Contribution short abstract:

Can field photography be a form of the act of unwriting, and can it be a worthy form of reciprocity between the researcher and the researched, but also the recipient of anthropological knowledge? To deliver answers to these questions, the paper refers to the author`s field research in two Sudans.

Contribution long abstract:

In the case of Africa, photography played an inglorious role as a powerful means of "conquest and control." As an important part of "Victorian anthropology", it also had a hand in reproducing imperialist myths about Africa. However, about the same continent, photography also offers the possibility of a more nuanced description or even decolonisation of knowledge. This is relevant, especially today in the era of epistemological and discursive turns, but also of the image as an essential communication tool. Conducting field research in Sudan for over 20 years, I have collected a rich archive of photographs illustrating various aspects of the life of the inhabitants of this region, valuable forms of material cultural heritage, and often also life stories of individual people. I regularly use these images in my academic work to supplement an academic lecture and as stories that give a voice to the communities being studied. The sources of my paper are both theses and research questions: Can field photography be a form of the act of unwriting and decolonising, what photographic practices can take this form, and can it be a worthy form of reciprocity between the researcher and the researched, but also the recipient of anthropological knowledge?