sanyanxiao’ comes from the fact that the instrument only has three holes. He not only gave an affirmative answer, but also told us about the traditional customs of Sanyanxiao. In traditional customs, the Longhorn Miao boys would learn Sanyanxiao performance methods from the elders to engage in courtship in the future. However, the current young Longhorn Miao people are influenced by modern culture and technology (such as smartphones). Their love processes and methods are not very different from the young men and women in the city. Playing Sanyanxiao is no longer a skill they need to master in courtship activities, so it is gradually being lost. Just as Chinese scholar Li Chulin proposed in investigating the traditional cultural event of Tujia ethnic minorities in China, value is the cause of demand, and demand is the embodiment of value. Without the value and demand, there is no motivation to learn traditional skills (Li 2012, 58) (see Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 - The image of playing Sanyanxiao in Longhorn Miao’s Love Songs (Yijing Wang, 2018).
After the collection information was completed, we entered the animation production stage. Since Longhorn Miao’s Love Songs is an ethnographic animation centred upon the Longhorn Miao, the narrative structure is based on interview recordings. G1 participants conduct animation design according to their artistic aesthetic style. I explained and transmitted some basic knowledge of animation production to the participants and encouraged G1 participants to expand their art forms into animation. At the same time, G2 participants were regularly invited to view the progress of film production and encouraged to provide feedback and comments. This feedback was an essential basis for any required adjustments or improvements to the ethnographic animation production. After the first version of the animation was completed, G1 participants and I showed the film to a wide range of community members to receive more comprehensive feedback. This was used to complete any changes to the final animation, ensuring the content was based on the cultural consensus of the authenticity and objectivity of a group.
As a visual archive, ethnographic animation expands the expression of ethnography and makes animation works possess non-fictional attributes. Ethnic minorities display their own culture, especially oral culture, in animation, ensuring that certain cultural memories that cameras cannot satisfactorily photograph are turned into a visual form. In order to ensure the reliability of animation content, researchers need to establish close and cooperative relations with these groups and give them the right to self-determination when interpreting their culture. As Nick Lunch and Chris Lunch emphasized, simply handing over cameras is not a participatory video. Instead, participatory imagery is a set of techniques to involve a group or community in shaping and creating their own film (Lunch & Lunch 2006, 4;10).
Employing participatory design transforms ethnic minorities from cultural subjects into active researchers and film producers throughout the process. Moreover, in participating in animation production, ethnic minorities express their own cultural and aesthetic propositions while increasing their awareness of their own culture. Thus, in addition to the academic significance of exploring the practical principles and methods of ethnographic animation, its social relevance is also worthy of attention.
Whether it is a minority in China or a minority globally, participatory ethnographic animation will be an art and cultural activity that can bring long-term significance to the community. The younger generation could have the opportunity to learn animation and new media-related technologies in the practice and make animation a new medium and carrier for expressing the voice and cultural heritage protection. With its instantaneous and extensive characteristics, animation breaks the limitations of cultural dissemination, enabling the younger generation of ethnic minorities to learn their own traditional culture and enhance their cultural confidence in different locations.
**Article published: August 20, 2021**
References
Geertz, Clifford. 1974. “From the native's point of view: On the nature of anthropological understanding.” Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 26-45.
Fetterman, David. 2010. Ethnography: Step-by-step. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Li, Chulin. 2012. “Gaituguiliuhou tujiazu chuantongwenhua de bianqian (Changes in Tujia Traditional Culture after Eliminating the System of Tusi, 改土归流后土家族传统文化的变迁).”Journal of Guiyang Municipal Party School (3): 58-61.
Lunch, Nick. and Lunch, Chris. 2006. Insights into participatory video: A handbook for the field. Oxford: InsightShare.
Biography
Dr Yijing Wang is an assistant professor at Beihang University. She was awarded PhD in Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (2020). Her research is using animation as a form of ethnographic documentary, exploring animation’s potential to document the underrepresented cultures of minorities. Her ethnographic animation Longhorn Miao’s Love Songs won the Minority Contribution Award and Short Film Award at 13th 56 Moon Animation Festival (China, 2018). She currently teaches animation documentary and related courses on minority’s folk arts, and at the same time conducts research on ethnographic animation and protection of minority intangible cultural heritage.