Photography and American Coloniality

Eliot Elisofon in Africa, 1942–1972

Raoul J. Granqvist (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

337 Seiten

2017
Michigan State University Press (Verlag)
978-1-61186-236-2 (ISBN)

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This book is the first to question both why and how the colonialist mythologies represented by the work of photographer Eliot Elisofon persist. It documents and discusses a heterogeneous practice of American coloniality of power as it explores Elisofon’s career as war photographer-correspondent and staff photographer for LIFE, filmmaker, author, artist, and collector of “primitive art” and sculpture. It focuses on three areas: Elisofon’s narcissism, voyeurism, and sexism; his involvement in the homogenizing of Western social orders and colonial legacies; and his enthused mission of “sending home” a mass of still-life photographs, annexed African artifacts, and assumed vintage knowledge. The book does not challenge his artistic merit or his fascinating personality; what it does question is his production and imagining of “difference.” As the text travels from World War II to colonialism, postcolonialism, and the Cold War, from Casablanca to Leopoldville (Kinshasa), it proves to be a necessarily strenuous and provocative trip.

Raoul J. Granqvist is Professor Emeritus of English at the Department of Language Studies, Umeå University.

Contents Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. En Route from Scandinavia to Africa, 1942–1944: On Becoming a Trickster with a Hungry Camera and a Loud Mouth Chapter 2. Colonial Travel and Colonial Habits: Early Years, Elisofon in Africa, 1947 and 1951 Chapter 3. African Women Walk, African Men Sit, African Children Are: Gender as Difference, Exclusion, Segregation, and Passage Chapter 4. From Colony to Colonized: Elisofon Fashioning Nigeria Chapter 5. Elisofon’s and LIFE’s Literary Africa: White Mythologies, Racism, and Cold War Politics Chapter 6. The American Broadcasting Company’s Africa, 1966–1967: A Shock of Change and an Updated Safari Chapter 7. The Cold War Affinity between Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko and the United States’ Eliot Elisofon Chapter 8. The Politics of the Black African Heritage Series, 1970–1972 Chapter 9. Elisofon Collecting Artifacts and Elisofon Curated: Colonialist Power Conclusion Appendix. LIFE Photo Essays by or with Eliot Elisofon Notes Bibliography Index

Erscheinungsdatum	21.03.2017
Reihe/Serie	African Humanities and the Arts
Verlagsort	East Lansing, MI
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Literatur ► Briefe / Tagebücher
	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Fotokunst
	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Kunstgeschichte / Kunststile
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
ISBN-10	1-61186-236-1 / 1611862361
ISBN-13	978-1-61186-236-2 / 9781611862362
Zustand	Neuware