History of Society for Visual Anthropology

Abstract

The Society for Visual Anthropology (SVA) was founded as a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in 1984 to encourage the development and use of visual media in anthropological research and teaching. The adoption of photographic technology, along with film and video, into anthropological practice informed the development of a visual anthropology early on, but visual media were not formally incorporated into anthropological and ethnographic research until the 1970s, through predecessors of SVA to be discussed in depth in this article. SVA was developed largely by North American anthropologists who identified the growing importance of visual media to anthropological studies, and argued for greater critical awareness in the implementation of their use. SVA continues to be an active subsection of the AAA, as well as producing the journal Visual Anthropology Review (VAR). In the journal American Anthropologist (AA), SVA contributed heavily to the ethnographic film section beginning in the 1960s and continues to contribute through the newly renamed Multimodal Anthropology section. In addition to serving as a forum for members interested in visual anthropology, SVA has advocated the use of visual media for satisfying promotion and tenure requirements. In 2001, AAA formally approved guidelines created by SVA for the professional evaluation of ethnographic visual media, to assist in the tenure and promotion processes for anthropologists working with and producing visual materials. Historical documents of the SVA have been archived at the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives in Suitland, Maryland by SVA Historian Joanna Cohan Scherer. SVA developed from the Society for the Anthropology of Visual Communication (SAVICOM).