Marcus Banks, Professor of Visual Anthropology at University of Oxford 1960-2020

This letter is for Professor Marcus Banks, my mentor and supervisor for my Masters degree at Oxford University in Visual Anthropology who sadly passed away on the 24th October 2020.  He left us too soon.  Here is a letter to him of how much he has influenced my life's work up till now and how he will continue to.  He will be greatly missed by many.  A rare, thoughtful, kind and inspiring soul.

Dear Marcus, 

When I felt like a leaf blowing in the wind after living in Japan and having an existential reckoning, I was guided to your writing which resonated so deeply with my own thoughts.  Suddenly, my way of thinking had found a home in your wise understanding of the fundamental fabric of social and cultural life. During my masters at Oxford, your tutorials always challenged me to be brave and not hide behind secondary sources, but instead use them as a backbone to bring my writing voice through and then to weave in primary evidence.  Through your teaching I was able to gain maturity and confidence in tackling difficult topics such as prejudices within isolated minorities and the complex circumstances of suffering that led to the oppression cycle continuing. You taught me how it is possible to stop this cycle of oppression and suffering through visual anthropological methods in fieldwork.  

This intense study led me to years and projects in Japan, Austria and India working with girls and minorities where I implemented your Visual Anthropology wisdom and methods.  I never got to tell you fully how much you were a catalyst for my ideas, always asking me not to take the easy route, but to look beyond what I can see with my eyes and yet paradoxically to bring out through Visual Anthropology: photography, film, symbolic art, what has been hidden.  

When I made a film in North East India with the Khasi tribe, I developed a deeper connection with the tribe through photo and film elicitation as well as uncovering hidden knowledge and revelations, giving this small minority a place and a greater voice in this world.  In this way, just as you, Marcus had taught me in my masters, I was able to understand the multifaceted network of relations through kin and tribal relations that otherwise would have been opaque and hidden behind layers of dense tribal traditions. 

In Japan, I taught teenage girls how to understand their own unique place in history and their power within it to change, by giving the girls the opportunity go through archives and find Japanese women from the 9th century to present day. What happened was phenomenal as they became enlivened and found their place in history. In Austria, I worked with girls in an orthodox Jewish community where we delved into photography archives so that they explored that Judaism takes many shapes and forms culturally and ethnically, which supported the girls and others in understanding the plethora of experience that makes up any faith or community, that is ultimately complex despite what a simple face it may seem, initially.  

It was this understanding that I had gained through your teachings at Oxford, which enabled me tackle the topic of integration and segregation of the Maghrebi community in Paris through film and photography, which has become increasingly important as we have seen through the years with Charlie Hebo illustrations and the ongoing complexities in France.  Kind, thoughtful, ethical and humanistic, always there to listen and support, putting others before yourself, but in a practical and understanding way, not self sacrificing, which gave you a certain dignity that was certainly an example that I would like to follow.  I miss you more that all my words can say, yet I have felt compelled to write so much about how your teachings touched so much of my work and will continue to, because you, Marcus with your strength, generosity, kindness and vivid, bright intelligence brought me so much light where I was struggling in the darkness.  Even though I was only your student for a short time with my masters in Visual Anthropology, over these 18 years, your writing, words and teaching have influenced my work so greatly. It is this torch that I will continue for you, so that your spirit and influence transforms others as you transformed me. Your endless support for my professional route, as unusual as it has been, never ceased to surprise me in a world where others cut ties and move on, you took human bonds seriously. 

You've inspired me to live beyond the ordinary and I will carry your extraordinary teachings and torch to light up other people's lives as you have lit mine till the end of my time here on this earthly plain. I will never forget you, Marcus.  

Thank you till eternity. 

Yours,

Jessica.

On one of his last days on the 24th of October 2020, Marcus asked his community on social media about the meaning of William Blake's poem which I think reveals his wit and his teachings in visual anthropology that I wanted to share. 

Marcus: Bit of light relief to end a dull Thursday: what early nineteenth century poem begins with four questions, to which the answer to each is 'no'?

no-one answered so he wrote:

Marcus: wimps! - the answer is Blake's Jerusalem ('And did those feet in ancient times...' etc.)

As always, an erudite scholar who looks beyond the obvious meanings that have warped Blake's poem and instead Marcus was asking us to delve a little deeper to understand the irony of Blakes' language by understanding William Blake within his context. That Blakes' poetry cannot be understood without understanding Blakes' social condition and circumstances at the time of writing as well as the time and social conditions that he was writing within. For anyone who would like to see what Marcus was arguably asking us to understand, here is a good analysis of the poem and indeed of the life and times that William Blake lived within: https://poemanalysis.com/william-blake/jerusalem/. Thank you, you remain one of the best teachers I have known.