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Postcards from the edge of time: archaeology, photography, archaeological ethnography

Postcards from the edge of time: archaeology, photography, archaeological ethnography
Postcards from the edge of time: archaeology, photography, archaeological ethnography
In this photo-essay we present and discuss an experiment with digital photography as part of our archaeological ethnography within the Kalaureia Research Programme, on the island of Poros, Greece. We contextualize this attempt by reviewing, briefly but critically, the collateral development of photography and modernist archaeology, and the links between photography and anthropology, especially with regard to the field of visual anthropology. Our contention is that at the core of the uses of photographs made by both disciplines is the assumption that photographs are faithful, disembodied representations of reality. We instead discuss photographs, including digital photographs, as material artefacts that work by evocation rather than representation, and as material memories of the things they have witnessed; as such they are multi-sensorially experienced. While in archaeology photographs are seen as either official records or informal snapshots, we offer instead a third kind of photographic production, which occupies the space between artwork and ethnographic commentary or intervention. It is our contention that it is within the emerging field of archaeological ethnography that such interventions acquire their full poignancy and potential, and are protected from the risk of colonial objectification.
photography, archaeology, archaeological ethnography, social anthropology, senses, materiality, kalaureia, greece
1465-5187
283-309
Hamilakis, Yannis
e40e6a1a-e416-4561-bf0d-e9e3337ede6a
Anagnostopoulos, Aris
8bf97a95-a9e1-4410-bee0-8adaa165d79d
Ifantidis, Fotis
befad14d-b0d6-47c6-91a8-8768ff3c88b5
Hamilakis, Yannis
e40e6a1a-e416-4561-bf0d-e9e3337ede6a
Anagnostopoulos, Aris
8bf97a95-a9e1-4410-bee0-8adaa165d79d
Ifantidis, Fotis
befad14d-b0d6-47c6-91a8-8768ff3c88b5

Hamilakis, Yannis, Anagnostopoulos, Aris and Ifantidis, Fotis (2009) Postcards from the edge of time: archaeology, photography, archaeological ethnography. Public Archaeology, 8 (2-3), 283-309. (doi:10.1179/175355309x457295).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In this photo-essay we present and discuss an experiment with digital photography as part of our archaeological ethnography within the Kalaureia Research Programme, on the island of Poros, Greece. We contextualize this attempt by reviewing, briefly but critically, the collateral development of photography and modernist archaeology, and the links between photography and anthropology, especially with regard to the field of visual anthropology. Our contention is that at the core of the uses of photographs made by both disciplines is the assumption that photographs are faithful, disembodied representations of reality. We instead discuss photographs, including digital photographs, as material artefacts that work by evocation rather than representation, and as material memories of the things they have witnessed; as such they are multi-sensorially experienced. While in archaeology photographs are seen as either official records or informal snapshots, we offer instead a third kind of photographic production, which occupies the space between artwork and ethnographic commentary or intervention. It is our contention that it is within the emerging field of archaeological ethnography that such interventions acquire their full poignancy and potential, and are protected from the risk of colonial objectification.

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Published date: 2009
Keywords: photography, archaeology, archaeological ethnography, social anthropology, senses, materiality, kalaureia, greece

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 156479
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/156479
ISSN: 1465-5187
PURE UUID: a5f4e547-3e31-45b1-831b-8669fb114523

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Date deposited: 01 Jun 2010 09:10
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 01:43

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Contributors

Author: Yannis Hamilakis
Author: Aris Anagnostopoulos
Author: Fotis Ifantidis

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