Session 1 – Seeing Historically: Photography, Knowledge, and Power

Find an ethnographic photograph from the 19th century.

What information does it appear to give you? Write down your observations and inferences.

Based on the image itself, we have an indigenous man sitting on a horse in a desert-like environment. The horse stands among—what appear to be—yucca plants, with other various desert plants as well, and maybe some rocks near the horses front legs. It’s an overcast day, with signs of the clouds darkening (or clearing up; a glass half-full or half-empty scenario). The horse looks fit and sturdy, facing camera left, with its ears relaxed, slightly lifted, possibly listening to what’s behind it. The man’s body is facing forward, with his head turned toward his left shoulder (camera right); hard to say where his eyes are looking. He’s also fit and sturdy; shirtless; with a bandana-like cloth around his head, with what could be a feather sticking out the back (again, hard to say); he’s also wearing a light colored loincloth. The horse is wearing a bridle, with the man holding the reins.

Then, list five things you cannot know from looking at this image.

Again, based solely on the image, we do not know if the image is staged or candid; for all we know, this could be a businessman posing as a Native American; furthermore, I’ll add, we do not know if the man is indigenous/Native American or not. Without context, we don’t know the intention or purpose of this man on horseback: he could be on a leisurely ride or a scout surveying the countryside (as mentioned in the caption). We also don’t know where exactly this photo is, since there are no discernible landmarks. Lastly, we do not know what the photographer was trying to say or show.

What questions does the image leave you with?

I’m most curious about where this image was taken, who this man was, and what was the purpose/intention of the photograph. With that being said, the image is from an article that does present more information, and was taken by a well-known photographer, so the answers could be out there, but I went into this prompt blind, in an effort to provide thoughts based only on the photograph itself.

source: https://clacs.berkeley.edu/us-mexican-war-forgotten-foes