Colonial India's "Fanatical Fakirs" and their Popular Representations

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2156299
AutoresRianne Siebenga (Schlumberger (Ireland), autor de correspondencia)
Año2012
Volumen23
Número4
Páginas445-466
Fecha de publicación2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHistory and Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0275-7206 • E-ISSN: 1477-2612
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02757206.2013.726716
OpenAlexW2021205194
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas21

Reaching wide and diverse audiences, magic lantern shows and postcards played an important role in the dissemination of visual knowledge of other cultures in the British colonial era. Fakirs were a popular subject of postcards and lantern slides representing India. This reflected the official attention paid to religious ascetics who were seen as representative of everything that was problematic and in need of improvement in the country in colonial texts. Images of fakirs stood in a tradition of the representation of the "type". However, following Barthes, it is important to analyse the connection between image and text. Lantern shows came with readings, which were more often preserved than images, but specific examples of images and texts together are taken from Harold Mackinder's and John Stoddard's lectures on India. The lectures are evidently anchored in the colonial discourse, while the images of postcards and slides evade the boundaries set by the text

Art · Art history · Colonialism · Lantern · MAGIC (telescope · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Sociology · Subject (documents · Visual arts · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Computer Science · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · Religious Tourism and Spaces