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Camera South Asia: Indo-British Photography, c.1837-1947 - HOA00088I

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  • Department: History of Art
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: I
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
    • See module specification for other years: 2023-24

Module summary

Photography arrived in South Asia almost as soon as it was simultaneously invented in Britain and France. This module considers Indo-British photographic practice, selecting potential examples from the birth of the medium to the birth of a partitioned India and Pakistan in 1947.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 2 2024-25

Module aims

Photography arrived in the Indian subcontinent almost as soon as it was simultaneously invented in Britain and France. This module considers Indo-British photographic practice from the birth of the medium to the birth of a partitioned India and Pakistan in 1947.

The module might consider both British and South Asian practitioners, and might explore examples from across the range of photographic practices, such as portraiture, landscape and cityscape, ethnographic and anthropological, war, documentary, photocollage, and the family album.

The module might also consider depictions of other locations central to the East India Company project at the fringes of the Raj, such as Afghanistan, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Burma, Ceylon, Thailand, and China.

The module will be image-centred and intensive, with students required to select and present on an image of their choice in every session.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should have acquired:

  • A detailed, critical knowledge of the practice of photography in South Asia from 1837 to 1947

  • A detailed, critical knowledge of the broader cultural contexts of Indo-British photography in the period

  • A detailed, critical knowledge of the historiographical and methodological practices associated with South Asian photography

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Module feedback

You will receive feedback on assessed work within the timeframes set out by the University - please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.

The purpose of feedback is to help you to improve your future work. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further, you are warmly encouraged to meet your Supervisor during their Office Hours.

Indicative reading

  • Chaudhary, Zahid R. Afterimage of Empire: Photography in Nineteenth-Century India. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.

  • Dehejia, Vidya., and Charles Allen. India through the Lens: Photography 1840-1911. San Francisco: Mandala, 2006.

  • Dewan, Deepali. Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs: Towards a Transcultural History of Photography. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press, 2012.

  • Dewan, Deepali, and Deborah Hutton. Raja Deen Dayal: Artist-Photographer in 19th-Century India. Ahmedabad: Mapin, 2013.

  • Guha, Sudeshna, ed. The Marshal Albums: Photography and Archaeology. Ahmedabad: Mapin, 2010.

  • Gutman, Judith Mara. Through Indian Eyes: 19th and Early 20th Century Photography from India. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.

  • Karlekar, Malavika. Re-Visioning the Past: Early Photography in Bengal, 1875-1915. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

  • Kumar, Pramud, et al. Long Exposure: The Camera at Udiapur 1857-1957. Udiapur: Maharana Mewar Historical Publications Trust, 2014.

  • Mitter, Partha, Akshaya Tankha, Suryanandini Sinha and Rahaab Allana. The Artful Pose: Early Studio Photography in Mumbai, c.1855 to 1940. Ahmedabad: Mapin, 2010.

  • Pinney, Chrisopher. Camera Indica: the Social Life of Indian Photographs. London: Reaktion Books, 1997.

  • Taylor, Roger, Crispin Branfoot, Sarah Greenough and Malcolm Daniel. Captain Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of India and Burma, 1852-1860. Munich: Prestel, 2014.

  • Worswick, Clark, ed. Princely India: Photos by Raja Lala Deen Dyal. New York: Knopf, 1980.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.