ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the video diary can provide a particularly rich site for the investigation of situated subjectivity; being as lived within a complex network of social relations. The concept of authenticity has remained a central theme in anthropological explorations and discussions around the development of film and video as a research tool. Because video diaries have managed to do away with both elaborate technology and a film crew, they can make seductive claims to authenticity. The chapter presents an example that illustrates very clearly one of the most important aspects of the diary data as a whole: the video diary is always produced with an audience in mind. Assessing the usefulness of the video diary involves letting go of any easy over-simplistic notions of ‘authenticity’, ‘access’ and ‘empowerment’. One way to do this is through turning to moves made within postmodern and postcolonial ethnography, towards the use of film and video in the development of a ‘visual ethnography’.
