Anthropological Missions of São Tomé (1954) and Angola (1955): pathways to the decolonization of photography

Abstract

In this paper, two sets of unpublished photographs produced during the Anthropological Missions in São Tomé and Príncipe (1954) and Angola (1955) were analyzed. The investigation, in the scope of the Photo Impulse project (funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal), allowed to examine the discourse present in official diaries and documents together with photography and its materiality, which adds meanings to the discourse when proposing views. With the analysis, we sought to reflect on the possible paths for the decolonization of colonial photography through the reflection of the power invested in the archive and the gender relations that were “forgotten” by the modernity-coloniality paradigm.

Keywords:
Colonial Photography; Anthropological Mission; Archive; Portugal; Africa; Decolonial