Photography's Other Histories

Objects/Histories

by Christopher Pinney (Editor), Nicholas Peterson (Editor)

Moving the critical debate about photography away from its current Euro-American center of gravity, Photography’s Other Histories breaks with the notion that photographic history is best seen as the explosion of a Western technology advanced by the work of singular individuals. This collection presents a radically different account, describing photography as a globally disseminated and locally appropriated medium. Essays firmly grounded in photographic practice—in the actual making of pictures—suggest the extraordinary diversity of nonwestern photography.Richly illustrated with over 100 images, Photography’s Other Histories explores from a variety of regional, cultural, and historical perspectives the role of photography in raising historical consciousness. It includes two first-person pieces by indigenous Australians and one by a Seminole/Muskogee/Dine' artist. Some of the essays analyze representations of colonial subjects—from the limited ways Westerners have depicted Navajos to Japanese photos recording the occupation of Manchuria to the changing "contract" between Aboriginal subjects and photographers. Other essays highlight the visionary quality of much popular photography. Case studies centered in early-twentieth-century Peru and contemporary India, Kenya, and Nigeria chronicle the diverse practices that have flourished in postcolonial societies. Photography’s Other Histories recasts popular photography around the world, as not simply reproducing culture but creating it.

Contributors. Michael Aird, Heike Behrend, Jo-Anne Driessens, James Faris, Morris Low, Nicolas Peterson, Christopher Pinney, Roslyn Poignant, Deborah Poole, Stephen Sprague, Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, Christopher Wright

Genres: Photography, Anthropology, Art History, Art, Ethnography

296 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2003

Reviews

[Lio Bonaccio · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really appreciated the chapter that was in perspective of a dine person viewing colonialist photo! More brown people talking about brown experiences pls!!

[Scotch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies like this are always a hit and miss affair—though this was more coherent as a collection and accessible than most. My key takeaway was the flipping of the perspective on colonial photography even in the ways we think about the colonized subject: we need to investigate how communities make meaning of photographs and portraits—both from the archive and in contemporary forms—rather than assuming they share the same values and understandings as the mainstream West. This is super relevant as I think about the role of photography within my Chinese Japanese American family. I just wish the essays in the third section took this a step further and included writers *from* the discussed communities. I was particularly unsettled by Pinney’s needlessly dense academic jargon (who is this for?!) and Behrend’s weirdly exotifying study and clearly outsider interpretation of Kenyan photo studios (in this anthology?!).

[Alexandre Pomar]

https://www.dukeupress.edu/Photograph...

index: https://www.dukeupress.edu/Photograph...

[Cecelia]

had to read for a class