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Paper short abstract:

In this presentation, the ethnographer's video of a Cambodian Eid day moves from family records to research material. Questioning the politics of inscription, the presentation makes a case for resisting subtitles in ethnographic films to forefront silenced and feminist histories.

Paper long abstract:

The video-ethnographer follows some Cambodian Cham Saeths—descendants of the Prophet Muhammad—during some annual Eid visits. Behind the camera, I record the joyful moments brought by the day before arriving at a tomb, the grave of “she”. She, the unnamed woman who survived those who didn’t, who imprints a history that cannot leave traces. History, for some Cham Saeths, is something that cannot be just spoken out, written about, or read out loud. And so it goes that “she” never quite comes through: she is written nowhere, she left no marks, she has no name, and most certainly no archives, proofs, or facts. But she did leave an impression. One that comes back today as Uncle-All-Things-History echoes her story. As I edit the film, the image of Niece-So-Little-I-Could-Make-You-Fly posing for pictures comes through. Uncle’s words come through too, and I layer them over. But subtitles cannot happen. They would make transparent the history that refuses to be. In this presentation, I will be discussing the refusal of subtitles as a political and feminist intervention in ethnographic filmmaking. My hope is that respecting silenced histories can lead us to resist the transparency often required by “good” anthropology.