Product Details Hardcover 352 pages Routledge Published 2002 Synopsis This collection of essays and photographs explores the relationship between photography and European and American colonialism. The well over 100 images range from the first experiments with photography as a documentary medium, up to the decolonization of many regions after World War II. Reinforcing a broad range of Western assumptions and prejudices, such images often assisted in the construction of a colonial culture. In 13 essays, "Colonialist Photography" considers: how photographs tended to support the cultural and political rhetoric of racial and geographic difference between the West and its colonies; the range of images from "scientific" categorizing and recording methods to "commercial" pictures for collection and display, such as postcards and magazine advertisements; and how photographers contributed to cultural, social and political ideas of race by highlighting racial distinction in their work. By drawing upon methods from anthropology, literary criticism, geography, imperial history and art history, Hight and Sampson offer a rich source of current ideas about relationship between colonialism and visual representation. Using case studies and recent forms of interpretative analysis, these post-colonial readings provide a thought-provoking analysis of how we imagine race and place. |