About My Visual Work
The Visual Anthropology is an important part of Anthropology and is also one of my research interests. Through pictures and videos, I aim to promote a deep and vivid understanding and interpretation of different cultures and societies. During my fieldwork, I have taken a large number of photographs and videos. Due to space limits, I have selected some of them to display as follows.
Academic Fieldwork
To gain a deeper understanding of indigenous and local cultures, I have travelled around the world to conduct ethnographic fieldwork including China, Brazil, Bhutan, etc. I illustrate some of them below through pictures.
Tuva People
According to scholar Fan, M. F, Tuvan people were ancient hunters and nomads, and their history can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. Nowadays, Tuvan people (or Tuva people) are scattered throughout the Republic of Tuva in the Russian Federation, Mongolia, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China that borders Mongolia, the Altai Republic in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. In Xinjiang, Tuvans live mainly in three villages around the Kanas Lake in Altay Prefecture: Kanas, Hemu and Baihaba with a total population of 2,500. I conducted my ethnographic fieldwork in Tuva villages.
Wukan Village
The Wukan village nestles between ocean and mountains and is located in Guangdong of China. It has a history of over four hundred years, and a population of more than ten thousand people.The Wukan protests, starting on September 21, 2011, has attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In 2012 and 2013, as a collective ethnographic fieldwork, in Wukan village, we interviewed people who had participated in the protests through oral histories and filming, in order to unravel the cultural, social, historical and other factors behind the Wukan protests and their legacy.
Jishou and Fenghuang in Hunan Province
In 2009, as collective fieldwork, I participated in the “6th Survey of Oral History of Democratic Reform in China Southwest” as both a cameraman and an interviewer. We interviewed with people who had participated in this movement in Jishou and Fenghuang of Human Province in China through filming and oral history.
Brazil and Bhutan
In January and April 2013 respectively, I participated the research program titled Global Wellbeing and GNH Lab “Innovating Beyond GDP” run jointly by Presencing Institute in MIT and GIZ Global Leadership Academy and visited the Brazil and Bhutan. Through it, we gained a deeper understanding of the local well-being and logic of happiness of the indigenous people of Brazil and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) policy.
Brazil
Bhutan
Documentaries
(1) “Looking for Bronislaw Malinowski” (made by Yuxin Hou). December 2016. (in English)
(2) “Beggars and Dancers” (made by Yuxin Hou). February 2014. (in English with Chinese subtitles)
(3) “Brazil and Bhutan’s Happy Journey” (made by Yuxin Hou). January 2014. (in Chinese and with English subtitles)
Interview Videos
(1) An Interview with Anthropologist Michael Blim (made by Yuxin Hou). April 2017. (In English)
(2) An Interview with Sociologist James M. Jasper (made by Yuxin Hou). February 2017. (In English)
(3) An Interview with Anthropologist Katherine Verdery (made by Yuxin Hou). February 2017. (In English)
Meeting Videos
(1) Restoring Joy in A Root-Shocked World. (made by Yuxin Hou). April 2019. (In English)
(2) Two Gatherings Call by Religious Leaders for Affordable Houses for Homeless People (made by Yuxin Hou). September 2016. (In English)
Photo Collections
“Social and Cultural Crisis in Chinese Tuva Society” (Photographed and made by Yuxin Hou)
Ethnographic Music
“Saliyung” (lyrics, composed, sung and made by Yuxin Hou). June 2014
“Ayisamuby” (lyrics, composed, sung and made by Yuxin Hou) June 2014
“Samamumei” (lyrics, composed, sung and made by Yuxin Hou) June 2014
ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK RESULTS EXHIBITION
“Social and Cultural Crisis in Chinese Tuva Society”. 1L-Library Gallery, College of Staten Island of CUNY. December 2019 to January 2020
DOCUMENTARY SCREENING
- “Looking for Bronislaw Malinowski” (Film screening and discussion). Recital Hall 1P-120. College of Staten Island of CUNY. September 7, 2017
- “Looking for Bronislaw Malinowski” (Film screening and discussion). HN 732. Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of CUNY. December 7, 2016
