'Black and white, a significant contrast': Race, humanism and missionary photography in the Pacific
Title:
'Black and white, a significant contrast': Race, humanism and missionary photography in the Pacific
Author:
Eves, Richard
Appeared in:
Ethnic and racial studies
Paging:
Volume 29 (2006) nr. 4 pages 725-748
Year:
2006-07-01
Contents:
Taking the example of 'Studies in black and white', a genre of photographs taken around the end of the nineteenth century by Methodist missionaries in the Pacific, this article seeks to go beyond conventional analyses that scrutinize colonial photography for forms of domination. I argue that these photographs, and the context in which some of them were published, reveal a complex interplay between two contradictory principles: on the one hand, a Christian humanism, articulating a vision of commonality and equality, and on the other, paternalism, articulating a vision of superiority and inequality .
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