Film as Method in the Geohumanities

Abstract

Filmmaking has become an increasing focus of interest within geography, the geohumanities, and related fields. The use of film ranges from enhanced forms of ethnographic fieldwork to the production of feature-length documentaries shown at international festivals. The making of documentaries has become an increasingly significant research method in itself that has the potential to become a widely recognized type of interdisciplinary research output. How should we interpret the role of film in relation to wider epistemological debates over the production of knowledge? How can we contextualize the methodological turn toward film within the broader historiography of filmmaking and the cinematic apparatus? This article argues that documentary film has a distinctive role to play in expanding the research imagination, enhancing pedagogic practice, reaching new audiences, and producing unique cultural artifacts. At the same time, however, the use of film is also entrained in complex debates concerning the verisimilitude of representational practices and the wider institutional context for the production and evaluation of knowledge.