Oriented to projects of selfhood, memory, and social affiliation, popular photographs recast national iconographies in an intimate register. They convey the longings of Indonesian national modernity: nostalgia for rural idylls and "tradition," desires for the trappings of modernity and affluence, dreams of historical agency, and hopes for political authenticity. Yet photography also brings people into contact with ideas and images that transcend and at times undermine a strictly national frame. Photography’s primary practitioners in the postcolonial era have been Chinese Indonesians. Acting as cultural brokers who translate global and colonial imageries into national idioms, these members of a transnational minority have helped shape the visual contours of Indonesian belonging even as their own place within the nation remains tenuous. Refracted Visions illuminates the ways that everyday photographic practices generate visual habits that in turn give rise to political subjects and communities.' (Back cover)
This book is part of a series titled Objects/Histories: Critical Perspectives on Art, Material Culture, and Representation. With notes and bibliographical references.
Objects/Histories: Critical Perspectives on Art, Material Culture, and Representation
Onsite
English
photography,  visual culture,  anthropology,  Indonesia
2010
376
9780822346111
1
monograph
Introduction: Popular Photography and Indonesian National Modernity
One: Amateur Visions
Two: Landscapes of the Imagination
Three: Identifying Citizens
Four: Family Documentation
Five: Witnessing History
Six: Revelatory Signs
Epilogue: Beyond the Paper Trace
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