Gaze sensitivity - about the importance of photography in the academic training of the anthropologist

Abstract

In this text, I try to associate anthropological field research to the photographic act itself, showing what is common in these two activities: the need for clipping, proximity, intimacy and empathy, the decision about what will or will not be in focus. From my experiences at the Escola de Arte Brasil: I talk about the awareness of the gaze, the need to create repertoires and the opportunity that photography offers to change the focus - from the verb to behavior, the body, the gestures, the details about which it is not always possible to speak. I also try to emphasize the association of photography with the narrative that Walter Benjamin talks about, the ability of both the narrative and the photography to welcome the experience of those who hear or contemplate it.