The MA in Visual Anthropology has been central in shaping my theoretical, methodological and practical work as an anthropologist.Sarah Pink - MA Visual Anthropology 1989-90 - Professor of Media and Communication, RMIT University
I really appreciate how you've given us not only the building blocks, but also the theoretical grounding to be good visual anthropologists.Karlia Campbell - MA Visual Anthropology 2009-10, EDF pathway - Visual Anthropologist at VIA Pictures
The MA is possibly the most fun bit of education I have ever done. Aside from learning the basics of hands-on film-making, it is a very different way of doing anthropology.Gavin Searle - MA Visual Anthropology 1993-94 - BAFTA award winning documentary director
It was provocative and challenging to work out how I could use filmmaking as an analytical tool to shape, not just reflect, my research process.Alyssa Grossman - PhD Social Anthropology with Visual Media 2004-10 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Gothenburg
The MAVA was one of the most inspiring educational and creative experiences of my life. Aside from making deep friendships, I grew tremendously during this period.Jana Carrey - MA Visual Anthropology 2006-07, EDSEM Pathway - Freelance documentary photographer
I was very satisfied with how fast I progressed with my filming skills, since when I started, I did not even know how to switch on a video camera!Andre Cicalo - PhD Social Anthropology with Visual Media, 2005-10 - Marie Curie IOF Research Fellow, King's College London
My experience in Manchester made possible an old dream: to incorporate a new language – the audiovisual – in the anthropological discourse.Sylvia Caiuby Novaes - Postdoctorate 1993-95 - Professor of Anthropology at the Universidade de São Paulo
Here is what makes the Granada Centre the best place for visual anthropology
For over 20 years, the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology has been widely recognised as the world’s leading centre for Visual Anthropology. Its graduates have produced more than 300 ethnographic documentary films seen around the world and it is now at the forefront of the emergent dialogue between art and anthropology, including sensory ethnography, experimental and practice-based methods, sound, photographic and digital media, and art/museum installations.
Our MA and PhD programmes combine anthropology with training in film-making, editing, photography and sound. Students are provided with professional equipment and supported by an internationally renowned staff comprising the largest visual anthropology faculty in Europe. We welcome students from across the social sciences and humanities and the course is tailored to meet the needs of different levels of anthropological and film-making experience.
Manchester is a creative, energetic and cosmopolitan city noted for its music scene, media links and industrial past. An advantage of studying in Manchester is the cheap cost of living and accommodation in that rents are approximately half the cost of London.
He who never fails, never risks anything. What is the most interesting thing in life? Very probably to run risks. That for me is our profession.Jean Rouch 1967
Updates, events and work in progress from our students and staffView All →
For 2021 we decided to run an online version of the course, to take place between 31-May and 29 June 2021. The course is already sold out to the members of our waiting list. Please use the form below to…
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The Granada Centre collaborates with Manchester University Press on a new exciting book series called Anthropology, Creative Practice and Ethnography. The series aims to provide a new forum for authors and practitioners from across the digital humanities and social sciences…
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Our MA in Visual Anthropology cohort 2018-19 will soon graduate. Join us at the screening of their documentary films and exhibition of their multimedia works. The event, called Through the Looking Glass, is a unique opportunity to witness our students’…
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Two of our PhD in Social Anthropology with Visual Media students, with support of AHRC, are co-organising the Visual Research Network 1st International Residency Conference and residency entitled ‘Creative Image; Ways of seeing, representing and reshaping reality’. The residency will…
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We are pleased to announce that Paul Henley, founder of the GCVA, has been assigned a number of leading roles in the forthcoming Festival International Jean Rouch, which is celebrating Rouch’s centenary. On the strength of Paul’s research on Jean…
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Graduation is approaching for our MA Visual Anthropology students. Join us at Leaf on Portland Street in central Manchester on October 21st and 22nd 2017 to experience the work they completed during the summer. Films and exhibitions will be on…
Read more →Our online short course in ethnographic documentary has already sold out to the members of our mailing list. Get on it if you want to be notified of openings: bit.ly/1ukYmXn
The Teaching and Technical Staff involved in running the courses at the Granada Centre
GCVA Director.
My regional specialism is Japan: I conducted fieldwork in the Kansai area, Kyushu, Tokyo and Okinawa. Some of my research interests include Zen art, art practice as ethnographic research, visual and sensory studies, the political ecology of military systems, soundscape studies and sound art practice.
Lecturer in Social and Visual Anthropology.
My research interests include hunting, perception, the senses, visual anthropology, sound, phenomenology and embodiment. I worked on donso hunters in Burkina Faso, West Africa, looking at their relationship with a changing environment and embodied knowledge. I make documentary films, photography and sound recordings.
GCVA Founder (Leverhulme Research Fellow 2014-2016).
My current research project, The Silent Time Machine, funded through a Leverhulme Major Fellowship, is an investigation of ethnographic film prior to portable synchronous sound. Longer standing interests include the work of Jean Rouch (presented in The Adventure of the Real, Chicago 2009), the ethics of documentary film-making and the classical ethnology of indigenous Amazonia. I am also engaged in a long term film-making project about memory and landscape in rural Tuscany.
Professor of Anthropology.
My regional specialisations are Kampala, Uganda and New York, USA. I do research on experiences of illness, death and dying (especially from HIV/AIDS), in relation to the aesthetic appreciation of time, existence, and otherness; I am also interested in phenomenology, art, performance and creativity, time, comparisons of personhood, religious change, gender and urban experiences.
Part-Time Senior Lecturer in Visual Anthropology.
I make documentary films on subjects relating to anthropology and experiment with new methods and technologies for filmmaking as research. I am interested in the uncertainty that surrounds momentous life changing experiences. I have made films about childbirth, death, adolescence, old age, adventure and identity in the UK, India and Peru.
Director of MA in Visual Anthropology.
My area of studies ranges from indigenous politics, through transnational migration to postcoloniality (Brazil, Portugal). The research project I’m currently developing, Emerging Urban Convivialities: Everyday interactions between foreigners and long-term residents in a pacified favela in Rio de Janeiro, brings together my previous work with middle-class migration and a recent interest in processes of neo-liberal urban renewal and gentrification.
Honorary Lecturer in Visual Anthropology.
Since 1992 I have worked as a director and cameraman for documentaries on British TV, including the BAFTA and Royal Television Society award winning series Welcome to Lagos, Tribe and Meet the Natives for BBC and Channel 4. At the GCVA I transmit to students my experience in production to help them translate their skills into employability.
Emeritus Professor, Ethnographer and Filmmaker.
A Manchester graduate (PhD, 1968), I began long-term southern African fieldwork in 1960, first among Kalanga and later among Tswapong in rural and urban Botswana. My seven films include Counterpoint Botswana (2011) and Holy Hustlers (2009), which accompanies my book, Holy Hustlers, Schism and Prophecy (2011).
Media Coordinator
I worked as an editor at ITV Granada and BBC News, with around 600 on screen credits, then moved onto camera work starting in 16mm film and then digital. I have worked on animations such as Bob the Builder and Postman Pat as well as on the world’s longest running TV soap opera Coronation Street. I offer technical support to the students at the GCVA as well as give away TV secrets of how to make a good film. I’m interested in popular culture, the queer scene and all things Manchester.
