Anthropology/ Photographic Analysis
Photography is used everywhere, as a way of preserving memories in people’s mind, of the events and important moments of life, as well as for use by future generations. However, photographs can illustrate a lot about a community in which it was taken, such as culture and gender, which can be conveyed in different ways. Best ethnographic pictures are taken during normal events of day, without the awareness of the people, to take them in their activities, which amount to the different ways of conveying aspects in pictures, which can be referred to as visual anthropology. According to Leeuwen and Jewitt (2001), “Visual anthropology is concerned with the use of visual records for the description of the present and past ways of life of specific communities.” In this essay, I compare and contrast how gender and culture have been conveyed in the two photographs, which are from different communities. It is important to note that no photograph can be specifically ethnographic, but it depends on how one looks at the content to derive a meaning (Jean, 2011).
In the first photo, we see women wearing bright casual clothes, farm produces such as fruits and vegetables, baskets, and money being held, and canvas roofing. The event in the photo is selling and buying of agricultural goods in the market. In the second photograph, we see a woman wearing a veil, holding a kettle on a tray, a man standing holding a plate and walking, and another sited, roofing from rags and old simple structures such as a bench and a table. The event seen from this photo is a woman serving tea, in a structure looking like a little open café. The two photos look very different; however, in terms of conveying meaning, there are similarities that can be drawn as well as contrasts (galenfrysinger.com, n.d.).
In many photographs, gender is conveyed through different roles that are played by men and women, where in most cases, women engage in domestic chores or activities that are associated with domestic roles (Jackson, 2010). In the first photograph, we see women in the market place, where they have displayed agricultural goods, and one, standing, is looking at them to buy. In this photo, we do not see any man around, which suggests that the men in this community do not take part in domestic issues such as visiting the market, which suggests division of roles. In the second photo from Rissani, we see a woman engaging in a domestic activity, where she is serving tea to men, a domestic role that is associated with women. In both photos, gender has been conveyed using roles played by women. This assumption is true to most photographs but currently, due to changing roles in gender due to equality, one will see women engaged in the same activities as men, professional, in the same places, and also, noticing the difference from clothes may not be applicable in some situations, except for physical features.
While in the first picture wee see women dressed in modern casual clothes in the market as vendors of their goods, and another woman is buying from them. In the second picture, the woman is wearing a veil to cover her body in front of men, which is expected of women in the Islam religion, is serving tea to men, which shows gender and how women should present themselves in front of men in this community. More so, the difference between the way of dressing between the woman serving tea and the other characters, men, show the difference between the two genders, where men are free to wear casual cloths designed for them while women are not, and can only wear veils. Different communities have a different ways of gender representation, such as in the two photos (Rowe, 2010). In looking at the two pictures, one make out the gender represented, however, in the second photo, one has to assume the religion of the place since there are no other women around, while in the first photo, men are not shown, to make out a clear difference between the two genders
Culture of a community can be recognized from a photograph, such as economic activities, social class, and beliefs (Crews, 2008). This can be achieved through the activities that people are seen engaging in, at the time the photograph was taken, and the objects around, and the background of the place can serve to illustrate the economy of the place. When taking an ethnographic photo, ones needs to be careful about conveying their culture in a distorted way, such as posing for a photo with the people of a community who preserve their culture, but instead, should be taken in normal events and ensure that the meaning is as it is in the real place (Cummins, 2008). In the two pictures, there is quite a difference in cultures, and a similarity in terms of changing economic times today. In the first photo, women are displaying their goods in the market freely, and they are the vendors, selling their goods, without men around them, which illustrates that the culture of this place allows women to take part in economic activities, such as agriculture. In the second photo, the woman is selling tea to men, which illustrates the same role of involvement it national building of women in this community too. From the pictures, there can be many meaning since they are taken under normal events without the awareness of the people, and give accurate information.
However, there are differences when it comes to the culture conveyed by different objects in the photos, such as the two that look very different in terms of background and objects, and many meanings from these photos can be derived, depending on the individual perspective (Avrutin, 2009). Starting with the first one, the fruits convey that the economic activity of this community, which is farming or agriculturalists, since everything in this market is from the farm, and there is a formal exchange place, market, due to the number of people in the photo. On the other hand, the Muslim woman in the second picture is selling tea in an informal open place, where we do not see other vendors around, but rather, she is selling tea under a roof of rags, which also illustrates the economic status of the place to be lower than the other picture. In the second picture, economic activity has not been illustrated, since tea cannot go as an indicator of agriculture for this community as it is found everywhere.
In the two pictures, one can easily learn about the communities from which they were taken, since they taken during day-to-day activities of those communities, and they are accurate. According to Mlauzi (2003), ethnographic photos would be easier to analyze if the photographers involved took time to study the community or their field, which would help them develop the pictures with the right meaning. In the two pictures, one can easily analyze them due to the people and the events taking place. In terms of demonstrating the culture, the photographs have achieved this through events shown, as well as in conveying gender.
References
Avrutin, E. (2009). Photographing the Jewish nation: pictures from S. An-sky’s ethnographic expeditions. Lebanon, NH: UPNE.
Crews, A. (2008). Communicating Through Photography. Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-iscourses/Papers/App_Papers/Crews.html
Cummins, B. (2008). Faces of the north: the ethnographic photography of John Honigmann. Toronto, Canada: Dundurn Press.
Galenrysinger com. (n.d.). Ethnographic photography. Retrieved from http://www.galenfrysinger.com/ethnography.htm
Haviland, W., Prins, L. & Walrath, D. (2007). Cultural anthropology: The human challenge. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning
Jackson, R. (2010). Encyclopedia of Identity. Berlin, Germany: SAGE
Jean, O. (2011). Anthropological Photography. Retrieved from http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/1110/Anthropological-Photography.html
Leeuwen, V. and Jewitt, C. (2001). Handbook of visual analysis. Berlin, Germany: Sage
Mlauzi, L. (2003). Reading Modern Ethnographic Photography. Durban, South Africa: University of Natal.
Peres, M. (2007). Focal encyclopedia of photography: digital imaging, theory and applications, history, and science. Burlington, MA: Focal Press
Rowe, W. (2010). Zen and the Magic of Photography: Learning to See and to Be Through Photography. Malden, MA: Rocky Nook.
Virginia.edu. n.d. Ethnographic photography. Retrieved from http://people.virginia.edu/~ds8s/ethno.html
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