Contesting Kastom: Moments of Cultural Critique in the Reef Islands Ethnographic Film Project. Issue 4 (20th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Crawford, Peter I.
• Is Part Of: Visual anthropology. Volume 31:Issue 4/5(2018)
• Page Start: 408
• Page End: 425
• Publication Date: 2018-10-20
• Subjects: Visual anthropology -- Periodicals; 306
• DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2018.1497336
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0894-9468

Abstract

Abstract : Based on the Reef Islands Ethnographic Film Project (Solomon Islands), this article examines ways in which cultural critique emerges in a long-term research and film project. The focus is on the notion of kastom, widespread in Melanesia, and often described as "traditional" culture or cultural heritage. As the article shows, this is on the one hand too simplistic and, on the other, that the camera may not only help show this but also contribute to forms of cultural critique by, for example, serving as a context-triggering device. Cultural critique may thus also become kastom critique, unsettling both Western and indigenous epistemology.