Pursuing the woman in the white dress: Photography and (im)posed female images in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Malay world
Visual Interrogations of Femininities in the Malay World: Camera, Chimera and Colonisation, Taylor & Francis Ltd, ss.77-100, 2026
- Yayın Türü: Kitapta Bölüm / Araştırma Kitabı
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.4324/9781003709244-4
- Yayınevi: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.77-100
- Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
In this chapter, we present a study on the (re)presentations of women of various cultural origins within the scope of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century studio photography in the Malay world. The focus is on the patriarchal male gaze, typically the privileged observation of the white coloniser/photographer and occasionally those of Asian men, comprising several ethnic groups in the region who had access to the profitable use of the camera. The chapter argues that (im)posed (re)identifications of the feminine self as well as distinct female depictions were among the consequences of representations captured through the lens of the camera acting, as the eyes and ideological dispositions of the photographer. It examines the extent to which these representations were imposed on the female subjects and probes whether they were entirely hybrid representations out of a combination of mimicry and aspirational ideals of the “feminine”. The technology of the camera was an external import, while the gaze and representation were the products and features of the hybridised power relations of the times.