During his lifetime, Robert Gardner (1925–2014) was often pigeonholed as an ethnographic filmmaker, then criticized for failing to conform to the genre's conventions—conventions he radically challenged. With the release of his groundbreaking film Dead Birds in 1963, Gardner established himself as one of the world's most extraordinary independent filmmakers, working in a unique border area between ethnography, the essay film, and poetic/experimental cinema. Richly illustrated, Looking with Robert Gardner assesses the range and magnitude of Gardner's achievements not only as a filmmaker but also as a still photographer, writer, educator, and champion of independent cinema. The contributors give critical attention to Gardner's most ambitious films, such as Dead Birds (1963, New Guinea), Rivers of Sand (1975, Ethiopia), and Forest of Bliss (1986, India), as well as lesser-known films that equally exemplify his mode of seeking anthropological understanding through artistic means. They also attend to his films about artists, including his self-depiction in Still Journey OnM (2011); to his roots in experimental film and his employment of experimental procedures; and to his support of independent filmmakers through the Harvard Film Study Center and the television series Screening Room, which provided an opportunity for numerous important film and video artists to present and discuss their work.

Assesses the range and magnitude of Robert Gardner’s achievements as a filmmaker, photographer, writer, educator, and champion of independent cinema. During his lifetime, Robert Gardner (1925–2014) was often pigeonholed as an ethnographic filmmaker, then criticized for failing to conform to the genre’s conventions—conventions he radically challenged. With the release of his groundbreaking film Dead Birds in 1963, Gardner established himself as one of the world’s most extraordinary independent filmmakers, working in a unique border area between ethnography, the essay film, and poetic/experimental cinema. Richly illustrated, Looking with Robert Gardner assesses the range and magnitude of Gardner’s achievements not only as a filmmaker but also as a still photographer, writer, educator, and champion of independent cinema. The contributors give critical attention to Gardner’s most ambitious films, such as Dead Birds (1963, New Guinea), Rivers of Sand (1975, Ethiopia), and Forest of Bliss (1986, India), as well as lesser-known films that equally exemplify his mode of seeking anthropological understanding through artistic means. They also attend to his films about artists, including his self-depiction in Still Journey On (2011); to his roots in experimental film and his employment of experimental procedures; and to his support of independent filmmakers through the Harvard Film Study Center and the television series Screening Room, which provided an opportunity for numerous important film and video artists to present and discuss their work. “This book is a monumental, fearless, and insightful contribution of critique that looks both with and at Gardner’s works as a whole.” — Catherine Summerhayes, author of Google Earth: Outreach and Activism “Looking with Robert Gardner introduces new and exciting voices into the dialogue about the renowned ethnographic and documentary filmmaker. The book contains very close readings of many of his films and suggests fresh approaches for analyzing those as well as ethnographic films in general.” — Ilisa Barbash, coeditor of The Cinema of Robert Gardner

Gardner's Dead Birds is one of the most highly acclaimed and controversial documentary films ever made. This account of the process of making the movie is also a thoughtful examination of what it meant to record the rituals of warrior-farmers in New Guinea and to present to the world a graphic story of their behavior as a window onto our own.

"These extraordinary photographs, from the eyes of eight very different photographers, remind us of the humanising role of photography..." -- Elizabeth Edwards.

Presents nine experiments that help demonstrate the properties of matter, focusing on how solids, liquids, and gases differ and how they change with temperature.

This book brings together contributions from the leaders of the language learning motivation field. The varied chapters demonstrate how Gardner’s work remains integral to a diverse range of contemporary theoretical issues underlying the psychology of language, even today, 60 years after the publication of Gardner and Lambert’s seminal 1959 paper. The chapters cover a wide selection of topics related to applied linguistics, second language acquisition, social psychology, sociology, methodology and historical issues. The book advances thinking on cutting-edge topics in these diverse areas, providing a wealth of information for both students and established scholars that show the continuing and future importance of Gardner and Lambert’s ideas.

Offers a variety of investigations, activities, and projects explaining how humans discovered Earth's position in the universe, and how we can find our own location using maps, compasses, the sun, and the stars.