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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2156299
AutoresRianne Siebenga (Schlumberger (Ireland), autor correspondente)
Ano2012
Volume23
Fascículo4
Páginas445-466
Data de publicação2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHistory and Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0275-7206 • E-ISSN: 1477-2612
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02757206.2013.726716
OpenAlexW2021205194
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências 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

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