Researchers as Griots?: Reflections on Multimedia Fieldwork in West Africa

Abstract : This article examines the relationship between researchers and researched and questions about the responsibility for what is finally produced in the case of the video-documentation on Ewe migration stories (Ghana) published on the online Verba Africana series. The example shows that yet harder questions arise when we make use of audio-visual media and when the final publication is in the form of a video document available on the Internet. The article aims at contributing to the discussion on the theory and methodology of video documentation and research on oral literatures. The materials derive from Daniela Merolla and Kofi Dorvlo's video documentation project (2007) on Ewe migration stories and the festival Hogbetsotso in which these stories are re-enacted.