Vision, Race, and Modernity: A Visual Economy of the Andean World

by Deborah Poole

Through an intensive examination of photographs and engravings from European, Peruvian, and U.S. archives, Deborah Poole explores the role visual images and technologies have played in shaping modern understandings of race. Vision, Race, and Modernity traces the subtle shifts that occurred in European and South American depictions of Andean Indians from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries, and explains how these shifts led to the modern concept of "racial difference." While Andean peoples were always thought of as different by their European describers, it was not until the early nineteenth century that European artists and scientists became interested in developing a unique visual and typological language for describing their physical features. Poole suggests that this "scientific" or "biological" discourse of race cannot be understood outside a modern visual economy. Although the book specifically documents the depictions of Andean peoples, Poole's findings apply to the entire colonized world of the nineteenth century.


Poole presents a wide range of images from operas, scientific expeditions, nationalist projects, and picturesque artists that both effectively elucidate her argument and contribute to an impressive history of photography. Vision, Race, and Modernity is a fascinating attempt to study the changing terrain of racial theory as part of a broader reorganization of vision in European society and culture.

Genres: Academic

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 1997

Reviews

[Constance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not even worth finishing. The first chapter was promising but then the rest of the book falls victim to elite anthropological objectifications of native folks in the Andean region. The book heavily focuses on Peru, somehow forgetting that the Andes crosses into Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Poole spends too much time hearing herself write than actually engaging with a critical visual analysis. She also doesn't include an introduction or a conclusion, introducing new information in the last chapter and literally only writing 1 paragraph to conclude a whole entire book.