Navajo and Photography: A Critical History of the Representation of an American People (Paperback)
Description
HISTORICALLY, PHOTOGRAPHS have said less about the Navajo than about the photographers of Navajos. In Navajo and Photography James Faris calls attention to the inability of these photographs to communicate either the lived experiences of native people or their history. Beginning with the earliest photographs of Navajos in captivity at Bosque Redondo and including recent glossy picture books and calendars, Faris's survey points up assumptions that have always governed photographic representation of the Navajo people. Full of the work of photographers such as Edward S. Curtis and Laura Gilpin, as well as photographs by many less-well-known figures, readers will find Navajo and Photography an enlightening juxtaposition of cultures.
About the Author
James Faris is emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Connecticut and is the author of The Nightway: A History and A History of Documentation of a Navajo Ceremonial.
Praise for Navajo and Photography: A Critical History of the Representation of an American People…
"This important and durable work sets a new standard for the study of photography and culture."—The Journal of the West
"This book should be required reading for all who share a concern for the ways in which photographs help shape how we perceive and ‘understand’ a subject."—Montana Magazine