SEMINAR MEMBERS RESPOND
 Patricia Mathews-Salazar
Ways of Seeing and Being Seen
Nov 6, 2008
The Last of the Nuba reminded me of the colonial fascination with primitive others so common among anthropologists contemporary to Reifenstahl. Although Sontag’s critique focused on the continuity of Reifenstahl’s ‘nazi work’ and on the purification of her reputation [p84], I was wondering about the similarities shared by all of the ethnographers and travellers equally fascinated with ‘primitives’ devoid not just of clothes but of voice and agency. Neither Reifenstahl nor Sontag are concerned about the individuality of Nuba people or for this matter on the possible hardships of their lifestyle, or on what they might be thinking when they are posing for the camera. A lot of the work that follows the publication of "Fascinating Fascism" would focus on this critique of representation and colonialism. Elizabeth Edwards’ jacket in Photography and Anthropology [1993, see below] comes to mind. Anthropologists have taken different roads since then and although the myth of the noble savage has all but disappeared, today we cannot speak of one but many anthropologies and anthropologists working in their own societies, studying ‘up’, indigenous, ‘halfies’-- to borrow Lila Abu-Lughod’s term-- or devoted to an anthropology that serves the public, even when the search for an authentic native culture has all but disappeared, and sometimes it is used by people over studied by anthropologists or ovewhelmed by tourism, as Gary Larson reminded us in his well-known cartoon about anthropologists.
Alice Kaplan’s essay has a thorough list that may lead to a rich discussion. I will just look at one point here, the importance of context. Sontag’s questions and concerns –as well as Reifenstahl’s depictions-- are product of her personal experiences as of those relevant of her time within the parameters of what she was able to write for that piece in the NYRB. I would also like to ask Alice Kaplan how she situates her own work and interest in French Studies two decades after Sontag.
Back to the Nuba, James Faris’ criticism on Riefenstahl’s work –and he extended his critique to other forms of representation like those in National Geographic -- is probably harsher than Sontag’s. We may have come a long way in our efforts to overcome essentialisms but unless we acknowledge underlying unequal historical connections that explain many of differences among people in different parts of the world, this infatuation with exotic others as aesthetically pleasing as it is, will keep the dangers of the noble savage myth alive and going.
 
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
