Fieldwork and the Participant-Photographer

E.E. Evans-Pritchard and the Nuer Rite of gorot

Bibliographic Data

ID7427552
AuthorsChristopher Morton (0000-0002-3358-591X, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume22
Issue4
Pages252-274
Publication date2009-07-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueVisual Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0894-9468 • E-ISSN: 1545-5920
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08949460903004896
OpenAlexW2093426779
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited23

Examination of Evans-Pritchard's photographic record of the Nuer rite of gorot that he witnessed in 1936 raises important questions about the historical relationship between anthropological fieldwork and visual methods, and in particular photography's relationship to both methodological observation and participation within early 20th-century fieldwork practice. This article explores the question of why the photographs are characterized by a sustained engagement with two distinct stages of the rite, but why other aspects of the ceremony are not recorded. In order to explore this question, which was first prompted by a detailed engagement with the entire archive, the article proposes a model of Evans-Pritchard as “participant-photographer”—a model that understands his activity during the rite as being composed of periods of “photographic engagement” interposed with observation and note-taking

Archaeology · Art · Ceremony · Photography · Rite · Rite of passage · Sociology · Theology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Photography and Visual Culture · History · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub