The Visuals of Empire: Was Colonial Photography Ever 'Innocent'?

Dr. Farish A Noor is Professor of Political History at the Faculty of Social Science, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia UIII. His work has focused largely on 19th century Colonial Southeast Asia, with a focus on the narratives and modalities of knowledge-production and data collecting in the region.
This presentation discuss the development and legacy of colonial photography and postcards in 19th century British Malaya. Some might argue that colonial postcards were a 'harmless' and 'innocent' aspect of colonial life, but it has to be remembered that such images were produced at a time when power differentials between the colonial powers and the colonised subjects were very real. It will be argued that in many ways colonial photography and postcards further reinforced stereotypes about 'lazy' and 'backward' natives, that were in keeping with the logic of racialised colonial capitalism then.