Home Institution
University of San Francisco
Publication Date
Spring 2014
Abstract
With so clear a history, geography, and memory located in the colonial area, this study explores how contemporary St.Louis, du Sénégal expresses a synthesis of two identities. Métissage culturelle, defined as Franco-African mixed cultural heritage, is rooted in both the public and imaginative identities of St.Louisans creative, artistic, and political force, was heavily influenced by social upheaval and transformation post Independence. This essay argues that nineteenth century portrait photography was an outlet for Sénégalais to create their alternative, self-defined identities in response to changes within their social and cultural environment. Portrait photography is discussed through two frameworks, the social role of the photographer and the agency of the individual. Photography is also discussed in terms of how it produces meaningful discourses by means of profiling, recording, and transferring newer ways of seeing.
Disciplines
African Languages and Societies | Arts and Humanities | History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology | Photography
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Shailee, "Métissage Culturelle: Identity, Aesthetics, and the Social Roles of Portraiture in Saint Louis du Sénégal" (2014). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 1863.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/1863
Included in
African Languages and Societies Commons, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, Photography Commons
Program Name
Senegal: National Identity and the Arts