2016/06/14 by Maria Buck, Buck, Maria
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #European history and politics #Photography and Visual Culture
paper · pdf · doi:10.15203/historia.scribere.8.470
openalex publication_date 2016/06/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This seminar paper analyzes 19th century portrait photographs in British-India, which were mainly made by and addressed at British citizens. Regarding the wide range of genres, it can be shown that these photographs hardly give a realistic image of India, but instead reflect the contemporaneous British view on the colony and its native inhabitants. Photography was therefore an essential instrument of colonial policy. By creating a culturally inferior “other”, it helped legitimating the British rule over India.