FSA 3 Peer Review Due date: 16 October

For the Field Study Assignment, assess both the photo-survey and the photo-essay according to these criteria, which have been adapted from the Writing with Light photo-essay journal’s reviewer rubric; Link ➙

• Formal Requirements: 10 total images (up to 3 hand drawn). Title describes set, introductory description, and each image has a descriptive caption (approx 10-20 words/each).
• Contribution to Anthropological Knowledge: What is the contribution to anthropological theory and/or ethnographic knowledge? Does the author make reference to and build upon broader discourses in text, photography, and/or film? Does the author show an explicitly anthropological understanding of images, text, representation, and the cultural context under consideration? Does the use of the photo-survey format allow for theoretical discussions that would otherwise be neglected?
• Inquiry: Does the photo-survey build a clear, compelling, and original survey of cultural and social patterning? Is their depiction appropriately conveyed through the image–text configuration provided?
• Production Quality and Theory of the Image: This criterion is intended to challenge notions of the photograph as mere description, i.e., an unmediated look into a given social world. Photographs require technical skills and artistic ability and, as such, the author should show a strong understanding of the photograph as an aesthetico-political form. Are the photographs compelling as independent productions? Do they show a cognizance of framing, lighting, and color? Does the photographer articulate his or her technical approach in a way that might compellingly challenge a viewer’s way of seeing?
• Image-Text Relationship: Do text and image work as accomplices? What is the relationship between text and image? Is this relationship generative? Primarily, we are concerned as to whether the author recognizes that images and text convey different kinds of information and that they have sought to maximize the affordances of each media in their photo-survey. Submissions should not rely on either media, but especially text, in order to make their arguments. Instead, the juxtaposition of text and photographs—and therefore the photo-survey itself—should be greater than the sum of its parts.
• Ethics and Politics of Representation: Ethics and the politics of representation are guiding principles for any anthropological work. We intend to consider if and how the media-maker understands power relationships and inequities in the production and dissemination of images. An ethically and representationally sophisticated approach needs to show knowledge of how images are likely to be read. Photographers should show that they have considered reflexivity, positionality, rapport, the building of trust, and consent as part of their methodology.
• Page-Layout: The Photo-Survey provides a unified series that foregrounds individual images. The Photo-essay employs montage techniques to create critical combinations of images and texts within the confines of the frame/page.