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Degree Programme BA Anthropology and Media
Year of Study Year 3
Course Code AN53015A
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QUESTION 3: “The camera is a tool of colonialism”. Discuss with
reference to photographic art practice.
☒ I acknowledge that I have read and understood the University academic misconduct
statement available at: https://learn.gold.ac.uk/mod/page/view.php?id=1251023
And that this assignment is my own work, except where I have acknowledged the use of the
works of other people.
Unveiling Photography's Role in Colonialism
Colonialism has been a dispossession of space, a deprivation of identity, and it created a system
of image production that maintained and disseminated its dehumanizing ideologies. (Sealy, A.M.
2016: 3)
The relationship between photography and colonialism is deeply intertwined, as photography has
historically been used as a tool to serve the interests of colonial powers. The term "colonialism"
derives from the Latin word "colonia," which originally referred to settlements established by
Romans in foreign lands while maintaining their citizenship (Loomba, A. 2005: 7). Cambridge
Dictionary defines colonialism as “a policy or system in which a country controls another
country or area”. However, this definition notably neglects to acknowledge the presence or
experiences of indigenous peoples inhabiting these lands prior to colonization. It omits any
mention of the encounters between different peoples, the processes of conquest and domination,
or the potential injustices inherent in the formation of these colonial communities. The
establishment of these colonial communities often involved the displacement, suppression, or
reformation of existing indigenous communities through a variety of means, including trade,
warfare, plunder, enslavement, and genocide (Loomba, A. 2005: 7). In essence, colonialism can
be understood as the conquest and control of foreign territories and resources by external powers,
often at the expense of indigenous peoples and their communities.
During its approximately five-century duration, from the arrival in the Americas in 1497 to the
withdrawal from Hong Kong in 1987, the British Empire experienced its peak in the late
Victorian era and the early decades of the twentieth century. This period marked the apex of
British imperial dominance, encompassing over a quarter of the world's population and territory,
thus earning the distinction of being the largest empire in recorded history. Significantly, this era
of imperial expansion coincided with the emergence of photography as a pervasive medium of
communication. (Good, J. 2017: 80).
The invention of the daguerreotype, that is, the first publicly available photographic process, was
announced in 1839, and by the 1840s, photography had spread like wildfire (Cole, T. 2019).
Photography quickly became a crucial tool within the framework of European colonialism,
serving various purposes across administrative, missionary, scientific, and commercial domains
(Cole, T. 2019). Zimbabwean novelist Yvonne Vera put it: “The camera has often been a dire
instrument. In Africa, as in most parts of the dispossessed, the camera arrives as part of the
colonial paraphernalia, together with the gun and the bible. ...” (Cole, T. 2019). Vera's statement
underscores the multifaceted impact of photography as an instrument of control and
representation in regions affected by colonialism, where the camera often arrived alongside other
elements of colonial imposition.
Utilized by British colonial officers and administrators, photography served a multitude of
purposes, ranging from the exploration of foreign landscapes to military strategy, education,
personal documentation, and commemoration. (Good, J. 2017: 80) Particularly significant was
its role in the burgeoning field of anthropology. By capturing images of indigenous peoples and
their customs, photography facilitated the study and classification of different cultures,
contributing to the development of anthropological theories. (Good, J. 2017: 80) However,
alongside its scientific applications, photography also played a complicit role in perpetuating
unjust theories of racial and cultural superiority. (Good, J. 2017: 80) These unfounded beliefs,
which both fueled and were reinforced by colonial domination, found visual reinforcement
through the medium of photography. Images were often used to propagate stereotypes and
ideologies of superiority, further entrenching colonial power dynamics and justifying the
subjugation of indigenous populations.
This essay will explore how photography has been utilized in colonial contexts to perpetuate
power dynamics, reinforce stereotypes, and exert control over colonized peoples.
Power and the Camera
Jennifer Good states that “A camera is a tool of power” (2017: 77). The power of the camera lays
in its power to represent people, which present several ethical questions, especially when it
comes to situations where the photographer is depicting encounters with “otherness”, such as
“disability, sexual orientation, class, economic deprivation, gender and race” (Good, J. 2017:
77).
The symbolic ‘harm’ within photography lies not within the image itself but entirely outside of
the frame, within the apparatus of its use. The idea of ‘apparatuses’ of power was introduced by
French theorist Michel Foucault (1980). The concept of power for Foucault was based in what he
called “discourses”, which can be understood as flows of information within social and political
systems (1980) where certain beliefs, languages and representations are circulated – that are
either deviated from or internalized. Although Foucault do not discuss photography specifically,
Foucault's concept of power has been connected to the field of photography “because of the way
in which he conceptualizes power, and in particular the connection between seeing and control”
(Good, J. 2017: 84). In other words, the power of representation. As stated by Stuart Hall (2008)
‘Cultures do not exist outside of how they are represented’ (Sealy, A.M. 2016: 100). The
colonizer photography dominated the portrayal of the “other”, a representation which at the time
was presented as indisputable facts. Mark Anthony Sealy states that the refusal of equal
recognition ‘can inflict damage on those who are denied it ... The projection of an inferior or
demeaning image on another can distort and oppress, to the extent that the image is internalized.’
(2016: 98).
The Camera and the Colonial Gaze
Discussing the power of the camera as a social apparatus involves looking at theoretical ideas to
do with the nature of power itself and with the significance of ‘the gaze’, another important
theoretical idea presented by Foucault that concerns the significance of the gaze in the power
relationship between subjects (Good, J. 2017: 84). Foucault introduced the concept of "the gaze"
as a central component of his analysis of power dynamics and disciplinary mechanisms within
society. Contrary to a literal interpretation of vision, Foucault's notion of the gaze refers to a
subjective position or perspective embedded within specific discourses or systems of knowledge.
In Foucault's framework, different institutions and disciplines produce their own particular
modes of seeing and understanding the world. For instance, he discusses the "medical gaze" as a
way of seeing that is characteristic of the medical profession. This gaze involves not just the act
of looking but also the power relations and knowledge structures that shape how medical
practitioners perceive and interact with patients. The medical gaze, according to Foucault,
objectifies the patient, reducing them to a set of symptoms or a body to be examined and treated.
The unequal power dynamic between doctor and patient reinforces this process, as the doctor
holds authority over the patient's body and health.
By conceptualizing the gaze in this way, Foucault highlights how power operates not only
through overt forms of coercion or control but also through subtler mechanisms of observation,
classification, and normalization. The gaze becomes a tool through which power is exercised and
maintained within various social institutions, shaping both how individuals perceive themselves
and how they are perceived by others. It is not hard to transfer this idea to ‘the colonial gaze’.
Kalpana Ram defined the 'colonial gaze' as a term that has come to refer to a “structure of
representation which figures as a mode of intervention in itself, as well as providing the pretext
for a variety of other forms of practical intervention” (Ram, K. 2018). In other words, the
colonial gaze refers to the ways in which colonial powers visually represented and constructed
knowledge about colonized peoples and territories.
Similar to Foucault's notion of the medical gaze, which objectifies the patient, the colonial gaze
often reduced colonized peoples to exotic or primitive stereotypes, stripping away their
individuality and agency. Colonizers viewed indigenous cultures and practices through a lens of
superiority, positioning themselves as the norm against which others were judged (Ram, K.
2018). Moreover, the colonial gaze reinforced the unequal power relations between colonizers
and the colonized (Ram, K. 2018). Through visual representations, colonial powers asserted their
authority over colonized territories and peoples, legitimizing their control and domination.
Visual media such as photographs and paintings served as tools of documentation, allowing
colonizers to categorize and classify indigenous cultures and societies according to their own
preconceived notions of race, civilization, and progress. Furthermore, the colonial gaze also
helped to normalize colonialism as a natural and inevitable part of the social order. By depicting
colonial rule as benevolent and necessary for the "civilization" of indigenous peoples, visual
representations perpetuated colonialist ideologies and justified colonial violence and exploitation
(Ram, K. 2018).
By exploring the concept of the colonial gaze and integrating it with an examination of the
camera as a tool of power and the apparatuses in which photography operates, a theoretical
framework emerges where it becomes evident that the colonial gaze, broadcasted and
weaponized by photography and the camera was a key mechanism through which colonial
powers exercised and maintained control over colonized peoples and territories, shaping both
how colonizers perceived the colonized and how they were perceived by others (Good, J. 2017:
84-85).
Utilization of Colonial photography
The key colonizing objective was to transform Africa into a semblance of a backward European
state, facilitating its subjugation and economic exploitation. This involved envisioning a scenario
where the African workforce was considered inferior to Europe's peasants in terms of human
worth. Through the implementation of coercion and manipulation of belief systems, this
workforce was intended to serve and reinforce white supremacy (Sealy, A.M. 2016: 29). The
camera became an important tool to succeed in this objective. The camera was used by
colonizers to document colonized territories, construct racial hierarchies, reinforce colonial
ideologies, and to manipulate and control narratives.
British anthropologist, Northcote Whitridge Thomas, was the first government-appointed
anthropologist by the British Colonial Office and his work in Nigeria was to focus on the ways in
which Black people were different (Hernandez, M. 2021). In his work he focused on facial
structures, hair, and scarification marks. His work objectifies and dehumanize black people by
turning them into exotic objects, and directly contributed to a discourse of white superiority. His
photography was used as evidence supporting race theories, such as black people being less
intelligent, based on an individual's skull measurements, as well as the cementation of the myth
of the “dark continent” (Choudhary, Z. 2022).
Image 1 retrieved from: https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/06/08/photography-as-a-tool-of-power-and-subjugation-how-the-camera-was-used-to-
justify-black-racial-inferiority/
Image 2 retrieved from: https://maitee-hernandez.medium.com/the-camera-as-a-weapon-of-imperialism-b56dfe96e8fe
As Zara Choudhary (2022) writes “These images, used for anthropological purposes, ensured not
only a denial of power and agency, but a dehumanization of the subject”. Through his
compilation of photographs and objects, N.W Thomas managed to objectify Black individuals,
effectively stripping them of their humanity and reducing them to what seems like a showcase of
exotic artifacts rather than a true portrayal of African people and culture (Hernandez, M. 2021).
In another example presented by Choudhary are the photographs clearly composed and presented
to emphasize the contrast between white and dark, to communicate what “civilized” opposed to
“uncivilized” people look like, by contrasting skin color, and by emphasizing power dynamics
through dress, pose and positions (Choudhary, Z. 2022).
Images retrieved from: https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/06/08/photography-as-a-tool-of-power-and-subjugation-how-the-camera-was-used-to-
justify-black-racial-inferiority/
The photograph on the right is captioned “Sewing class in the Mission of the Daughters of
Charity in the Belgian Congo (1910)”. The photograph shows white women, dressed in white,
with their hands calculatedly placed on the shoulders of the seated young black girls. This is an
image which feels infantilizing and communicates the message of the necessary “white saviour”.
These representations of African cultures and people were the only source of information the
western audiences obtained and thus internalized, and as written previously, no culture exists
outside its representation. All of these photographs successfully conveyed white superiority and
rationalized colonization as a perceived necessity. They contributed to the creation of an
"imaginative geography" for the audience, depicting an Africa that existed solely within the
Western consciousness. This portrayal was characterized by a binary construction of 'our land'
versus 'their land.' Theirs was depicted as 'uncivilized,' 'primitive,' and 'unknown,' while ours was
framed as its antithesis. Black Africans were portrayed as 'uncultured' and 'unclothed,' thereby
supposedly necessitating 'civilizing' efforts, which in turn justified Europe's colonial endeavors
(Choudhary, Z. 2022). It reinforces a stereotypical power dynamic where Africa is depicted as
helpless and dysfunctional, contrasted with the portrayal of the affluent and compassionate West;
“The message is that someone is suffering, and that we should be sympathetic to his or her plight
and moved to do something. (...) This structuring of the isolated victim awaiting external
assistance is what invests such imagery with colonial relations of power” (Good, J. 2017: 92).
Images retrieved from: https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/06/08/photography-as-a-tool-of-power-and-subjugation-how-the-camera-was-used-to-
justify-black-racial-inferiority/
Postcards as a colonialist propaganda tool
Similarly, in the early 20th century, photographers often depicted women of color according to
their own imaginations rather than portraying them authentically. An example of this
phenomenon can be found in the French colonial postcards, where Algerian women were
objectified and sexualized, effectively transforming them into commodities and fulfilling the
fetishistic desires of white colonial men (Hernandez, M. 2021). Upon the arrival of French
colonial armies in Algeria in the early twentieth century, accompanying photographers sought to
capture images of Algerian women as they envisioned them: “lounging in harems, smoking
hookahs, trapped in the prison of their own homes, topless, sexually available” (Sentilles, S.
2017). However, when reaching Algeria, they encountered veiled women whose bodies remained
concealed from view, with only their eyes visible. In response, the photographers resorted to
hiring models, often from marginalized segments of society, and compensated them to pose and
don costumes. Within their studios, they employed various props and backdrops to simulate
bedroom settings, adorned spaces with hookahs, coffee pots, and rugs to emulate harems, and
even installed bars on windows to evoke a sense of imprisonment. When Algerian women
refused to remove their veils voluntarily, photographers would offer payment as an incentive for
compliance (Hernandez, M. 2021).
Images retrieved from DeRoo, R.J (1998): DOI: 10.1080/135346498250343
These photographs were printed for distribution in Europe as postcards, resulting in a more rapid
circulation of these falsified representations of Algerian women guised under the pretense of
scientific knowledge, as photographers were simultaneously anthropologists (Choudhary, Z.
2022).
In her article titled "Colonial Postcards and Women as Props for War-Making," Sarah Sentilles
highlights the process by which women of color have been commodified. This commodification
involves not only their sexualization and fetishization but also their exploitation as pawns for
war-making. In relation to the staged postcards of Algerian women – it communicates a
colonialist propaganda, which on one hand is supposed to lure European men to Algeria for
work, while on the other justifying the colonization by portraying these women as in need of
saving. This exploitation is rationalized through imperialist racism, which essentially portrays
brown men as oppressors who are incapable of caring for their women positioning the colonizers
as saviors with a moral obligation to liberate them (Sentilles, S. 2017). For centuries, women
have frequently been used as tools for justifying war. Invasions are often justified, at least in
part, by highlighting the suffering of women in the targeted countries. This phenomenon is aptly
described by the literary theorist and postcolonial feminist Gayatri Spivak as "white men saving
brown women from brown men." Furthermore, it undermines the agency and self-perception of
brown women.
“The postcard is one of the illustrated forms of colonialist discourse, its chatty and self-satisfied
imagery” (Alloula, M. 2013:120). Although the photographs were staged, they were captioned
and presented as if they documented life in Algeria. The photographs do not depict Algerian
women as they truly are, but rather reflect the fantasies of the colonial photographers. They
represent an illusion created by the photographers' imaginations rather than an accurate portrayal
of the women themselves. (Alloula, M. 2013: 129)
The purpose of a postcard is “to show someone who is not present in a place what that place is
like, by sharing an image—a cityscape, or countryside, or wildlife” (Alloula, M. 2013: 28). The
French-colonial postcards were crafted with the purpose of persuading the French populace that
Algeria and its depicted topless, confined women would benefit from colonization. According to
Alloula, these colonial postcards employ a "rhetoric of camouflage." They utilize a "mirror trick"
that presents itself as a pure reflection of reality. However, Alloula argues that this illusion
equates to reality itself. In essence, the colonial postcards project the desires of the colonizers as
if they were actualities. (Alloula, M. 2013: 28)
Image 1 retrieved from: https://maitee-hernandez.medium.com/the-camera-as-a-weapon-of-imperialism-b56dfe96e8fe
Image 2 retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/colonial-postcards-and-women-as-props-for-war-making
Malek Alloula states that these postcards are “Nothing but one of the forms of aesthetic
justification of colonial violence” (2013: 120). In other words, these images are not merely
innocent representations of Algerian culture or people, but rather they are part of a broader
project to legitimize and justify the violence and oppression enacted by colonial powers. By
portraying Algerian women in a particular light – often exoticized, sexualized, or dehumanized –
these postcards contribute to a narrative that positions colonial domination as necessary or even
beneficial. The aesthetic appeal of these images, combined with their circulation and
consumption, serves to mask the violence and exploitation inherent in the colonial project. As
Siobhan McGuirk writes: “[Normative] aesthetic formations, which are dominated by the white
male gaze, are loaded with the violence of coloniality. [...] The colonial landscape, the exoticised
nudes of racialised women, and the aesthetic appropriation of primitivism are all articulations of
the reification and consumption of coloniality as aesthetics” (2020: 26).
And thus, by examining the circulation of postcards and the representation in colonial
photography, it becomes evident that photography and the camera was used as a tool that helped
to cement the ideological basis for European or white superiority and the subjugation of Black
Africans as inferior, satisfying the white gaze.
In this essay, I have explored the role of photography as a cultural and political tool deeply
intertwined with the consolidation and reinforcement of colonial authority. Colonialism,
characterized by the seizure of land, erasure of identity, and imposition of hegemonic power
structures, gave rise to a system of image production that served to perpetuate and propagate its
dehumanizing ideologies. It is evident that the photographer holds all the power, and the camera
has been utilized to perpetuate this imbalance of power. This dynamic is reinforced not only
during the actual process of capturing the image but also in its circulation and perception by its
audience, as well as institutionalized through different state apparatuses and systems of
knowledge (Good, J. 2017: 85).
When it comes to depicting colonized and subjugated peoples, the European camera can be
interpreted as a deliberately ideologically biased tool aligned with the interests of colonial
intrusion (Sealy, A.M. 2016: 100). Colonial photographers, such as N.W. Thomas utilized the
camera as a descriptive, classificatory tool to establish racial difference. (Adamson, N. 2004). It
becomes evident that the camera was a fundamental tool in the circulating of racist imaginaries
and colonial ideologies by depicting colonized people and territories through colonial and white
gaze, especially evident in the circulation of staged postcards (McGuirk, S. 2020: 19).
In conclusion, photography has been and continues to be a powerful tool of colonialism, used to
assert control, reinforce stereotypes, and perpetuate narratives of superiority and inferiority;
“Photography is very much implicated in some of the imperial project’s darkest and most
shameful violations” (Good, J. 2017: 80).
BIBLIOGRAHPY:
Adamson, N. (2004). Colonialist photography. History of Photography, 28(1), 89–92.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03087298.2004.10441293
Alloula, M. (2013). “From The Colonial Harem”. Nicholas Mirzoeff (Ed) The Visual
Culture Reader.
Choudhary, Z. (2022). Photography as a Tool of Power and Subjugation: How the
Camera was Used to Justify Black Racial Inferiority. Sacred Footsteps. Retrieved from:
https://sacredfootsteps.com/2020/06/08/photography-as-a-tool-of-power-and-subjugation-how-
the-camera-was-used-to-justify-black-racial-inferiority/
Foucault, Michel. (1980). Power/Knowledge. Edited by Colin Gordon. London:
Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Good, J. (2017). Understanding Photojournalism. Bloomsbury Academic Press.
Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/88508642/Understanding_Photojournalism
Hernandez, M. (2021). The Camera as a Weapon of Imperialism. Medium. Retrieved
from: https://maitee-hernandez.medium.com/the-camera-as-a-weapon-of-imperialism-
b56dfe96e8fe
Loomba, A. (2005). Colonialism/postcolonialism (2nd ed..). Routledge.
McGuirk, S. (2020). Rewriting Postcards: Experiments in Collaborative Transnational
Curation. Retrieved from: https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/29459/8/S-HCS-14-1-2-019-20-
345-McGuirk-S-Tx%5B5%5D.pdf
Ram, K. (2018). Gender, colonialism, and the colonial gaze. In H. Callan (Ed.), The
international encyclopedia of anthropology (pp. 2464-2470). John Wiley & Sons.
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1873
DeRoo, R.J. (1998) Colonial Collecting: Women and Algerian Cartes Postales, Parallax,
4:2, 145-157, DOI: 10.1080/135346498250343
Sealy, A.M. (2016). Decolonizing the camera: photography in racial time. Durham
University. Retrieved from: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11794/
Sentilles, S. (2017). Colonial Postcards and Women as Props for War-Making. Retrieved
from: https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/colonial-postcards-and-women-as-props-
for-war-making
DECOLONISING THE CAMERA??
The camera and colonial photography fueled colonialist discourse, which allowed and justified
colonialist ideologies, violence, torture and exploitation of non-western and non-white people.
It has indisputably caused a ripple effect onto racism and photojournalism as we know it today,
whereas colonial ideology lingers, evident in NGO campaigns, news coverage representing
Africa as a whole, undifferentiated continent defined by famine. (Good, J. 2017: 92), and
political/social/systematic racism towards non-white people. Sealy proposes that “it is necessary
to recognize photography as an active agent of Western colonizing authority at work on the body
of the Other, both in the past and in the present.”
Africa is still represented as a continent in need of rescue. This representation is problematic in
the same way as Seely Harris´s work was problematic. Its an attempt, to build a condition of
empathy for the African subject (Sealy, A.M. 2016: 45), but in the process of doing so,
reinforcing stereotypes of colonial discourse of a necessary “white saviour”. It completely
neglects the globally systematically exploitation of African countries´ minerals, land and other
resources (Harry, P.O. 2017). It neglects the fact, that they do not need a “white saviour”, they
need to be saved from it.
Harry, P.O. (2017). Colonialism in Africa is Still Alive and Well. The guardian. Retrieved from:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/01/colonialism-in-africa-is-still-alive-and-well
Bunce, M. (2014). International news and the image of Africa: new storytellers, new
narratives? In: Images of Africa: Creation, Negotiation and Subversion. (pp. 42-62).
Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0719091469
Sealy shrewdly unpacks the political and historic consequences of the violence depicted in Seeley
Harris’ work: “They created a seismic shift in the Western viewer’s perceptions of Africa,
moving past the staged fantasy of the cannibal (and) shifting away from the exotic or
pornographic postcards (...) Seeley Harris’s images introduced a degree of pathos (...) they
aimed to generate viewers’ sympathy above their curiosity.”
Seely Harris´work provided irrefutable proof of the atrocities occurring in Congo, but they also
veered away from the exoticisation of African people and generated a completely new way of
seeing the African subject, as a victim of violence.
