Things made by man convey a message [...] It is through things that man visualized, admittedly mainly for his own purposes, ideas and thoughts that shape his culture, his particular communication system. They are the picture-book of his culture, of a culture. All we have to do is to learn how to read it. (Gerbrands 1990, 51)
Gerbrands emphasized participatory ethnographic fieldwork and added a new element to the ethnography of material culture by introducing visual methods - both photography and cinematography. He always emphasized the importance of the study of objects and other non-verbal aspects of communication. In this way he brought material culture and visual ethnography to the University. It is necessary, he proclaimed, that the study of cultural anthropology should include both practical and theoretical training in the use and application of photography, film, and sound recording. His combination of approaches with an emphasis on the individual and on material culture (in the widest sense) culminated in Gerbrands' theory and methodology of ethnocommunication.
I intended to include a part of his film Matjemosh, which is widely acclaimed in the disciplines of anthropology of art and ethno-cinematography, but the internet claims there is not a single video that matches the keywords "matjemosh", "adriaan gerbrands" or "gerbrands anthropology". You will just have to take my word for it that this film, considering its production in the 60s, and the filmic conventions of the time, is absolutely amazing and inspirational to young visual anthropologists. I will attempt to convince Pieter ter Keurs or Janine Prins to allow me to place an excerpt of the film online. I am sure they will be happy to provide the footage, as I am sure they will agree that Gerbrand's work is not celebrated widely enough and needs to be more accessable.
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