Ritual Photography and Family Snapshots in Rural...

Framing Globalization:Ritual Photography and Family

Snapshots in Rural China

Eriberto P. Lozada Jr.Dept. of Anthropology

Davidson College

I am a camera …§ Fieldworker as

walking electronic store§ Community

photographer, for free§ Photography as

experiments in “self-making”

Little Rome§ Homeland of the

Hakka, “Guest People” – diaspora ethnic group§ Catholic village of

about 1,000 people§ Little Rome as a

“transnational village”

Little RomeThroughout Christianity’s turbulent history in China, the persistent faith of villagers has enabled the Catholic Church to survive many movements of persecution, including the latest during the Cultural Revolution.

In good times, the Chinese Catholic Church flourishes politically and intellectually in the cities; but in bad times, which have been frequent since Christians first showed up in the Tang courts (6th century CE), the Church has survived through its rural strongholds.

Little Rome

Little Rome in 1934

Little Rome in 1996

Vernacular Photography§ photography in ritual§ Family snapshots§ Universal “Kodak

moments?Ӥ Localization of global

technology§ Photography as

“work of the imagination”

Photography in Ritual§ Rituals are “Kodak moments” – special

occasions to be recorded for posterity§ Rituals bring together people who may not

ordinarily be together§ Wedding rituals in particular – “once in a

lifetime” gendered moment for women§ Use of western bridal gowns and tuxedos for

engagement pictures§ Props from the photography studio

Photography in Ritual§ Cultural specificity in photography? Chinese funeral

photography§ Rituals are statements by ritual participants, and a

picture is worth a thousand words§ Photographs have iconic properties because of their

use in ritual

Photography in Ritual

Bridal Dowry Party, on the way to the grooms’ home, Little Rome, 1926

Funerary Photographs§ The funerary portrait§ Centrality in funerary

ritual§ Memory – who was

there§ Displayed in Ancestral

Temple and living rooms

§ Funerals often videotaped, exchanged among relatives

Funerary Photographs

Funerary Photographs

§ Photograph of deceased is one of the first things arranged in funeral

§ Principal mourner carries photograph throughout movement

§ Group photograph punctuates the funeral procession

Funerary Photographs

Funerary Photographs

Transcendent Powerof Photographs§ photography privileged over other

representations because the camera is touched by the subject?§ Photographs as icons – objectification of

charisma through its use in ritual§ Objectified charisma allows for wider

participation, renewal, redirection

Family Snapshots§ In vernacular photography, producer is

consumer

Family Snapshots§ Family

snapshots are social and moral products, as well as aesthetic

Family Snapshots§ These photographs define boundaries, continuity,

and localization of transnational processes

Family Snapshots§ Importance of group photographs

Group Photographs

§ Key Social events in Chinese culture need that “end-product” of ritual, the group photograph

§ Group photographs are maps of social networks§ Tangible proof of embeddedness in a particular social

network -- guanxi

Group Photographs§ Especially necessary for keeping deterritorialized

family, community, and networks together

Picturing Modernity§ Local framing

of photographs§ What’s in the

picture shows cosmopolitan lifestyle§ Self-presented

cultural inventory

Picturing Modernity

§ Revealing sense of self

§ Love and romance, the dominant narrative of postsocialist material culture

§ Photograph grounds her in a localized modernity – she’s cool

Picturing Modernity§ Photography is a

technology of leisure§ Importance of

leisure in a global modernity§ Consumption of

photographic technology is an exercise in choice

Localizing technology§ “Share your pictures with your friends and

family” – selling Kodak in China§ Photography as a technology is not context-

free; highly dependent upon social and cultural context§ Photography in China reveals different

conceptions of the individual and different visions of the good life§ Photography as self-making, tangible product

of the work of the imagination