Photography as a Tool for Freedom and Self Possession
Course Description
Often when talking about the pitfalls of photography we focus on how it has been used against non-White communities. While this critique is necessary to understanding the impact and history of photography it still centers the White gaze and colonial actions. This lens can often be retraumatizing and continues to give single narratives. This section instead focuses on how the global majority has used photography for identifying, defining, and documenting their communities.
Read
“Chapter 2” Picture Freedom: Remaking Black Visuality in the Early Nineteenth Century by Jasmine Nicole Cobbs
“The Photograph Reincarnate: The dynamics of Tibetan relationships with photography” by Clare Harris
“Chapter 3” The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910 by Stephen Sheehi
“Chapter 6” The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910 by Stephen Sheehi
“Some Thoughts On ‘taking’ Pictures: Imaging ‘indians’ And The Counter-narratives Of Visual Sovereignty.” by Morgan F. Bell
“To Walk in Both Worlds” by Rebecca Benga
Discussion Questions
How have photographs become the means of transmigration of ideas about identity and belonging in both local and global contexts?
How did Black women use friendship albums to envision themselves and their communities? How were they used as a tool for communication? How do these practices still exist today?
How have photographs played a role in distinguishing class as well as setting standards of visual respectability?
How did tourism impact the native studios in the Middle East and consequently make the tracing history of Arab photography difficult?
How do domestic/private spaces impact portraiture? How do they contribute to the sharing of images?
How are photographs used to construct our ideas of personhood, places and spiritual practices? How are these acts performed?
Listen
“The Power of Protest” The Black Shutter Podcast
Relevant Books
Cobb, Jasmine Nichole. Picture Freedom: Remaking Black Visuality in the Early Nineteenth Century. NYU Press, 2015.
Review by Martha J. Cutter
Sheehi, Stephen. The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860–1910. United Kingdom, Princeton University Press, 2016.
Sheehi, Stephen, et al. Camera Palaestina: Photography and Displaced Histories of Palestine. United States, University of California Press, 2022.
Raiford, Leigh. Imprisoned in a Luminous Glare: Photography and the African American Freedom Struggle. United States: University of North Carolina Press, 2011.
Ferrer, Elizabeth. Latinx Photography in the United States: A Visual History. United States: The University of Washington press, 2020.
Nassar, Issam, et al. “Ways of Seeing the Palestinian Visual Archive.” Camera
Courses
Photography as a Tool for Freedom and Self Possession
This section instead focuses on how the global majority has used photography for identifying, defining, and documenting their communities.
Consent in an Era of Surveillance and Global Audience
COMING SOON: Commonly these conversations end at the point of legality and consideration of ethics, morality and power dynamics are pushed to the fringes. This section moves these conversations to the center.
Appendix
COMING SOON
Access and Sustainability
COMING SOON
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