Introduction: The photo-archive and femininities in the Malay world
in: Visual Interrogations of Femininities in the Malay World: Camera, Chimera and Colonisation, Taylor & Francis Ltd, pp.1-22, 2026
- Publication Type: Book Chapter / Chapter Research Book
- Publication Date: 2026
- Doi Number: 10.4324/9781003709244-1
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Page Numbers: pp.1-22
- Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
In this introductory chapter, we present the context of the study in curating and interrogating a collection of colonial photographs to uncover how femininities in the Malay world are evinced through visual representations. It lays down the theoretical, conceptual and methodological basis towards understanding how photographic images remain an enduring visual means through which knowledges and conceptions of gender, ethnicity, class and religion are solidified—consciously or unconsciously—in reproducing the inequity of identities. The discussion here makes the case that produced and reproduced images enable the intersections of body, activity and place to be innocuous optical conduits for not only rule and governance but also, finally, historical recollection and reflection. Through this, we highlight the value and role of photographs as a continuing, enigmatic and contested heritage.