Picturing pity : pitfalls and pleasures in cross-cultural communication : image and word in a north Cameroon mission

Bibliographic Information

Picturing pity : pitfalls and pleasures in cross-cultural communication : image and word in a north Cameroon mission

Marianne Gullestad

Berghahn Books, 2007

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Note

Includes bibliographical references(p. [283]-293) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Picturing Pity is the first full length monograph on missionary photography. Empirically, it is based on an in-depth analysis of the published photographs taken by Norwegian evangelical missionaries in Northern Cameroon from the early nineteen twenties, at the beginning of their activities in this region, and until today. Being part of a large international movement, Norway sent out more missionaries per capita than any other country in Europe. Marianne Gullestad's main contention is that the need to continuously justify their activities to donors in Europe has led to the creation and maintenance of specific ways of portraying Africans. The missionary visual rhetoric is both based on earlier visualizations and has over time established its own conventions which can now also be traced within secular fields of activity such as international development agencies, foreign policy, human relief organizations and the mass media. Picturing Pity takes part in the present "pictorial turn" in academic teaching and research, constituting visual images as an exciting site of conversation across disciplinary lines.

Table of Contents

List of Figures Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction: Propaganda for Christ Chapter 2. Establishing a Goodness Regime Chapter 3. Imagining a Call from Africa Chapter 4. Reflections on Taking Photographs Chapter 5. God's Sowers and Reapers Chapter 6. Women and Children: Both Marginal and Central Chapter 7. Muslim Men: Dangerous Rivals and Exotic Villains Chapter 8. Victims and Villains in a Feature Film from 1960 Chapter 9. From Religions Propaganda to Cultural Heritage Chapter 10. Goodness and Its Side-effects Bibliography Index

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