M.N. Srinivas’ The Remembered Village bristles with references to photography, from a formal group image of Rampura villagers marking Gandhi’s death to villagers’ general enthusiasm for the products of Srinivas’ own camera. This lecture examines his recounting of the role of the camera in Rampura, and the relationship of photography to memory, evidence and politics, before moving to a very different village in central India whose recent and current fixation with the camera, and what it makes visible and permanent, will be explored.
Christopher Pinney is Professor of Anthropology and Visual Culture at University College London.
South Asia fall reception to follow talk at 4:30.