Optical Media

Sumário Este artigo propõe uma análise ao Álbum Etnográfico da expedição portuguesa ao Muatiânvua, potentado Lunda, no interior de Angola. As fotografias foram produzidas durante a expedição, chefiada pelo major Henrique Dias de Carvalho, entre 1884 e 1888. Procura-se situar a atividade fotográfica no contexto desta expedição, nas suas diversas dimensões políticas e científicas e compreender as políticas de imagem e algumas das retóricas visuais que foram usadas neste contexto colonial. Dado o amplo uso das fotografias para produzir as gravuras da extensa obra científica de Henrique Dias de Carvalho, examinamos as suas propostas metodológicas no campo da etnografia. Este artigo apoia-se sobretudo em conceitos semióticos, na teoria e história da fotografia, na epistemologia das ciências e em pesquisas da documentação da expedição e do seu contexto. Contudo, deve ser lido à luz dos debates em Cultura Visual sobre as imagens como construções políticas. De facto, mostramos que a defesa vigorosa e sincera que Henrique Dias de Carvalho atribui ao estudo das culturas africanas, e até ao respeito por elas, existe tendo subjacente um desígnio colonial, mais abrangente e inquestionado: o de conhecer para melhor dominar. Summary This article proposes an analysis of the Ethnographic Album of the Portuguese expedition to Muatianvua, potentate Lunda, inside Angola. The photographs were produced during the expedition, led by Major Henrique Dias de Carvalho, between 1884 and 1888. The article intends to place the photographic activity in the context of this expedition, in its various political and scientific dimensions as well as within the politics of the image and its visual rhetorics that were used in the colonial context. Given the wide use of photographs to produce the prints included in the extensive scientific work of Henrique Dias de Carvalho, we examine his methodological proposals in the field of ethnography. This article relies primarily on semiotic concepts, as well as in the theory and history of photography, the epistemology of science and in the research of this Expedition's documentation and historical context. However, it must be read in the light of the discussions in Visual Culture on the images as political constructions and as constructions of the political. In fact, we show that no matter how vigorously Henrique Dias de Carvalho defended the importance that should be attached to the study of African cultures, and the respect for them, this defense was understood under an unquestioned colonial design: that of knowing in order to dominate.

Holograms reached popular consciousness during the 1960s and have since left audiences alternately fascinated, bemused or inspired. Their impact was conditioned by earlier cultural associations and successive reimaginings by wider publics. Attaining peak public visibility during the 1980s, holograms have been found more in our pockets (as identity documents) and in our minds (as video-gaming fantasies and “faux
hologram” performers) than in front of our eyes. The most enduring, popular interpretations of the word “hologram” evoke the traditional allure of magic and galvanize hopeful technological dreams. This article explores the mutating cultural uses of the term “hologram” as marker of magic, modernity and optimism.


doi:10.1162/neco.2009.07-08-823