"Image ethics" in and about Africa

African Arts, Summer, 2008 by Allen F. Roberts

How can such opportunities be maximized? Africanists have certainly worked with African colleagues to find ways for them to present their own visual epistemologies. Here the research of Godfrey Muriuki and Neal Sobania (2007) comes to mind, as they explicate and "repatriate" stereoscopic views of Kikuyu people, sharing them with descendants of the important turn-of-the-twentieth-century chief Wambugu wa Mathangani. Notable efforts also include a traveling exhibition of photographic portraits organized by Corinne Kratz (2002) from images taken over the years of her research in northern Kenya. Collaborating closely with Okiek counterparts, she chose and explained what the pictures reveal through English, Swahili, and Okiek captions. Still, there are distances to go and things to do, as examples of image ethics and visual repatriation from non-African activities suggest. To reiterate, then, this "First Word" may not be "first," since others have considered these subjects, nor is it "last," as any definitive statement about what can or should be done; rather, it is a call to conversation. The "Dialogue" feature of African Arts awaits your ideas and examples!

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