Photography and Anthropology

Photography and Anthropology

Author: Christopher Pinney

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1780230117

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Photography and anthropology share strikingly parallel histories. Christopher Pinney's provocative and eminently readable account provides a polemical narrative of anthropologists' use of photography from the 1840s to the present. Walter Benjamin suggested that photography 'make[s] the difference between technology and magic visible as a thoroughly historical variable, ' and Pinney here explores photography as a divinatory practice. Though viewed as modern and rational, this quality of photography in fact propelled anthropologists towards the 'primitive' lives of those they studied. Early anthropology celebrated photography as a physical record, whose authority and permanence promised an escape from the lack of certainty in speech. For later anthropologists, this same quality became grounds to critique an imaging practice that failed to capture movement and process. But throughout these twists and turns, anthropology as a practice of 'being there' has found itself entwined in an intimate engagement with photography as metaphor for the collection of evidence. Photography and Anthropology reveals how anthropology provides the tools to re-imagine the power and magic of all photographic practices. It presents both a history of anthropology's seduction by photography and the anthropological theory of photography. This thoroughly researched book draws upon an intimate knowledge of the history of anthropology, photography and the world's major anthropological practitioners.


Book Synopsis Photography and Anthropology by : Christopher Pinney

Download or read book Photography and Anthropology written by Christopher Pinney and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Photography and anthropology share strikingly parallel histories. Christopher Pinney's provocative and eminently readable account provides a polemical narrative of anthropologists' use of photography from the 1840s to the present. Walter Benjamin suggested that photography 'make[s] the difference between technology and magic visible as a thoroughly historical variable, ' and Pinney here explores photography as a divinatory practice. Though viewed as modern and rational, this quality of photography in fact propelled anthropologists towards the 'primitive' lives of those they studied. Early anthropology celebrated photography as a physical record, whose authority and permanence promised an escape from the lack of certainty in speech. For later anthropologists, this same quality became grounds to critique an imaging practice that failed to capture movement and process. But throughout these twists and turns, anthropology as a practice of 'being there' has found itself entwined in an intimate engagement with photography as metaphor for the collection of evidence. Photography and Anthropology reveals how anthropology provides the tools to re-imagine the power and magic of all photographic practices. It presents both a history of anthropology's seduction by photography and the anthropological theory of photography. This thoroughly researched book draws upon an intimate knowledge of the history of anthropology, photography and the world's major anthropological practitioners.

Photography, Anthropology and History

Photography, Anthropology and History

Author: Elizabeth Edwards

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-22

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1317081102

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Photography, Anthropology and History examines the complex historical relationship between photography and anthropology, and in particular the strong emergence of the contemporary relevance of historical images. Thematically organized, and focusing on the visual practices developed within anthropology as a discipline, this book brings together a range of contemporary and methodologically innovative approaches to the historical image within anthropology. Importantly, it also demonstrates the ongoing relevance of both the historical image and the notion of the archive to recent anthropological thought. As current research rethinks the relationship between photography and anthropology, this volume will serve as a stimulus to this new phase of research as an essential text and methodological reference point in any course that addresses the relationship between anthropology and visuality.


Book Synopsis Photography, Anthropology and History by : Elizabeth Edwards

Download or read book Photography, Anthropology and History written by Elizabeth Edwards and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Photography, Anthropology and History examines the complex historical relationship between photography and anthropology, and in particular the strong emergence of the contemporary relevance of historical images. Thematically organized, and focusing on the visual practices developed within anthropology as a discipline, this book brings together a range of contemporary and methodologically innovative approaches to the historical image within anthropology. Importantly, it also demonstrates the ongoing relevance of both the historical image and the notion of the archive to recent anthropological thought. As current research rethinks the relationship between photography and anthropology, this volume will serve as a stimulus to this new phase of research as an essential text and methodological reference point in any course that addresses the relationship between anthropology and visuality.

Anthropology and Photography, 1860-1920

Anthropology and Photography, 1860-1920

Author: Elizabeth Edwards

Publisher:

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 9780300059441

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Traces the use of photography in British anthropological expeditions, and discusses the photograph as document


Book Synopsis Anthropology and Photography, 1860-1920 by : Elizabeth Edwards

Download or read book Anthropology and Photography, 1860-1920 written by Elizabeth Edwards and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the use of photography in British anthropological expeditions, and discusses the photograph as document

Raw Histories

Raw Histories

Author: Elizabeth Edwards

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-01-07

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1000181294

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Photographs have had an integral and complex role in many anthropological contexts, from fieldwork to museum exhibitions. This book explores how approaching anthropological photographs as 'history' can offer both theoretical and empirical insights into these roles. Photographs are thought to make problematic history because of their ambiguity and 'rawness'. In short, they have too many meanings. The author refutes this prejudice by exploring, through a series of case studies, precisely the potential of this raw quality to open up new perspectives. Taking the nature of photography as her starting point, the author argues that photographs are not merely pictures of things but are part of a dynamic and fluid historical dialogue, which is active not only in the creation of the photograph but in its subsequent social biography in archive and museum spaces, past and present. In this context, the book challenges any uniform view of anthropological photography and its resulting archives. Drawing on a variety of examples, largely from the Pacific, the book demonstrates how close readings of photographs reveal not only western agendas, but also many layers of differing historical and cross-cultural experiences. That is, photographs can 'spring leaks' to show an alternative viewpoint. These themes are developed further by examining the dynamics of photographs and issues around them as used by contemporary artists and curators and presented to an increasingly varied public. This book convincingly demonstrates photographs' potential to articulate histories other than those of their immediate appearances, a potential that can no longer be neglected by scholars and institutions.


Book Synopsis Raw Histories by : Elizabeth Edwards

Download or read book Raw Histories written by Elizabeth Edwards and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-01-07 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Photographs have had an integral and complex role in many anthropological contexts, from fieldwork to museum exhibitions. This book explores how approaching anthropological photographs as 'history' can offer both theoretical and empirical insights into these roles. Photographs are thought to make problematic history because of their ambiguity and 'rawness'. In short, they have too many meanings. The author refutes this prejudice by exploring, through a series of case studies, precisely the potential of this raw quality to open up new perspectives. Taking the nature of photography as her starting point, the author argues that photographs are not merely pictures of things but are part of a dynamic and fluid historical dialogue, which is active not only in the creation of the photograph but in its subsequent social biography in archive and museum spaces, past and present. In this context, the book challenges any uniform view of anthropological photography and its resulting archives. Drawing on a variety of examples, largely from the Pacific, the book demonstrates how close readings of photographs reveal not only western agendas, but also many layers of differing historical and cross-cultural experiences. That is, photographs can 'spring leaks' to show an alternative viewpoint. These themes are developed further by examining the dynamics of photographs and issues around them as used by contemporary artists and curators and presented to an increasingly varied public. This book convincingly demonstrates photographs' potential to articulate histories other than those of their immediate appearances, a potential that can no longer be neglected by scholars and institutions.

Where the Roads All End

Where the Roads All End

Author: Ilisa Barbash

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0873654099

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Where the Roads All End tells the remarkable story of an American family’s expeditions to the Kalahari Desert in the 1950s. Raytheon founder Laurence Marshall and his family recorded the lives of the last remaining hunter-gatherers, the so-called Bushmen, in what is now recognized as one of the most important anthropology ventures in Africa.


Book Synopsis Where the Roads All End by : Ilisa Barbash

Download or read book Where the Roads All End written by Ilisa Barbash and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where the Roads All End tells the remarkable story of an American family’s expeditions to the Kalahari Desert in the 1950s. Raytheon founder Laurence Marshall and his family recorded the lives of the last remaining hunter-gatherers, the so-called Bushmen, in what is now recognized as one of the most important anthropology ventures in Africa.

From Site to Sight

From Site to Sight

Author: Melissa Banta

Publisher: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Publications Department

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780873658676

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From Site to Sight is a foundational text for scholars and students of visual anthropology, illustrating the history, uses--and misuses--of photographic imagery in anthropology and archaeology. Long out of print, this classic publication is now available in an enhanced thirtieth anniversary edition with a new introductory essay by Ira Jacknis.


Book Synopsis From Site to Sight by : Melissa Banta

Download or read book From Site to Sight written by Melissa Banta and published by Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Publications Department. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Site to Sight is a foundational text for scholars and students of visual anthropology, illustrating the history, uses--and misuses--of photographic imagery in anthropology and archaeology. Long out of print, this classic publication is now available in an enhanced thirtieth anniversary edition with a new introductory essay by Ira Jacknis.

An Anthropology of Images

An Anthropology of Images

Author: Hans Belting

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-07-12

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1400839785

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A compelling theory that places the origin of human picture making in the body In this groundbreaking book, renowned art historian Hans Belting proposes a new anthropological theory for interpreting human picture making. Rather than focus exclusively on pictures as they are embodied in various media such as painting, sculpture, or photography, he links pictures to our mental images and therefore our bodies. The body is understood as a "living medium" that produces, perceives, or remembers images that are different from the images we encounter through handmade or technical pictures. Refusing to reduce images to their material embodiment yet acknowledging the importance of the historical media in which images are manifested, An Anthropology of Images presents a challenging and provocative new account of what pictures are and how they function. The book demonstrates these ideas with a series of compelling case studies, ranging from Dante's picture theory to post-photography. One chapter explores the tension between image and medium in two "media of the body," the coat of arms and the portrait painting. Another, central chapter looks at the relationship between image and death, tracing picture production, including the first use of the mask, to early funerary rituals in which pictures served to represent the missing bodies of the dead. Pictures were tools to re-embody the deceased, to make them present again, a fact that offers a surprising clue to the riddle of presence and absence in most pictures and that reveals a genealogy of pictures obscured by Platonic picture theory.


Book Synopsis An Anthropology of Images by : Hans Belting

Download or read book An Anthropology of Images written by Hans Belting and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-12 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling theory that places the origin of human picture making in the body In this groundbreaking book, renowned art historian Hans Belting proposes a new anthropological theory for interpreting human picture making. Rather than focus exclusively on pictures as they are embodied in various media such as painting, sculpture, or photography, he links pictures to our mental images and therefore our bodies. The body is understood as a "living medium" that produces, perceives, or remembers images that are different from the images we encounter through handmade or technical pictures. Refusing to reduce images to their material embodiment yet acknowledging the importance of the historical media in which images are manifested, An Anthropology of Images presents a challenging and provocative new account of what pictures are and how they function. The book demonstrates these ideas with a series of compelling case studies, ranging from Dante's picture theory to post-photography. One chapter explores the tension between image and medium in two "media of the body," the coat of arms and the portrait painting. Another, central chapter looks at the relationship between image and death, tracing picture production, including the first use of the mask, to early funerary rituals in which pictures served to represent the missing bodies of the dead. Pictures were tools to re-embody the deceased, to make them present again, a fact that offers a surprising clue to the riddle of presence and absence in most pictures and that reveals a genealogy of pictures obscured by Platonic picture theory.

Made to Be Seen

Made to Be Seen

Author: Marcus Banks

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2012-08-01

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 0226036634

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Made to be Seen brings together leading scholars of visual anthropology to examine the historical development of this multifaceted and growing field. Expanding the definition of visual anthropology beyond more limited notions, the contributors to Made to be Seen reflect on the role of the visual in all areas of life. Different essays critically examine a range of topics: art, dress and body adornment, photography, the built environment, digital forms of visual anthropology, indigenous media, the body as a cultural phenomenon, the relationship between experimental and ethnographic film, and more. The first attempt to present a comprehensive overview of the many aspects of an anthropological approach to the study of visual and pictorial culture, Made to be Seen will be the standard reference on the subject for years to come. Students and scholars in anthropology, sociology, visual studies, and cultural studies will greatly benefit from this pioneering look at the way the visual is inextricably threaded through most, if not all, areas of human activity.


Book Synopsis Made to Be Seen by : Marcus Banks

Download or read book Made to Be Seen written by Marcus Banks and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Made to be Seen brings together leading scholars of visual anthropology to examine the historical development of this multifaceted and growing field. Expanding the definition of visual anthropology beyond more limited notions, the contributors to Made to be Seen reflect on the role of the visual in all areas of life. Different essays critically examine a range of topics: art, dress and body adornment, photography, the built environment, digital forms of visual anthropology, indigenous media, the body as a cultural phenomenon, the relationship between experimental and ethnographic film, and more. The first attempt to present a comprehensive overview of the many aspects of an anthropological approach to the study of visual and pictorial culture, Made to be Seen will be the standard reference on the subject for years to come. Students and scholars in anthropology, sociology, visual studies, and cultural studies will greatly benefit from this pioneering look at the way the visual is inextricably threaded through most, if not all, areas of human activity.

The Fear of the Visual?

The Fear of the Visual?

Author: Sasanka Perera

Publisher: Orient Blackswan Pvt Limited

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789352879953

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Photography had played a central role in the emergence of anthropology as a discipline in the late colonial period. Despite this, why is it that photography is not taken seriously in contemporary mainstream social anthropology and sociology in South asia and, to a great extent, in the rest of the worlds a possible way of conducting research or as an object of research? The fear of the visual? Explores this Question through a study of the histories of anthropology/ sociology and photography. The author studies past and present practices of photography including contemporary practices such as the 'selfish', and the framing of social/ familial events such as wedding photography and possibilities with regard to theorising the visual. He also tries to understand the intellectual rupture that led to the visual being removed from mainstream sociology/ social anthropology to the separate fields of visual sociology and visual anthropology. This book is as personal as it is academic. The author opens each br>Chapter with personal recollections, choosing to not separate the two domains that have impacted each other in important ways. Central to these personal narratives and the academic discussions that follow are photographs, which form a core part of the argument.


Book Synopsis The Fear of the Visual? by : Sasanka Perera

Download or read book The Fear of the Visual? written by Sasanka Perera and published by Orient Blackswan Pvt Limited. This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Photography had played a central role in the emergence of anthropology as a discipline in the late colonial period. Despite this, why is it that photography is not taken seriously in contemporary mainstream social anthropology and sociology in South asia and, to a great extent, in the rest of the worlds a possible way of conducting research or as an object of research? The fear of the visual? Explores this Question through a study of the histories of anthropology/ sociology and photography. The author studies past and present practices of photography including contemporary practices such as the 'selfish', and the framing of social/ familial events such as wedding photography and possibilities with regard to theorising the visual. He also tries to understand the intellectual rupture that led to the visual being removed from mainstream sociology/ social anthropology to the separate fields of visual sociology and visual anthropology. This book is as personal as it is academic. The author opens each br>Chapter with personal recollections, choosing to not separate the two domains that have impacted each other in important ways. Central to these personal narratives and the academic discussions that follow are photographs, which form a core part of the argument.

Demanding Images

Demanding Images

Author: Karen Strassler

Publisher: Duke University Press Books

Published: 2020-03-20

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781478004691

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The end of authoritarian rule in 1998 ushered in an exhilarating but unsettled period of democratization in Indonesia. A more open political climate converged with a rapidly changing media landscape, yielding a vibrant and volatile public sphere within which Indonesians grappled with the possibilities and limits of democracy amid entrenched corruption, state violence, and rising forms of intolerance. In Demanding Images Karen Strassler theorizes image-events as political processes in which publicly circulating images become the material ground of struggles over the nation's past, present, and future. Considering photographs, posters, contemporary art, graffiti, selfies, memes, and other visual media, she argues that people increasingly engage with politics through acts of making, circulating, manipulating, and scrutinizing images. Demanding Images is both a closely observed account of Indonesia's turbulent democratic transition and a globally salient analysis of the work of images in the era of digital media and neoliberal democracy. Strassler reveals politics today to be an unruly enterprise profoundly shaped by the affective and evidentiary force of images.


Book Synopsis Demanding Images by : Karen Strassler

Download or read book Demanding Images written by Karen Strassler and published by Duke University Press Books. This book was released on 2020-03-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The end of authoritarian rule in 1998 ushered in an exhilarating but unsettled period of democratization in Indonesia. A more open political climate converged with a rapidly changing media landscape, yielding a vibrant and volatile public sphere within which Indonesians grappled with the possibilities and limits of democracy amid entrenched corruption, state violence, and rising forms of intolerance. In Demanding Images Karen Strassler theorizes image-events as political processes in which publicly circulating images become the material ground of struggles over the nation's past, present, and future. Considering photographs, posters, contemporary art, graffiti, selfies, memes, and other visual media, she argues that people increasingly engage with politics through acts of making, circulating, manipulating, and scrutinizing images. Demanding Images is both a closely observed account of Indonesia's turbulent democratic transition and a globally salient analysis of the work of images in the era of digital media and neoliberal democracy. Strassler reveals politics today to be an unruly enterprise profoundly shaped by the affective and evidentiary force of images.