“Ceylon” through the eye of the British: A study of 19th-century colonial photography

Abstract

Nineteenth-century colonial photography of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) reveals much about the period of British colonial rule on the island. Photographs bear witness to numerous cultural, social, and personal changes in Ceylon across the19th century; they also testify to the oppression exerted on Indigenous people by the colonial regime. This thesis looks at four categories of 19th-century colonial photography: 1) photos based on racial distinctions; 2) photos posed with Western-style furniture; 3) hunting and trophy images; and 4) representations of Indigenous women and femininity. Across these categories, the thesis considers how overt visual narratives suggest ways that colonial values and characteristics were embedded in Indigenous cultures. At the same time, by using close reading and various archival decoding strategies, the thesis uncovers ways that resistance to colonial oppression was also written into these images. The thesis concludes with arguments about the pedagogical importance of understanding how to read archival materials with an attention to historical connections between various regimes of knowledge and power.