Ethnographic Turkish documentaries as reminders of cultural memory

This study aims to contribute to the discussions on the cultural transfer of ethnographic documentaries by analyzing seven documentary films containing ethnographic and cultural elements. For this purpose, a research consisting of three parts was designed. The first part is devoted to culture and cinema, the second part is to social memory and ethnography. In the third part, the research method and the analysis of the films are given. Here, it is argued that ethnographic documentaries are not only works of art but also a means of cultural transmission due to the ethnographic elements they contain. In the second part of the study, a qualitative analysis was carried out on how to classify ethnographic documentaries. In this study, seven films selected as samples were analyzed by making content analysis over Karl G. Heider's ethnographic film analysis table. In the light of the findings, the role of ethnographic documentaries in the transmission of culture and the continuity of social memory has been revealed.