Understanding Social Images

Marcus Banks was Professor of Visual Anthropology at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA), University of Oxford until he passed away in 2020. He was a pioneer in integrating visual approaches into the mainstream of social and cultural anthropology. With Howard Morphy, he edited the influential volume Rethinking Visual Anthropology (Yale University Press, 1999).

“This book ambitiously addresses a wide array of topics, including ethical issues and presents a diverse range of perspectives.” • Aleksandra Gracjasz, Leiden University

• List of IllustrationsNotes on TextPart I: IntroductionsIntroduction: Tracing a TrajectoryDavid Zeitlyn and Chihab El KhachabChapter 1. Visual Anthropology: Image, Object and InterpretationPart II: Raju and His FriendsChapter 2. Forty-Minute Fieldwork: 2a Raju Film Synopsis as Box InsertChapter 3. Reclaiming a Soul Stolen by the CameraChapter 4. Revisiting RajuPart III: Photo-Elicitation and Image AnalysisChapter 5. Analysing ImagesChapter 6. Photography, Memory, and Affect: Two Fragments from the History of an Indian City Chapter 7. Slow Research: Exploring One’s Own Visual ArchivePart IV: Archives and Visual ResearchChapter 8. An Anthropologist in the Film Archives: Interdisciplinary ApproachesChapter 9. Visual Anthropology: Image Technologies in the FieldChapter 10. What Can We Learn from Visual Methods?Afterword: After Marcus: Visual Methods, Visual PedagogiesHoward MorphyIndex