CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: Visual & Multimodal Anthropology for the Future

This autumn marks a milestone for anthropology at UiT: the merging of our two Master programmes—Visual Anthropology and Social Anthropology—into a new, unified degree: the Master in Visual and Multimodal Anthropology.

To celebrate this transformation, we invite the entire anthropology community at UiT to a day of reflection, conversation, and forward-looking debate.

Over the years, an identifiable “Tromsø School” of anthropological film has emerged—an approach with its own visual language, sensibilities, and international reputation. This seminar will honour that legacy while asking: how can we carry this tradition into the next decades of anthropological practice, particularly in a changing world?

Visual anthropology in Tromsø has always been about more than film—it has been about finding new ways of knowing, sharing, and engaging through collaborative and creative forms. Today, anthropology is increasingly multimodal: embracing not only film, photography, and sound but also digital media, installations, graphic ethnography, and interactive platforms. Multimodal anthropology expands the field beyond representation to experimentation, opening spaces where research becomes a form of dialogue, co-creation, and intervention.

We are delighted to welcome Professor Emerita Lisbet Holtedahl, founder of Visual Cultural Studies in Tromsø in the 1990s, and Professor Emeritus Len Kamerling (University of Alaska Fairbanks), who has been a long-time collaborator and mentor to many of our students. Together, they will reflect on the evolution, strengths, and distinctive qualities of the Tromsø tradition, and the challenges of sustaining it in an era of rapid technological and social change.

Following this, André Ganava,  will present on the visual anthropology tradition in Cameroon, building upon decades of collaboration with UiT and pushing the boundaries of multimodal research. 

Looking to the future, our two incoming associate professors—Dr. Christine Moderbacher and Dr. Mihai Leaha—will then share their visions for a multimodal anthropology that integrates film with other creative and analytical modalities. Drawing on their extensive experience as ethnographic filmmakers and researchers, they will explore how multimodality is not simply an “add-on” to anthropology, but a way of rethinking ethnographic knowledge itself: through soundscapes, performances, collaborative authorship, cross-disciplinary experiments, and more.

We are also pleased to introduce two new ethnographic filmmakers joining our teaching staff: Marte Aasen, a film editor with a decade of experience in the local industry (and a familiar face from her recent temporary role), and Alessandro Belli, a UiT Visual Anthropology graduate (2015) who has since built a diverse career in filmmaking and teaching. Both will offer their perspectives on how the new programme can meet the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing media landscape, where anthropology and film increasingly intersect with journalism, activism, art, and emerging technologies.

This gathering is an opportunity for our entire community to reflect on what we have built together—and to shape the directions our new programme will take. It is also a chance to consider how multimodal approaches can carry the spirit of the Tromsø School into new directions, ensuring that our students and colleagues continue to experiment, innovate, and contribute to anthropology locally and globally.

Everyone is welcome!

📅 Date: 29 September 2025
🕒 Time: 09:15 – 16:00
📍 Place: B1005 (Auditorium)

Programme