View source for Tim Asch

{{Short description|American anthropologist, photographer and ethnographic filmmaker}}
{{Infobox writer
| image        =
|imagesize = |
| name        =Timothy Asch
| caption     =Filmmaker, anthropologist, and photographer Tim Asch
| pseudonym   =
| birth_name =
| birth_date  ={{Birth date|1932|07|16}}
| birth_place = Southampton, [[New York (state)|New York]]
| death_date  ={{death date and age|1994|10|03|1932|07|16}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]
| occupation  = [[Professor]], ''[[USC Center for Visual Anthropology]]''
| nationality = American
| period      =
| genre       = [[Visual anthropology]]
| subject     =
| movement    =
| notableworks =''[[The Ax Fight]]''
| influences  =
| influenced  =
| website     =
}}
{{Anthropology of art}}
'''Timothy Asch''' (July 16, 1932 – October 3, 1994) was an American [[anthropologist]], [[photographer]], and [[ethnographic film]]maker. Along with [[John Marshall (filmmaker)|John Marshall]] and [[Robert Gardner (anthropologist)|Robert Gardner]], Asch played an important role in the development of [[visual anthropology]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.der.org/resources/filmmaker-bios/timothy-asch/ | title=Timothy Asch &#124; DER Filmmaker Bio }}</ref> He is particularly known for his film ''[[The Ax Fight]]'' and his role with the [[USC Center for Visual Anthropology]].
==Background==
Asch was born in Southampton, [[New York (state)|New York]] and attended [[The Putney School]].  He studied at [[Columbia University]], where he received his B.S. in anthropology in 1959.  While at Columbia, he served as a teaching assistant for [[Margaret Mead]], who encouraged his work in [[visual anthropology]].<ref name="NYTobit">{{cite news |last=Saxon |first=Wolfgang |title=Timothy Asch, 62, Professor Who Filmed Remote Societies |newspaper=New York Times |date=11 October 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/08/obituaries/timothy-asch-62-professor-who-filmed-remote-societies.html |accessdate=23 February 2015}}</ref>  From 1950 to 1951, he served apprenticeships with [[Minor White]], [[Edward Weston]] and [[Ansel Adams]] through the [[San Francisco Art Institute]]  (formerly known as the California School of Fine Arts).<ref name="Lewis">{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=E.D. |chapter=Introduction: Timothy Asch in America and Australia |title=Timothy Asch and Ethnographic Film |year=2004 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=E.D. |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134336883}}</ref> He received his M.A. in [[African Studies]] from [[Boston University]] (with an anthropology concentration at [[Harvard University]]) in 1964.
==Career==
Asch was known for his work as an ethnographic filmmaker on the [[Yanomami]] in conjunction with [[Napoleon Chagnon]]. He also worked in Indonesia with anthropologists [[Linda Connor (anthropologist)|Linda Connor]], [[James J. Fox]] and [[E. Douglas Lewis]].
In 1968, Asch and John Marshall co-founded [[Documentary Educational Resources]] (DER), a non-profit organization whose mission is to support, produce, and distribute ethnographic, non-fiction, and documentary films. Asch's film work continues to be distributed through DER.
Asch taught at [[New York University]], [[Brandeis University]], and [[Harvard University]], and was a Research Fellow at the [[Australian National University]] prior to joining the [[University of Southern California]] (USC) in 1982. He became the Director of the ''[[USC Center for Visual Anthropology|Center for Visual Anthropology]]'' after the death of founder [[Barbara Myerhoff]].  During his period at USC, he was involved with the [[Margaret Mead Film Festival]].
Asch acted as Director of the Center for Visual Anthropology up until his death from cancer on October 3, 1994. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071126180156/http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/888.html] The Spring 1995 issue of ''Visual Anthropology Review'' (Vol. 11, No.1) was dedicated to Asch. [http://people.virginia.edu/~ds8s/VAR/var11_1.html]{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}
==Filmography==
{{main|List of Timothy Asch films}}
Asch was a prolific filmmaker with an extensive list of more than 70 films to his credit.<ref>[http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/axfight/updates/yanomamofilmography.html "Yanomamo Filmography"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820104950/http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/axfight/updates/yanomamofilmography.html |date=2008-08-20 }}, University of California, Santa Barbara</ref> Over 40 of these are short films on the [[Yanomami]] in collaboration with [[Napoleon Chagnon]].
Asch made most of his films for educational classroom use. He often showed his films to students and edited them based on student feedback. In one semester, Asch edited ''The Ax Fight'' up to twenty five times to make it more understandable and ideal for teaching. He was also a proponent of using film as a research and archive tool.
==Marriage and family==
Asch married Patricia Wood.  Together they acted as partners with other anthropologists in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Indonesia]] to produce films widely used in education and research.  They had four children: two daughters, Caya and Kim (who was adopted from South Korea) and sons Gregory (also known as [[DJ Olive]]) and Alexander.<ref name="NYTobit"/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Obituaries==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071126180156/http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/888.html Zsa Zsa Gershick, "ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMMAKING PIONEER TIMOTHY ASCH DIES"], ''USC News'', 17 Oct 1994, University of Southern California
==Further reading and viewing==
===Film===
*Jayasinhji Jhala and Lindsey Powell. ''[http://www.der.org/films/morning-with-asch.html Morning with Asch].'' - 45 min. documentary (1995)
===Text===
*Abrams, Ira. "Anthropological Filmmaking: Anthropological Perspectives on the Production of Film and Video for General Public Audiences." ''Visual Anthropology Review.'' 5.2, December 1989: 18–24.
* Barbash, Ilisa and Lucien Taylor. ''Cross-cultural Filmmaking: A Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
*Heider, Karl G. ''Ethnographic Film (Revised Edition).'' Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.
*Japenga, Ann. "Visual Anthropologist in the Director's Chair", ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 17, 1987: Section 5, page 1.
*Lewis, E. Douglas. ''Timothy Asch and Ethnographic Film.'' New York: Routledge, 2003
* [[Jay Ruby|Ruby, Jay]]. "[http://astro.temple.edu/~ruby/ruby/sync.html Out of Sync: The Cinema of Tim Asch]", in  ''Picturing Culture: Essays on Film and Anthropology,'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
*[http://www.nku.edu/~humed1/darkness_in_el_dorado/documents/0166.htm Jay Ruby, "Some Hurried Thoughts about Tim Asch and Patrick Tierney"], ''Darkness in El Dorado'' Blog
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051212114600/http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/fa/asch.pdf  "Finding Aid to the Papers of Timothy Asch"], National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
==External links==
*[http://www.der.org/films/filmmakers/timothy-asch.html Timothy Asch: Biography 2], Documentary Educational Resources
*{{cite web
|url=http://der.org/films/yanomamo-series.html
|accessdate=2007-01-17
|title=Yanomamo Series
|work=www.der.org
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515091258/http://www.der.org/films/yanomamo-series.html
|archive-date=2008-05-15
|url-status=dead
}}
*{{IMDb name|id=1192503|name=Tim Asch}}
*[http://www.der.org/films/filmmakers/timothy-asch.html], Filmography
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asch, Tim}}
[[Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:University of Southern California people]]
[[Category:Cultural anthropologists]]
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:Visual anthropologists]]
[[Category:The Putney School alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American anthropologists]]
[[Category:Boston University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences alumni]]