Martin Gruber

University of Bremen, Department of Anthropology and Cultural Research, Faculty Member

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Martin Gruber is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Anthropology and Cultural Research at the University of Bremen. Currently Martin conducts ethnographic research on the relationships between humans and honeybees. He teaches social and visual anthropology on undergraduate and graduate levels. Martin studied Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, London and Social Anthropology at Hamburg University. He worked as a freelance filmmaker before completing a PhD on Participatory Ethnographic Filmmaking at the University of Bremen in 2013. Martin’s research interests are audio-visual research methods, ethnographic film, collaborative research, urban anthropology, political ecology and human-animal relationships with a focus on bees. Martin has conducted long-term ethnographic research in West Africa, Southern Africa, Bremen and Hamburg.

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Films by Martin Gruber

Between Islam and the Sacred Forest

by Martin Gruber and Frank Seidel

An anthropologist and a linguist from Germany are trying to understand a ritual taking place in a... more An anthropologist and a linguist from Germany are trying to understand a ritual taking place in a small village on the coast of Guinea, West Africa. They are told that two seemingly conflicting ceremonies take place during a four-day event commemorating a recently deceased woman: A Muslim celebration of the 40th day after death conducted by a local Imam and the Mkisaata ritual, performed by the members of a Nalu female secret society in honour of its deceased member. As different male parties involved tell the filmmakers their respective vision of the events, the researchers get increasingly drawn into the ritual by the women of the secret society and become part of the performance. “Between Islam and the Sacred Forest“ shows the possibilities and impossibilities of audio-visual ethnography.

Our Missionaries

A small village on the coast of Guinea, West Africa. Missionaries settled here in their effort to... more A small village on the coast of Guinea, West Africa. Missionaries settled here in their effort to bring Christianity to this Muslim dominated area. The villagers still speak warmly about their visitors. Nevertheless, the missionaries left after some years – seemingly in a rush, leaving behind many of their belongings. The film “Our Missionaries” tells the story of a misconceived intercultural encounter using the villagers’ memories and images of the missionaries’ material legacy.

Directed and filmed by Martin Gruber
Year of production: 2013
Overall length: 8 minutes

Festivals
• Days of Ethnographic Cinema, Moscow 2014
• Hamburg International Short Film Festival 2014
• Ethnocineca, Vienna 2014
• World Film Festival, Tartu, Estonia 2014
• Days of Ethnographic Film, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2014
• Antropofest Prague 2014
• Athens Ethnographic Film Festival 2013
• Ethnological Film Festival Kratovo, Macedonia 2013
• NAFA Film Festival, Bilbao 2013

Huchi - Honey

The film “Honey” depicts the production of honey from wild bees as well as different aspects of h... more The film “Honey” depicts the production of honey from wild bees as well as different aspects of honey consumption in the highlands of central Angola. In the Cusseque area honey is an important means of subsistence and cash income. It is used for medicinal purposes and helped the local people to survive the civil war. Honey is thus deeply imbedded in the local culture. The film was conceived and shot by a group of villagers from the Cusseque area during a participatory film workshop organised for the international research project “The Future Okavango”, investigating resource management in the Okavango Basin.

Directed & shot by:
Adelina Antónia, Martin Gruber, Miguel S. Hilario, Henriques Bino Job, Fatima Jose & Evaristo Quintas

Overall duration: 39 minutes
Year of shooting: 2013
Year of production: 2013
Shooting location: Chitembo, Angola

Festivals
• 14th RAI International Ethnographic Filmfestival at USC, Los Angeles, 2015
• Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival, Bristol, UK 2015
• Days of Ethnographic Film, Lubljana Slovenia 2015
• World Film Festival, Tartu, Estionia 2015
• Antropofest Prague 2015
• Ethnological Film Festival Kratovo, Macedonia 2014
• Days of Ethnographic Cinema, Moscow 2014
• EASA Conference Film Program, Tallinn, Estonia 2014
• NAFA Film Festival Isafjordur, Iceland 2014
• Days of Ethnographic Film, Bremen, Germany 2013

Papers by Martin Gruber

HUNTERS AND GUIDES: MULTISPECIES ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN HUMANS, HONEYGUIDE BIRDS AND HONEYBEES

African Study Monographs, 2018

This paper discusses the relationship between humans and honeyguide birds (Indicator indicator) i... more This paper discusses the relationship between humans and honeyguide birds (Indicator indicator) in the Adamaoua Region of Cameroon. Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, the honeyguide is known to guide humans to nests of wild living honeybees that it cannot access independently. After the humans harvest the honey, the bird eats leftover larvae and comb. While the human honey hunters increase their yield of honey by collaborating with the honeyguide, the bird is able to expand on its usual diet of insects. This unique mutualistic relationship and the changes it is currently undergoing are discussed here. While honey hunting is still common in the Adamaoua, its importance has decreased in recent years as most honey is produced from bees kept in different types of beehives, mostly conical grass hives. A relatively recent phenomenon is the increasing diversification and professionalisation of the honey trade with high demand for high quality honey. As honey from wild living bee colonies is usually of a lower quality, salvaging honey from wild bee colonies is becoming less important and the interactions between humans and honeyguides less frequent. As the birds stop guiding humans if the latter do not collaborate, we must assume that the close interspecies collaboration might end in this area.

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ВКЛЮЧЕННОЕ» ЭТНОГРАФИЧЕСКОЕ КИНО: МЕЖКУЛЬТУРНОЕ СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВО В ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯХ И КИНОПРОИЗВОДСТВЕ

Аннотация. Рассматривается метод создания включенного этнографического кино (Participatory Ethnog... more Аннотация. Рассматривается метод создания включенного этнографического кино (Participatory Ethnographic Filmmaking), разработанный автором в ходе полевых исследований в Намибии, Ботсване и Анголе. Метод предполагает коллективное со-творчество с людьми, не имевшими ранее опыта съемки, в ходе специальных обучающих семинаров. Участники семинаров конструируют форму и содержание фильма, а также способствуют их практическому воплощению. В статье показано, как можно создавать подобные фильмы в самых разных условиях. Производство включенного этнографического кино дает участникам этого процесса возможность сформировать собственный имидж в СМИ и генерирует новые формы коллективного знания.

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Parallelwelten: Eine Feldforschung über Obdachlose in der Hamburger Innenstadt.pdf

This paper presents findings of ethnographic research with a group of homeless people in the city... more

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Participatory Ethnographic Filmmaking: Transcultural Collaboration in Research and Filmmaking

Visual Ethnography, 2016

This paper introduces an approach of Participatory Ethnographic Filmmaking I developed by making ... more This paper introduces an approach of Participatory Ethnographic Filmmaking I developed by making films together with rural dwellers in Namibia, Botswana and Angola. Grounded in the field of ethnographic filmmaking, it aims at making anthropologically informed films together with groups of people with no previous filmmaking experience. Workshop participants shape the form and content of the film and contribute to its practical making. In this paper, I explain how such films can be made in a wide range of different settings. Participatory Ethnographic Filmmaking gives the participants the possibility to shape their own media image and generates new forms of collaborative knowledge.

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Books by Martin Gruber

Honey Hunting and Beekeeping in Adamaoua (Cameroon).

by Martin Gruber and Sanda Mazi

The book is a detailed ethnographic account of the manifold connections between humans, bees and ... more The book is a detailed ethnographic account of the manifold connections between humans, bees and honey with a focus on traditional honey hunting and beekeeping. The book is aimed at the academic community, as well as at beekeepers and anyone interested in natural resources and their sustainable development in Cameroon and elsewhere in the region.

Between Islam and the Sacred Forest

by Martin Gruber and Frank Seidel