Welcome to the eLearning hub for Photography and Anthropology
This block explores anthropological approaches to the interpretation of photographs and to the use of photography within ethnographic practice. On the one hand, we will look at the history of photography - including recent examples - and underline how, despite claims to neutrality and objectivity, photographs are always immersed in social relationships. From early colonial photography to the coverage of Black Lives Matter protests, we will examine the links between representation and power in the fields of race, gender and class. We will transfer this awareness in the practice of photo-ethnography, that is, the use of photography to gather and present anthropological insights. We will ask how can photo-ethnography be an ethical practice that does not reproduce objectification, and what can it bring to text-based anthropology. Finally, throughout the block we will learn and practise photography, through workshops, exercises and a final assessment in the form of a photo-essay.
About the course
Photography and anthropology originate around the same time and share a similar implication in the colonial project. For a long time they have been used as ways of knowing others, and have been instrumental in the process of subjugating them. The course will dig at the roots of this association and trace its afterlives in the current postcolonial world through examples of photographic exoticism. Through the key concept of gaze, we will also see how the power to represent makes shooting a photograph a charged act: who is made visible, who is not seen, whose consent is considered valuable and who consumes the image? While a number of theoretical contributions on photography have emphasised the objectifying and predatory character of photography, some photographers have developed ways of working that emphasise exchange, dialogue and reciprocity. These practices do not erase issues of power, but they are necessary to think critically about the development of a photo-ethnographic practice. Similarly, we will look at the way formerly colonised peoples have taken up photography and turned it from a medium of oppression into a strategy of resistance. At the end of the block we will take all these insights and propose a space for the use of still images in anthropology that goes beyond the illustrative, taking into account their relationship with text and their potential for evocation.
What you will learn:
• Interpret critically a photographic image, researching its context of production and interpretation, evaluating the author’s intention and the technical devices they used, and the relationship with the subject - in other words, basic media literacy applied to photography.
• Understand the relationship with power of photographic representation, in the history of photography and within the ethnographic practice.
• The technical basics of still photography through workshops, directed exercises and independent practice.
• Plan and carry out a small photo-ethnography, to be presented in combination with text in a final photo-essay.
Course Structure:
• A pre-class exercise in photographic critique, which you will discuss with your peers during the timetabled lecture.
• A lecture, in which we’ll talk about the themes of the course, look at examples and discuss the pre-class exercise.
• A practical photography exercise to carry out before the tutorial, connected to an online workshop.
• A tutorial, in which you'll receive feedback on the photography exercise and discuss technical aspects.
From right: Lorenzo, Togo-Fako and Fen-Fila. Karankasso Sambla, Burkina Faso, June 2012.
Photo credit: Nicola Scaldaferri
About me:
My name is Lorenzo Ferrarini and I teach visual anthropology, documentary filmmaking and photography to undergraduates and postgraduates. Like my colleagues in the other ASI blocks, I am part of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology. My main work is on initiated hunters in Burkina Faso, West Africa, but I also recently published a 'photographic sound-book' on a region of southern Italy.
My email: lorenzo.ferrarini@manchester.ac.uk
Find more about my work, including my photography, films and sound recordings, at my website lorenzoferrarini.com
Equipment: all you need for the course is a smartphone, though you can also use a dedicated camera. If you don’t have a device that can shoot photographs please let me know and we’ll find a solution.
Formative assessment: Each week you will be asked to carry out a simple exercise of photographic critique, which you will discuss with your classmates during the lecture. You will also work in a small team at creating some photographs, and you will receive feedback during tutorials.
Summative assessment: There are two options available, of which you are required to choose just one:
• Photo-essay: Create a photo essay that employs text (1000 words) and photographs (between 10 and 20) centred around one of these three concepts that we explored during the course: Gaze, Dialogue or Resistance. In the text you will explain how your photographs can be understood as a photo-ethnography, using references to photographic work and texts from the course. Make sure you discuss your representational choices in terms of technique, inspirations and ethics.
Before you can start any work, you need to seek ethical approval from the course giver by handing in the CW1 module that you find on Blackboard. You also need to obtain consent from your subjects. All work must be undertaken in accordance with current local COVID-19 regulations.
• Critical analysis essay: Select a body of photographs dealing with people and write 1500 words analysing their ethnographic significance. While the work does not have to be authored by an anthropologist, you should choose something that allows you to comment on one or more of the themes of the course. Please include the images you discuss alongside the text.
The essays can be presented as an Adobe Creative Cloud Express web page (recommended), or an alternative platform. Please submit the textual component and a link to the CC Express page on Blackboard. Here you can find an example of a longer photo essay I made with CC Express.
Weekly readings: Please read the key reading before each session. There are also other readings that you can consult and use for your essay. Under ‘Extras’ are listed articles, videos and websites that you might find useful to expand your understanding of a topic - they are not required.
General readings:
• Banks, Marcus. 2001. Visual Methods in Social Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Barthes, Roland. 1980. Camera Lucida. New York: Hill & Wang.
• Bull, Stephen. 2010. Photography. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Carroll, Henry. 2014. Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs. Laurence King Publishing.
• Franklin, Stewart. 2020. Ambiguity Revisited: Communicating with Pictures. Stuttgart: Ibidem Press.
• Marien, Mary W. 2002. Photography: A Cultural History. London: Laurence King Publishing.
• Pink, Sarah. 2001. Doing Visual Ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Sontag. Susan. 1977. On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
• Steacy, Will, ed. 2012. Photographs Not Taken: A Collection of Photographers' Essays. Daylight Books.
• Willis, Deborah. 2002. Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present. W. W. Norton.