Participation through image making? On the history of visuality in ethnographic practice

Abstract

In the article I discuss selected examples from the history of the use of images in ethnographic practice and anthropological discourse. I focus on the non-obvious, ambiguous nature of the image, the production of which can be considered a form of participation in culture and in a specific ethnographic situation. I particularly focus on imaging and photography in the African colonial context, recalling, among others, the activities of Kazimierz Zagórski. I also discuss examples of the visual work of Edward S. Curtis and Robert Flaherty in North America. The history of ethnographic visuality reflects well the changing anthropological paradigms. Seen today, the images which are the result of ethnographic visual practices from the colonial era, emphasize the creative and unstable nature of the image.