'Introducing Photographies East, Rosalind C. Morris notes that although the camera is now a taken-for-granted element of everyday life in most parts of the world, it is difficult to appreciate "the shock and sense of utter improbability that accompanied the new technology" as it was introduced in Asia (and elsewhere). In this collection, scholars of Asia, most of whom are anthropologists, describe frequent attribution of spectral powers to the camera, first brought to Asia by colonialists, as they examine the transformations precipitated or accelerated by the spread of photography across East and Southeast Asia. In essays resonating across theoretical, historical, and geopolitical lines, they engage with photography in China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, and on the islands of Aru, Aceh, and Java in what is now Indonesia.
The contributors analyze how in specific cultural and historical contexts, the camera has affected experiences of time and subjectivity, practices of ritual and tradition, and understandings of death. They highlight the links between photography and power, looking at how the camera has figured in the operations of colonialism, the development of nationalism, the transformation of monarchy, and the militarization of violence. Moving beyond a consideration of historical function or effect, the contributors also explore the forms of illumination and revelation for which the camera has offered itself as instrument and symbol. And they trace the emergent forms of alienation and spectralization, as well as the new kinds of fetishism, that photography has brought in its wake. Taken together, the essays chart a bravely interdisciplinary path to visual studies, one that places the particular knowledge of a historicized anthropology in a comparative frame and in conversation with aesthetics and art history.' (Back cover)
This book is part of a series titled Objects/Histories: Critical Perspectives on Art, Material Culture, and Representation. With bibliographical references.
Objects/Histories: Critical Perspectives on Art, Material Culture, and Representation
Onsite
English
photography,  anthropology,  visual studies,  East Asia,  South East Asia,  Thailand,  Taiwan,  China,  Japan,  Indonesia
2009
314
9780822342052
1
anthology
Introduction. Photographies East: The Camera and Its Histories in East and Southeast Asia - Rosalind C. MORRIS
The Ghost in the Machine - John PEMBERTON
The Curse of the Photograph: Atjeh 1901 - James T. SIEGEL
The Photography Complex: Exposing Boxer-Era China (1900–1901), Making Civilization - James L. HEVIA
Photography and the Power of Images in the History of Power: Notes from Thailand - Rosalind C. MORRIS
In and Out of the Picture: Photography, Ritual, and Modernity in Aru, Indonesia - Patricia SPYER
Mysterious Photographs - Nickola PAZDERIC
Abandoned Cities Seen Anew: Reflections on Spatial Specificity and Temporal Transcience - Carlos ROJAS
Dark Enlightenment: Naitō Masatoshi's Flash - Marilyn IVY
Cine-Photography as Racial Technology: Tanizaki Jun'ichirō's Close-up on the New/Oriental Woman's Face - Thomas LAMARRE
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