“Mobilising Archives” investigated past and present uses of ethnographic photography taken in Angola throughout the 20th century. Articulating photography, history and anthropology, the project adopted a triangular methodology that combined archival research on historical collections, visual culture studies, and collaborative fieldwork with contemporary villagers.
Examining physical and digital archives related to three distinct photographic collections on Southern Angolan local cultures, the project explored a selection of field photographs produced by three ethnographers over different historical periods: the missionary Carlos Estermann (1930s-1970s), the museum officer António Carreira (1960s) and the university professor Ruy Duarte de Carvalho (1990s).
The selected photographs and their analysis fulfilled two main goals: 1) to develop a historical understanding of the evolving use of photography for ethnographic purposes, analyzing the field practices of each case-study and the subsequent usages of these images, namely through archiving and publishing; and 2) to conduct photo-elicitation with rural dwellers in the region, as a way to discuss Africanist photography from a contemporary perspective, and to produce informed ethnographic displays.
Together, the selected case studies highlighted the specificities of the evolving use of photography with an ethnographic purpose, amidst changing historical contexts – from Portuguese late colonialism, to Angola’s liberation war (1961-1974), and finally to its subsequent civil war (1975-2002). The German-born missionary who lived in Angola for over 50 years valued captioned photography for its ethnographic dimension; the Portuguese public officer born in Cape Verde made photographs in five 2-month missions, as a provider of an institutional ethnographic archive; and the Portuguese-born Angolan anthropologist conducting fieldwork during civil war innovated in his ethnographic use of published images. Collaboration with contemporary villagers added a much-needed local understanding of images that depict the regional rural universe, with an emphasis on insights onto the dwellers’ daily life.
Overall, “Mobilising Archives” contributed to debates on photography’s use in the history of anthropology and in contemporary ethnography. As its major output, the project developed a bilingual website (in Portuguese and in English) in the vein of digital ethnography, making accessible the preliminary findings for both specialized and general audiences, through multimodal digital content (film, text, exhibitions, graphic and interactive devices).
