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Accepted Paper:

"I'm no lady; I'm an anthropologist!": the anthropologist in the movies  
Grant McCall (University of Sydney)

Paper short abstract:

Anthropologist feature occasionally in films and television, although by far the largest media attention goes to archaeology (ie Indiana Jones). The paper explores through comments and clips of the portrayal of anthropologist in film and television, from Charlie Chan to "Bones".

Paper long abstract:

One of the major audiences for anthropology is our portrayal in popular culture, notably in the movies and on television. The anthropological actor is a wise knower of strange things and a seeker after the exotic; a comic researcher of the obvious and a heroic defender of the oppressed.

With these images in mind and searching fictional filmic media, the paper argues that by distancing the anthropological researcher, people (and their governments) are not required to take the profession seriously but can ignore its findings as amusing and quaint, but not useful in civil society. The anthropologist has, in Erving Goffman's words, the "stigma" of "spoiled identity".

The paper is illustrated with examples using short clips integrated into the presentation.

Panel P15
Anthropology in, and about, the world: issues of audiences, modes of communication, contexts, and engagements
  Session 1