On Photography

The act of a politically dominant group of people to control and exploit another group it considers subordinate is colonization. Its purpose is to extract material resources and cultural value for the dominant group. Subjugation occurs in many ways: military control, imposition of the dominant group’s culture and values on the subordinated group, and exploitation of the subordinated group’s culture and land for the wealth of the dominant group.

Sontag theorizes that cameras are tools like guns or cars and thus can act as a tool of colonization. Cameras take slices of time and experience and turn them into souvenirs for the photo-taker, which could qualify as an exploitation of subjugated peoples and areas for cultural value. Sontag uses the example of the African safari, a destination favored by the upper classes of countries that exploit Africa such as the US and Germany. She notes that cameras have replaced guns on the African safari, which she believes is emblematic of the camera’s place in colonization.

The interdisciplinary field of cultural studies analyzes the political structures of a society in conversation with the society’s material history and day-to-day life, including popular culture and economic structures. It’s an inherently broad field that pulls from every other field of study in the social sciences and humanities.