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Visuality and Anthropology: Drawings, Painting, Photography, and Movie

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The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Human Sciences

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Abstract

Drawing, painting, photography, and film footage are important research tools in social and cultural anthropology. In this chapter, the author analyzes the historical development of selected visual research tools used in anthropological fieldwork. He describes their purposes and the differences in how these means of visual representation are used. He puts special focus on photography and drawing. Film and photography have generally been considered evidence and an objective record of ethnographic reality, while drawings and paintings are now mostly used as tools enabling researchers to study particular thematic areas of cultural psychology.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czechia

    Martin Soukup

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  1. Martin Soukup
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Correspondence to Martin Soukup .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    David McCallum

Section Editor information

  1. Department for Cultural and Sciences Studies, University of Lucerne, Luzern, Switzerland

    Marianne Sommer

  2. Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Staffan Müller-Wille

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Soukup, M. (2023). Visuality and Anthropology: Drawings, Painting, Photography, and Movie. In: McCallum, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Human Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4106-3_24-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4106-3_24-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4106-3

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