Paper short abstract:

This presentation concentrates on three photographs from German East Africa. Taken by Walter Dobbertin (1882-1961) between 1906 and 1914, these images show scenes of sisal plantation, especially labourers working on the cutting and collecting.

Paper long abstract:

Photographs from colonialism have many topics. Work scenes, sometimes erasing and sometimes presenting individuals, were also part of this visual culture of the colonial past. Although images can provide extensive information, there are also some challenges to researching this source. To address the issue of limit, this paper will engage with the idea of the photograph as an ambivalent framing (Hayes, Minkley, 2019).

This presentation concentrates on three photographs from German East Africa. Taken by Walter Dobbertin (1882-1961) between 1906 and 1914, these images show scenes of sisal plantation, especially labourers working on the cutting and collecting. The exact date the photos were taken is unknown, however tracing those images makes it possible to identify where and when they circulated.

Dobbertin was one of the few professional photographers who owned a studio in a German colony. After arriving in Dar-es-Salaam, 1903, he started to work as an assistant to Carl Vicente. After having been accused of stolen photographic supplies from Vicente, Dobbertin opened his studio. Until 1918, he was very active in German East Africa, taking and selling photographs in the colonial market and Germany.

On analysing photographs from Dobbertin, available nowadays in institutional archives, this presentation aims to engage with the topic of the circulation of colonial frames. These photos are part of a sequence but have substantial differences among them. One relevant question is: What elements do those frames on work situations share? Finally, I aim to discuss the visuality during German colonialism on tracing a producer’ trajectory.