76 American A nlhropologisl [69, 19671

Similar objections apply to the idea that an analysis of belief in spirits is useful lor nowWestern cultures; this idea presupposes that the very complicated semantic problem of how to define “spirit” crm-culturally can find a satisfactory solution.

I The extent to which Islam may he considered a religion in the slot 11-A sense-i.e., in the sense that the actors themselves think of it as a religion-is a complicated problem. The mcat knowl- edgeable srholar on these questions is probably Wilfred Cantwell Smith, and unfortunately his testimony is ambiguous. In his 1963 publication he tends toward regarding Islam as a religion in the actors’ sense (pp. 80 l.), hut in his 1965 paper (pp. 1 I and passim) he tends toward the opposite view. My own interpreta- tion of Islam as belonging in slot 11-A is basedpn Geertz (1960), Smith (19631, and Wolfson (1942-43).

REFERENCES CITED

AUES, MICHAEL 1964 Magical-animism and Buddhism: a structural analysis

of the Sinhalese religious system. In E. B. Harper (q.v.). BECKEP, HOWAW 1957 Current sacred-secular theory and its development. In

Modern sociological theory. Howard Becker and Alvin Boskoff, eds. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

1057 Tokugawa religion. Glencoe, The Free Press.

I964 What is religion? An analysis for cross-cultural com- parisons. Journal of Christian Education 7: 116-138.

1908 On the problem of religion in non-Western cultures, International Yearhook for the Sociology of Religion IV. In press.

BELLAH, ROBERT

COHN. WEXNER

EVANS-PRITCEAW, E. E.

GEEBTZ, C L K F P O ~

MARPER, EDWAW B.

1956 Nuer religion. Oxford, Oxlord University Press.

1960 The religion of Java, Glencoe. The Free Press.

1964 (ed.) Religion in South Asia. Seattle, University of Washington Press.

L E V Y , hIARIAN J. 1952 The structure of society. Princeton, Princeton Univer-

sity Press. MINER. HORACE 1956 Body ritual among the Nacirema. American Anthro-

pologist 58:503-507. NADEL, S. F.

PIKE, KENNETFI L. 1954

1954

Nupe religion. London, Routledge B: Kegan Paul.

Language in relation to a unified theory of the structure of human behavior. Part I. Glendale, Calif., Summer Insti- tute of Linguistics.

SCHUTZ, h F R F D 1962 Common-sense and scientific interpretation of human

action. In Collected papers, vol. I. A. Schutz. The Hague, Nijhol.

Equality and the meaning structure of the social world. I n Collected papers, vol. 11. A. Schutz. The Hague, Nijhol.

1063 The meaning and end of religion. New York. Macmil-

1965 Traditional religions and modern culture. Mimeo-

1964

Ssamm, WILFRED CANTWELL

Ian.

graphed. SRINWAS, M. N. 1952 Religion and society among the Coorgs of South India.

Oxford, Oxford University Press. WOLFSON, H. A. 1942-43 T h e double faith theory in Clement, Saadia. Aver-

roes and St. Thomas, and its origin in Aristotle and the Stoics. Jewish Quarterly Review, N.S. 33:213-264.

THE NAVAJO AS FILMMAKER: A BRIEF

CULTIJRAL ASPECTS OF FILM COMMUNICATION^

San Francisco Stale College

The Annenberg School of Commicnicalions University of Pennsylvania

An experiment in film communication that holds promise as a new method for investigating some of the questions currently being asked by anthropolo- gists, linguists, and communication researchers was performed this summer a t Pine Springs, Arizona, on the Navajo reservation.

Six young Navajo bilinguals (three men and three women), who had previously been differentially exposed to film, and one monolingual (Navajo only), less acculturated Navajo woman of ahout 55, who had, professedly, never seen a film, were taught to conceive, to photograph, and to edit 16 mm silent film. The participants were instructed by Worth, assisted by Mr. Richard Chalfen, in the use of cam- eras and editing equipment. Insofar as possible (once the mechanics of the instruments had been ex- plained) we avoided influencing the Navajos in their selection and conceptualization of content and in their manner of using the equipment.

One of our working hypotheses was that motion picture film conceived, photographed, and manipu- lated by a people such as the Navajo would reveal aspects of cognition and values that may be inhib- ited, not observable, or not analyzable when the means of investigation is dependent on verbal ex- change, and particularly when it is done in the lan- guage of the investigator.

I t was further hypothesized that research on the methods of producing film images and then sequenc- ing them through the editing process might shed light on the Whorfian hypothesis, work on which has for the most part been limited to linguistic in- vestigation of cognitive phenomena.

Since there exists another mode of communication -the visual-if we treat this visual mode “as if” it were a language, we can then compare two “Iinguis- tic” structures-one verbal and the other visual- making the same kinds of statements about cogni- tion and culture compared across two modes that we can make by comparing two verbal structures in a Whorfian manner. The use of both modes, conipared across cultures, should provide an analytic structure that would make it possible to place these deeply interrelated verbal, visual, cognitive, and cultural phenomena within one conceptual framework.

The pilot phase of the field work reported here has made it clear that specific research testing these relationships cross-culturally is now possible.

A third hypothesis was that comparison of the final edited version of the films with the original footage taken by the Navajos would reveal data of interest to the value theorists as well as important

REPORT OF RESEARCH I N THE CROSS-

JOIIN ADAIR

SOL WORTH

Brief Communicatiom 7 7 cognitive data. I t was reasoned that the selection of subjects by the Navajo filmmakers would in itself be an evaluative act. The editing of the visual images, in which subject matter was totally discarded or else was emphasized by the length of the shot, by posi- tioning, or by repetition, nould provide data that would supplement investigation that has heretofore depended primarily on verbal communication.

l’echnical Specifiations The cameras used were Bell and Howell Filmo 70

DH, 16 mm, three lens turret cameras, equipped with Angeneuix 10 mm, 25 mm, and 75 mm lenses. Quick Set tripods, Zeiss Movikon viewers, Norwood Sekonic exposure meters, and Movieola rewinds constituted the rest of the equipment. Plus X and 4X negative Eastman Kodak film was used. Editing tables and film racks were constructed in the field from old library tables, one-inch by 12-inch lumber, metal clamps, and paperclips. Equipment and film for four filmmakers \\ere carried to the field. Com- plete equipment and film for one filmmaker could be fitted into one fiber carrying-case 24‘XS”X 15‘.

The film was processed in Denver by a commercial film laboratory, edge numbered, and returned to Pine Springs (50 miles west of Gallup, New Mexico). I t was recognized from the beginning that rapid feed- back would play an important role in the motivation of the Navajos in norking on their films. We were able to make arrangements with the laboratory in Denver so that the interval between shooting and the return of the film print was anywhere from two days to one week. During the first two weeks of in- struction the films shot were fed back every other day. Film shot hy the Navajos at 3 P.M. on a Mon- day was ready for viewing a t 12 noon on the follow- ing Wednesday.

Seleclion of Participants l ive of the Navajo students were selected in Pine

Springs, where Adair had first worked in 1938 and had maintained his contacts up to the present. The selections were made with the advice of a young leader in the community, who insisted on there being an equal number of men and women. He chose him- self and one younger clan-related male and three nomen: a talented weaver, 25 years of age, and two high-school girls, both daughters of the local political leader. The sixth student (the third male) was an artist, selected by the investigators, trained (in the Indian Art School in Santa I e ) in various visual media, and highly acculturated. having gone away to school for many years. He still, however, retained his lluency in the Navajo language and maintained contact with his family in another community 50 miles from Pine Springs.

hfetliod of ZnslriccliOn A specific, nondirective method, which has been

developed by \Vorth for the teaching of “bio-docu- mentary” filmmaking and hitherto used only with

filmmakers of our own culture, was used with the Navajos. The essential attribute of this method is that the choice of subject and the method of struc- turing the film are left completely to the novice film- maker. In this particular case, the Navajos were able to begin using the motion picture cameras after one day of instruction. The use of this method with the Navajos makes it possible for us to compare both the films and the filmmaking behavior of the Navajos with Worth’s students a t T h e Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania, and a group of 11- to 14-year-old Negro drop-outs in Phila- delphia with whom Worth and his students have worked.

Choice of Film Subjects Before instruction started, each student discussed

(on tape) his notions related to what he wanted to make a film about. The students were encouraged to shoot and edit 10 to 15 “practice shots” of about 5 seconds each before starting on a “real” film. The Navajos started editing their “practice shots” on the fifth day.

The “artist” produced a 15-minute film, Inirebid Shadows, that can be termed a semi-abstract treat- ment of the Navajo Yeibechai. This film was the one least understood by the community when the films were shown to them a t the end of the experimental period. The “young leader” produced two films. One was entitled Shallow Well Project and showed how the community developed a much-needed water supply (he had previously had experience in super- vising just such a project). His second film, Navajo Silversmith, depicted a clan relative working at his craft. The weaver shot her own mother, also a weaver, working at her craft; this film shows the entire process of making a rug from the shearing of the wool through ta the final weaving. The third male, who in recent years has lived off the reserva- tion but for the last few months had been living in the community, made a film entitled Antelope Lake, which depicts the way in which a nearby lake is used by the local residents. The two high-school girls chose to work together on a film of their grandfather, a well-known medicine man. Neither girl had ever seen a sandpainting, and this lack of ritual knowl- edge coupled with the problems of “directing” their grandfather led to multiple-role ambiguities both for the girls and for their grandfather. Finally, a film was made by the mother of the weaver. She was taught by her daughter to use the camera and the light meter (despite her illiteracy) and then to edit her own film. Her subject was her daughter weaving a t a belt loom.

Data Collected The six Navajos conceived, photographed, and

edited six 20-minute films and three 5-minute films. Our materials include 12,OOO feet of 16 mm film, from which these completed films were made, as well as sound tapes and field notes recording the teaching

78 A mericait A iztkopologisl [69, 19671

process, the comments of the Navajo filmmakers upon viewing their rushes, and their answers to inter- view sessions conducted weekly during the shooting and editing and after the completion of their films. These interviews were designed to elicit reasons for specific placements of shots in sequence and specific choices within the shots. The films were shown to approximately 50 members of the Pine Springs com- munity; we have interviews in depth from a sell- selected sample of 10 of these Navajos about their reactions to the films and their preferences.

Preliminary Findings The field work, completed in August, 1966, was

designed (1) to determine the feasibility of teaching people of another society to use film “language”; (2) to determine if it was possible to observe this process and to collect data about it in such a way as to assist other on-going research exploring the structure and meaning of film “language” communication, as well as problems in the general area of language and culture; (3) to determine the extent to which this versatile and language-free method will enhance our understanding of tribal and folk societies by enabling the people themselves to project their own culture through the use of a new mode of communication; and (4) to determine if data gathered in this way could shed light on some of the problems encoun- tered in “guided innovation.”

P u r p m (1) has dearly been confirmed, although generaJizatislrs beyond the Navajo (or similar cul- tures) can only be speculative at present. It is, how- ever, now possible to demonstrate the extent and variables of such generalizations through fairly con- trolled experiment.

Data have been recorded relative to purposes (2) and (4) in five general areas: (a) the learning situa- tion, (b) the choice of subject, (c) the method of work, (d) the finished film, and (e) the reactions of the community to the finished film. As to purpose (3), initial examination of these first films has pro- vided insights into Navajo values and indicates that the use of this medium as a research tool in the field will yield increasingly rich returns.

It has been found in preliminary study of the data that comparisons between the Navajos, the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania filmmakers, and the Philadel- phia Negro drop-outs in the five general areas out- lined above (a-e) yield both daerences and “univer- sals” in the relationships between film and “linguis- tic” and cultural variables.

The next task in the research is an analysis, along the lines outlined above, of the films (the completed films as well as unused footage), the process of con- ceiving and producing the films, and the sound tapes and field notes.

In addition, the investigators are currently editing a film of their own depicting the processes upon which the research effort is focused, and recording the behavior and attitudes of the Navajos in their handling of film techniques. The Navajo films and

the film being made by the investigators, accompa- nied by preliminary analyses, will be shown to pro- fessional audiences upon completion of the release prints.

The authors would appreciate hearing from any- one who has knowledge of films that have been or are being made ~ J Y members of primitive or folk societies.

NOTE

1 The research rqworted liere was supported by the Xatioiinl Science Foundation.

CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THE S E X R 4 T I O IN THE INCIDENCE OF STUTTERING’

RONALD MLDhI, \Y

Vanderbilt L’niversily ScItool of M e d u i n e The studies reported on the ratio of male to female

stutterers have differed somewhat, but researchers generally agree that the males outnumber the ir- males by approximately four lo one. Speech patholo- gists have been concerned with this fact and gener- ally conclude that the etiology of this disorder must in some way be related to sex differences. The re- ported explanations for this are almost as varied as the theories of the etiology of stuttering themselves.

Although numerous efforts have been made to explain this phenomenon, one testable hypothesis is that stuttering is found more often in the male he- cause of the greater social demands beiig made upon him, rather than because of a weakness in the male constitution. The proponents of this theory feel that the sex difference in the incidence of stuttering is culturally determined and can be explained on the basis of unequal environmental pressure on boys and girls. Schuell concludes:

A tenable hypothesis would seem to tie that the male child, whose physical, social and language development proceeds at n slower rate than that of the female, encounten more unequal competition, and consequently more frustrations. particularly in relation to language situations, than the female child, nnd as a result he exhibib more insecurity, more haitanry and more inhibitions in speech [1946:2951.

Bloodstein and Smith (1954:464) seem to indicate that while boys may be less fluent than girls, parents seem to set higher demands for fluency on the boys and thus are more inclined to label their sons as stutterers than their daughters.

In order to test the validity of this hypothesis it would be of value to investigate a society where demands on the female are increased and where the male is allowed more freedom, with fewer demands made on him in terms of his performance and pro- ductivity. In our society such a cultural group esists in the lower socioeconomic segment of the populn- tion, where absence of a dominant male is more characteristic. This family pattern seems to be prom- inent in the Southern Negro population, where “ma- triarchal” characteristics are frequently observed. For this study a “matriarchal” home was defined as

b