Seeing History

Fernando Coronil

I helieve these

three essays otter, individu,llly and collectively, a

si1,~1ificanr

crmtribution to a rnuch-nceded examination of the role of images in the making of collective identities and national imaginaries in Latin America. The
authors) sensitive to the multiple meomings of cultural art1facls, in.t~rpret these
images Uy placing them in the conkxt of their production and circulation, as
well as in dialogtJe with other pn1eticcs and discourses. \Vhile the essays focus
on the cultur:1l Cunctions of photographs in Latin America, they connibt1te to
<H1 expanding interdisciplinary discussion on the role of visuality in social life
counters the pervasive lognccntric hi as that has afflicted social analysis.
Treating im:1gery as a distinct semantic field, the ess:1ys contribute to ovtTcmning the pervasive split between image and word in \Vestt:rn theory. 1 They
<llso make evident the need to advance tmvard a more holistic unJcrsta11ding of
the rok of all the sen<;es in the cort)trnction of rcalit)>. 2 Challenging log-occntrhm does not entail the i mpnssiblc task of avoiding words in analysis; rathtT, it
n:quire.G that we usc then1 as signs that do not colonize social reality hut instead
traffic anoss the diffcrenr sensorial anrl semantic fielrls dun constitute it.
th<lt

The e<;says trace the social life of d1'Hercnt types of photos in Argentina,
IV1exico. and Cuatcmal:L ln "Family Photos, Oral :'\l:urativcs, and Identity Formation: 111e Ukrainians of Bcrisso," Daniel James anJ .l\1irta Zaido Lobato
examine personal snap<;hots oflJkrainian immigranls to Argcntin;1 :md aTI-,'l]e
that, i11 conjunction with oral narratives, these photos helped svstain their
identities br linking the privately familiar to the publicly nation;-11. In "An lmage
of 'Our lnLlian': 1 }-pc Photographs :md Racial Senthm:nt<; in Oaxaca, 1920l94o;' Deborah Poole analyzes t)1pe photographs from postrevolutionary ~\lexMy gntitndc to Katherine \VOrboys, who:-,e own work on photog-raphy ho~s inAucnccd m~
vntler'ita11ding uf this ~uhjcct and to Genese Sodikoff, t\lr help editin!J the.~c comment~.
1. \V. .f. 1~ l\titchcll, l(uuo/oy:y: hl!t~r.;e, 1i!::t""t. ideology (C.hicago: Univ. of Chica~o Pre.""'s.
tqHf1).

~
('It/tun

N:1di:1 C. Seretnataki:-;, cd., Jhc S'cnsc.f S'till: Peraption and l\-lemut) As .\Iat1Ti1Tl
;\Io,fcrnit,v (Chic:tgo: Uni\. of f:hicago Pre~s, lfJ<)4).

If!

I /!,p;illlo' .lmi'l"lul/1 I fl,lill'ltd/ H,zici~' 84:1

l :"l'-1 11.~ht !'" 'l hy l)ukc t 1 niHT,il~ l'rL'''

HAHR / February I Coronil

2

icu th<lt eelehratcd the unity in diversity of Oaxac1ns. She suggests that they
sustained a plural conception of collective identity that stood in conflict with
"an a ltern<ltive vision of national identitr tlut wat. to he constructed as homoge-

neously mestizo. In "Can the Subal(ern Be Seen? Photography and the Allecrs
of Nationalism," Greg Grandin interprets a large colkction of portraits of
K'iche' ;vrayans taken hy a single phntogntpher. He idcntilles a complex and
multi:acccnted language of identity that helped sh~:Jpe an alternarjve nation:l lism
hascd on the regcner:1tion of ~\-1ayan culture in highland Guatemala.
Before the tremendous pmvcr of images, the articles collectively seem disposed to follow Poole's examination of photos as "sedimentations" or "materializations'' of discourses of ethnic, nKial, and national ident'lty. Cnmdin's epigraph is a quote from Poole ahout the ability ''that both visual ideologks and
visual technologies have to sediment and matc.rinJlze the ahstract anJ frequently contradictory discourses of racial, ethnic, and class identity that crisscross our own lives as they do those of the photographer's Andean subjects.''
The articles recognize that visual texts, as James and Lobato suggest~ also
jnform and sustain discourses and practices of multJple identities. lmagcs do
not simply reflect identities, bnt help constitute them. The lhrce essays confirm the central insight of Trachtenberg's bndmark Reading Ameriam Phutof!/"ilPbs: "Photographs are not simple depictions, but constructions." As such,
''the history they show is insep~1rahk from the history they enact.''3
The ;_mthors negotiate this tension hetween the reflective and perfonnative roles of inh1ges by attending to their distinct social biographies. Photographic tn"Jes are part of public contests over identjty, :md their meanings can
be encouJltercd in thjs Llrgcr field. Studio portraits follow international stand;Jrds but re-vc:allocal specificities through their appropriations and ll\lnsculturations. Snapshots, like mot:.t candid photognphs~ are forged in iJiosyncratic
private Jomains, \vhich in turn are sh;tped by culturally ~pecific understandings
of the private. These essays n:veal not just what, but how, photos shmv what
they show. \Vhile visual perception is ultimately persona!, the organization of
pen:eption is public; the traffic in images takes place rhrougJ1 multiple 1..risual
conventions and different intensities of public control.
In different \t'Jys, these articles do not 1:-0 much xee photos as set' through
them. Treating them kss as mirrors of history than as \vindo\vs into it, they
offer us g1imps<:s into struggles and anxieties over the construction ufidentities
during historical tr,msfunnations. If by a magical click photos may lift discrete
3 ;\)an Tr;Jchtcnherg:. Rc11diug /IJJ/ericttn Photop,-rrl(!b.t: hnagrs As Histnry:

I!J ILtf/..rrf;;_vl/1.> \ 1\;ew York Hill <llld \\':mg. 19fl9). xvi.

Jlil!lw~ Hrdd)'

Seeing History

~nome~ltS out ot"histmy, the magic uf scholarshi) rna

mto htstmy, reJH.lerjng it J b1 . cl
1
} Iemscnbc these moment-.
'
papa Y VEiu e. While th.. 1
respect the opacity of the IJl'd
.
d"
c artll cs Stl"tJgglc h:lrd lu

. _ mm, t_once mg thar ph t

b
words, thcv uhimatel)' of-Cer .
. h
o os cannot e reduced lu

'
1 accounts ol t c photo .. 1
.
:malyses of their circulation and th ,.. .
. giap lS meanmgs througll
jtJs . h
.
e~I mterpretatton by various audience..;;.
t as t e transfauon of a wntten text frm
(
.
may yield numerous versions i , ,
I
n O~le ant,TUage mto another
, , m,tges can a so occas 1011
d
pretarions. ]f the pitf: 1Is of .
.
' - -
a \VI e range of inter~
0 ans 1atlons an: C:lJ 1
1
d h ~ h
trajtor;' these articles made me think f ... J,.ure "}' t c nwtto "nanslator,
authors expand historical arch.ivc::s thr(~ Its n_,~-~rs~: transla_t~r, c~cator." The
li!v' th" "ht.sto .
I.
Jugh dJscJphned Crt..'attvJtv. fhe" exsm
. __.
rwgrap Heal ope ''
l
'
.r
. __. P ,
through vvhich hi.stori::m.
dratJold1, so <ipt ydescrihed by A~fichel Jc Cert<:au,
.
.
s pro ucc ocumcnts ;mJ texts l
.
.
lcctutg, and interpreting mater"ttls not
.
I
.
J} settmg aside, eoi,
prevwus v con sui r J "h . 1
,
As de Ccrteau ar(!lles "In h.
.

e E(
l.stunca sou1ces.
t1
'
Jstorv ever:-ythmg be i
. h th
.
aside, of putting tOfl'eth""r <>f . ,1:

_g ns \\It
e ge~ture ol xetting
1r,tnsi0111llllg certam -1
c. .__ '
1 d h.
.
menls '"--1- Th .
c ass! Je o 1ects Into 'docu.
esc css:lys rurn photos-collections f 1 . . -.
and offer a sophisticated read" r f I
l . o p wtos- -lllto doclllncnts
mg o t lese ( ocumcnts by t1ik"
d .
:1hmcc
between
trelting

. s
Jng a pro uct:Jve
h

_ rmages as texts and mal 7 j . h

.
.
production and circuhltion.
' ' } ng t e conto::ts of their
T

The ess:.tys m:lke it evident that imJ re'i" do

IWovidc a site for the snuo-o-1
"..
fl. , . not.s? much "show" history as
"
.
bb e met lls mean mg. As I n~ehtenber .
.
empowers an 111uge to repr... I.
.
.
g argues, ~hat
cscnr nstory 1s not J 1. ,h . h
str-uggle for rncaning wc under"'' her
.
us \-\ at H s _ows, but the
.
t'l
10re 1t a strug- 1
!
rr<~n's effort to sh:1[Je mint
11 .. II
d
.
c g.e ana ogous to the histo'
e Jgi lean us:1ble ast"~ :\ . ~h'
.sen-able through the observ I I. I
p . . . ppt oac mg the uno h.

a J e, P lotos serve as clue t th

Th
m the formation of a semuloc pl .. d.
d
I
: o e past..
ey partake
'
t::~ tgtn eve oped 1nth
that,. accordjngr to CJrlo ( ,. b
h ..
e nmeteenth c<:ntury
"'
.TlilZ urg, esta hshed a eli t" ,
l
appearance and inner realit L -d db. I
s mctton )<:t\veen surface
Y 11 ge ~ t 1e prcsen ,e f" ( " ll
k
choana!vsis ~\-Jarxisrn g 1
d
:
. c o c lJes, ut h e psv, '
eo ot,rv. etectJVe no ,v]- . .
'
formations identjfted h, c ,h.
~ s, S!Jt16tlCS, aiiJ other cultural
.
-' _.mz urg as part of this n d. r
h
!unction ~lS due~ in term f h
.
r-'lrD Jgm, p otos can on!v
.
s 0 t e spenfic theoretical s -h
th
.
,
luMori::ln's effort to shaj"JC m. t II. bl
c emes at onent. the
.
m e tgl e and usah!e past."fo
As dues to lustonr
f
.
_ h ts/sttesthHrfl
.
' -i IJlOtOs:~restg
.
e cct .antI rc f ract the soCJal
r

4 Michel de

c~rt:1, u,

'ib'c fiT-rrtmg
' . of .Jhstm)'
.
(:-Jew York:

c 0 Ium I)ia lTniv. Jlre.%,

lf)i:iH!,

HAHR

I February I Coronil

contests over meaning that give rise to them. Like the semiotic sig11s discussed
hy V. ~. Volosinov, visual texts become arenas of social struggle. It i~ Ly the
"multiaccentuality" of the ideological sign, br becoming sitet. of "intersecting
accents," th<lt "~1 sig11 maint~lins its vit<llity <mJ dynamism :mJ the capacity for
further development."7 Its form and meanings are thus unfathomable without
attention to the struggles that gener<lte it. Acknowledging photos as sit,rns of
creative contests over me<ming involves making visible nut only dominant
visual ideulogi.es Lut also thcir subversive appropriations. Grandin's concern
about whed1er subaltern actors can "Le sel:n" raisc:s the larger question of whether
they "can see." In my view, Cayatri Spivak's point is not that the "subaltern can~
nut speak;' but that subaltern voices arc muted by the lanbruages of the pmver~
ful.tl Vi/bile recognizing the limits encountered by subaltern actors, the aim of
a critical perspective is to avoid reproducing the silencing effect of domination.
Just as it must seck to "listen" to the muted voices of subaltcn1 actors, it must
also attempt to "sec" their visions by rccobiTiizing the traces of their accent.;; in
cultural landscapes largely shaped by "imperial eyes:'
Often treated as a metaphor for a perspective, the eye should also he taken
literally as an organ of perception. VIsual tCA"ts do not simply express the activ~
ity of the seeing eye but also shape it as an organ of vision. Marx argued that
the senses arc organs of history, in the double sense of being produced by his~
tory and of making history possible and intelligible. The discussion of imagety
and visual ideologies should therefore direct us to observing not just the visions
of imperial and subalten1 subjects, hut their constitution as historical ;Ktors. As
these articles demonstrate, an encounter v,;ith their activity should educate our
eyes so that we can render their visions visible and acknowledge their presence
as distinct historical subjects.

Family Photos, Oral Narratives, and

Identity Formation: The Ukrainians of Berisso

Daniel James and Mirta Zaida Lobato

alwws
.Dia~por;~s
d .
- le<"lve a trail of collecti.
.
. ve memory a b our another pbcc
an tnne and crc;"lte new maps of desire and att:~cl~ment.

-A.rjun Appadurai

tl~e

In
I920S, several hundred immigrants arrived in :\r enti a .
,
path Ian A-fountains the steppes of l""'"- .
d
., g
n lrom the Car~
'

><:rome an the villa . fP 1 j ~

them est:lblishcd themselves in Bertso n,. d
. 1 hgeslo o anc. '!Jany of
.
" , a m ustr1a su ur) 0 f 1 P1
1
provtnee of Huenos Aires I
.

_,a ata m t 1c
md -\r .
. ki , ' w lere they became mdusnial "\Vorkers in the Swift
,
, muur meatpac ng houses. In fh:risso the_. s
..
.
organizations md molJed h . .d
..
. } et up then representative
. .
<
t eii 1 cntlnes. Juhan Zahi k ,
.
Immigrants. He arrived in Berisso t!-om Solo e z r I u v,..a:" one of those

n ( a tzc lj'kV a vtl1

I
Ill F.astem (~alicia), \Vorked in the ack.in h
. . . '.
age near "viv
g oust"s,_.md INed m tlle community
until his dcath.l Julian z. b" k' . ~
. .
~a m s passag-e through hist 0 rv . I h 11
.
h1s bmilv and frl.ends H. .
]ul~
.
for
. uwevcr
wn d d I
I . -f on .Y e <. meanrng,
albums v,:hich his son B
,
1 pace us arndy photos into nvo
historv.',vheJ~ we t\Vl) htosotoJ~n ~r~scnreJ. dT~ese. photos found .Julian a place in

'
- on;ms llltereste m B , . .. '
Story. julian's transformation into the subject ( [~lI:SOS ~ast, came :lCfOSS their
our finding nu:aning in these ima .. J J
> IS. ory, ow ever, depended on
Bcrisso. The alhirms challe
d ges and_ tle narratives that we haJ collected in

nge us to tscern how th

th
f. .
trainin'g in _historical interpretation may have used the~l:~ W! out pro esswna1
.
\Ve will analyze the web formed hv or;:~l n
... , .
.
Images in the formation oflikr . . u , . . arrati\.CS <md photographic

at man 1 entity m B
Tl
a single or homogeneou
.,
0
ensso. us process was not
s movement. n the contrary "t
d L
flicting memories and com e .
., ., .
. :"'I emerge aom con~
r tmg naJ ratn.es reflected til certain strands of col-

7 V. N. Volosinov, .Hm:-ri.wt and 1bc Philosophy of LtmJ!..Hfl!J,I', trans. Ladi~]a,. Matejka

(New "'{ork: Seminar Press, 197 J), 1 .l
tL Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, "Can th..: Subaltern Speak?" in Colonial Disf."mLJ:>t' mzd
JloJt-Colonial7heOJ)", ed. Patrick \Villi am~ and Lmr<l Chri~man ( Ncw ''{ork: Colu111bia Univ.
Pre~~.

T994).

r. According to the membership [i~t of Rc , . .

Julian Zabiuk

W<l~

horn in l". 09. ..J. .. I . Jl.lClm~ento, <l Ukramlan ethnic assnci<Hion,

y
anu <lTfl\"et rn Argentma in 79 .co.

lli.>i~lllli, .lll!i'l"iall! f-h,lonml Rt1'itO!' X.;: I

( :opynp;ht wo4 hy Duke Univcr~ity Press