Tim Asch

Infobox Writer


imagesize = 200px
name =Timothy Asch
caption =Filmmaker, anthropologist, and photographer Tim Asch
pseudonym =
birthname =
birthdate =birth date|1932|07|16
birthplace = Southampton, New York
deathdate =death date and age|1994|10|03|1932|07|16
deathplace = Los Angeles, California
occupation = Professor
nationality = United States
period =
genre = Visual anthropology
subject =
movement =
notableworks ="The Ax Fight"
influences =
influenced =
website =

Timothy Asch (July 16 1932 – October 3 1994, Los Angeles, California), was a noted anthropologist, photographer, and ethnographic filmmaker. Along with John Marshall and Robert Gardner, Asch played an important role in the development of visual anthropology. He is particularly known for his film "The Ax Fight".

Background

Asch was born in Southampton, New York and attended The Putney School before joining Columbia University where he received his B.S. in anthropology in 1959. While at Columbia, he served as a teaching assistant for Margaret Mead who encouraged his work in visual anthropology. From 1950-1951, he served apprenticeships with Minor White, Edward Weston and Ansel Adams through the San Francisco Art Institute (formerly known as the California School of Fine Arts). He received his M.A. in "African Studies" from Boston University (with an anthropology concentration at Harvard University) in 1964.

Career

Asch was known for the his work as an ethnographic filmmaker on the Yanomami in conjunction with Napoleon Chagnon. He also worked with anthropologist Jay Ruby.

He taught at New York University, Brandeis University, and Harvard University, prior to joining the University of Southern California in 1982. He became the Director of the "Center for Visual Anthropology" after the death of founder Barbara Myerhoff. During his period at USC, he was involved with the Margaret Mead Film Festival.

Asch acted as Director of the Center for Visual Anthropology up until his death from cancer on October 3 1994.

Filmography

Lists

* [http://www.usc.edu/dept/elab/welcome/resume/asch.html Bibliography of works]
* [http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/axfight/updates/yanomamofilmography.html UCSB YANOMAMÖ Filmography]

Films

*"Dodoth Morning" (1963)
*"The Feast" (1969)
*"" (1971)
*"Ocamo Is My Town" (1974)
*"Arrow Game" (1974)
*"Weeding the Garden" (1974)
*"A Father Washes His Children" (1974)
*"Firewood" (1974)
*"A Man and His Wife Weave a Hammock" (1974)
*"Children's Magical Death" (1974)
*"Magical Death" (1974)
*"Climbing the Peach Palm" (1974)
*"New Tribes Mission" (1974)
*"Yanomamo", a one-hour special for Japanese television (1974)
*"The Ax Fight" (1975)
*"" (1975)
*"Moonblood" (1975)
*"Tapir Distribution" (1975)
*"Tug Of War" (1975)
*"Bride Service" (1975)
*"The Yanomamo Myth of Naro as Told By Kaobawa" (1975)
*"The Yanomamo Myth of Naro as Told By Dedeheiwa" (1975)
*"Jaguar: A Yanomamo Twin-Cycle Myth" (1976)
*"The Sons of Haji Omar" (1978)
*"A Balinese Trance Seance" (1979)
*"Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Seance Observed" (1980)
*"Jero Tapakan: Stories From the Life of a Balinese Healer" (1983)
*"The Medium is the Masseuse: A Balinese Massage" (1983)
*"The Water of Words" (1983)
*"Spear and Sword" (1988)
*"Releasing the Spirits" (1990)
*"A Celebration of Origins" (1992)

Further reading

* Barbash, Ilisa and Lucien Taylor. "Cross-cultural Filmmaking: A Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos." Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
*Heider, Karl G. "Ethnographic Film (Revised Edition)." Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.
*Lewis, E. Douglas. "Timothy Asch and Ethnographic Film." New York: Routledge, 2003
* Ruby, Jay. " [http://astro.temple.edu/~ruby/ruby/sync.html Out of Sync: The Cinema of Tim Asch] ." In "Picturing Culture: Essays on Film and Anthropology," Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
*---." [http://etext.virginia.edu/VAR/jay-tim.html Some Hurried Thoughts about Tim Asch and Patrick Tierney] ."
*Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives. " [http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/fa/asch.pdf Finding Aid to the Papers of Timothy Asch] ."

External links

*cite web|url=http://der.org/films/yanomamo-series.html
accessdate=2007-01-17
title=Tim Asch: Yanomamo Series
work=www.der.org

*imdb_name|id=1192503|name=Tim Asch

* [http://www.usc.edu/dept/elab/welcome/resume/aschobit.html Biography 1]

* [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/asch_timothy.html Biography 2]

* [http://www.iwf.de/va-origins/biograph/asch_3.htm Brief biography]