by Jon Lackman | 12 October 2007 | Photography, Theory
In the Autumn 2007 issue of History of Photography, editor Peggy Ann Kusnerz writes:
This issue of History of Photography brings together an assortment of essays about individual photographers and their work. These essays are not ‘histories’ in the tradition of Scottish political philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881). His type of writing, called ‘Great Man History’, features lengthy, detailed biographies of kings, political leaders and prominent cultural figures. Nor is the writing in this issue subsumed by a grande idée, a uniform conceptual framework, applied (often reflexively) to an object of study. The contributors to this issue utilize a variety of approaches in developing their subject. Notably, each author constructs a compelling argument by working back and forth between biographical details, specific photographs and broader cultural, economic and political contexts. If there is an umbrella term to describe the methodology used by the authors in this issue, it would be ‘thick-description.’ As explained by American anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1926-2006), in thick-description ethnography, ‘The aim is to draw large conclusions from small, but very densely textured facts; to support broad assertions … by engaging them exactly with complex specifics’.
Articles include ‘Reflection: Nat Finkelstein, Warhol Filming Duchamp (1966)’ and ‘Raja Deen Dayal and Sons: Photographing Hyderabad’s Famine Relief Efforts.’
