Photographs and Archaeological Knowledge
<p class="p1">This article explores some of the ways in which photographs and their archives establish archaeological knowledge. It draws upon histories of photography and archaeology within South Asia to create focus upon archaeology’s evidentiary...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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ARF India
2013-11-01
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| Series: | Ancient Asia |
| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1797420258926002176 |
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| author | Sudeshna Guha |
| author_facet | Sudeshna Guha |
| author_sort | Sudeshna Guha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p class="p1">This article explores some of the ways in which
photographs and their archives establish archaeological knowledge. It draws upon
histories of photography and archaeology within South Asia to create focus upon
archaeology’s evidentiary regimes. The aims are to: a) demonstrate the importance of
engaging with photographs and their archives as objects for reckoning archaeology’s
evidentiary terrains, b) draw attention to multiple social biographies a photograph or
photographic archive acquires, c) highlight the visual as a force of archaeology’s
historiography, and d) impress upon the necessity of attending to historiographical
issues. The aims allow us in seeing some of the ways in which field sciences create
their evidentiary frames, and have a special resonance within the context of South Asian
archaeology where professional and amateur archaeologists continue to promote the belief
that archaeological facts exist out there, and that archaeological research produces
better and more robust sources for the past than scholarship based on texts. Visual
histories also highlight the mutation of the so-called ‘colonialist’ historiography
within the post-colonial histories of archaeology’s developments, and encourage us to go
beyond the hackneyed formulations of colonial legacies and the hagiographic literature
of individual practitioners. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:00:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-56f24c48463843d292d391799eff8c5a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2042-5937 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:00:00Z |
| publishDate | 2013-11-01 |
| publisher | ARF India |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ancient Asia |
| spelling | doaj.art-56f24c48463843d292d391799eff8c5a2023-12-03T09:55:09ZengARF IndiaAncient Asia2042-59372013-11-01410.5334/aa.1231439Photographs and Archaeological KnowledgeSudeshna Guha0Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge<p class="p1">This article explores some of the ways in which photographs and their archives establish archaeological knowledge. It draws upon histories of photography and archaeology within South Asia to create focus upon archaeology’s evidentiary regimes. The aims are to: a) demonstrate the importance of engaging with photographs and their archives as objects for reckoning archaeology’s evidentiary terrains, b) draw attention to multiple social biographies a photograph or photographic archive acquires, c) highlight the visual as a force of archaeology’s historiography, and d) impress upon the necessity of attending to historiographical issues. The aims allow us in seeing some of the ways in which field sciences create their evidentiary frames, and have a special resonance within the context of South Asian archaeology where professional and amateur archaeologists continue to promote the belief that archaeological facts exist out there, and that archaeological research produces better and more robust sources for the past than scholarship based on texts. Visual histories also highlight the mutation of the so-called ‘colonialist’ historiography within the post-colonial histories of archaeology’s developments, and encourage us to go beyond the hackneyed formulations of colonial legacies and the hagiographic literature of individual practitioners.ArchaeologyHistoryPhotographySouth AsiaAsian Archaeology |
| spellingShingle | Sudeshna Guha Photographs and Archaeological Knowledge Ancient Asia Archaeology History Photography South Asia Asian Archaeology |
| title | Photographs and Archaeological Knowledge |
| title_full | Photographs and Archaeological Knowledge |
| title_fullStr | Photographs and Archaeological Knowledge |
| title_full_unstemmed | Photographs and Archaeological Knowledge |
| title_short | Photographs and Archaeological Knowledge |
| title_sort | photographs and archaeological knowledge |
| topic | Archaeology History Photography South Asia Asian Archaeology |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sudeshnaguha photographsandarchaeologicalknowledge |