Impressions of the African past: Interpreting ethnographic photographs from Cameroon

Abstract

This paper applies two modes of interpretation to ethnographic photographs taken between 1884 and 1915 in the then German colony Cameroon (West Africa). The pictures are discussed in light of the recent anthropological debate on constructing knowledge about the Other, be it in written or pictorial form, that perpetuates and reinforces conventional stereotypes. The maker and his or her preconceptions are the main focus of this type of research. This reflexive mode of interpretation is contrasted with the documentary mode, prevalent among historians who emphasize the information on a specific time and place contained in the images. Thus far, both approaches have been applied exclusively of each other. While both modes of interpretation are valid in their own right, it will be shown here that the photographs must be treated as cultural and historical artifacts of their makers and equally as documents about the Other. Only then can their full meaning be grasped.