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Ethnographers’ Self-Depiction in the Photographs from the Field. Post-War Ethnology in Poland
common concern about building a new life became united in one thought of
informant and questioner, participant and observer of contemporary transfor¬
mations (Kutrzeba-Pojnarowa 1955: 227).
It can be assumed that the lessening of distance between the informant and the
researcher should be visible in the photographs from the field, especially in those
depicting the moments of the ethnographer’s encounter and conversation with the
residents of the “world investigated”. Supposedly, the physical contact and con¬
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versation was a proof of “a sense of closeness”. Moreover, according to Burchard’s
memoires, even the power relations have been balanced and the authority shifted:
The real understanding of the process of change in traditional culture comes
only through the fieldwork. Only then, the teachers become peasants them¬
selves (Burchard 1964: 22).
However, the doubt remains. Group photographs, unnatural poses during con¬
versations, distinctive clothes, and observation methods form a specific and par¬
ticular photo album. Ihe major assumption could be, despite the maintenances of
the convention, that the presentations are slightly separated from the true reality —
that nonphotographic one. Certainly one needs to agree that those photographs
might evidence a somewhat colonial approach to Others. The balance of power
and position in the pictures highlights the strong contrast between villagers and
ethnographers. The moment of encounter with the Other has always its course,
consequences, and interpretation (cf. Rabinow 1977).
Closer analysis reveals that researchers, especially young ones, are looking at
villagers (as human examples) at work with the same laboratory curiosity as they
are looking at some unique material objects. Human as subject becomes the ob¬
ject of study similar to an antique chest or an old traditional tool. Looking at the
photos from the fieldwork brings to mind the idea of tourist gaze (Urry 2002).
Additionally, ethnographers resemble “detectives”, searching for and “hunting” for
authenticity and exoticism. It could be a result of the approaches that promotes
material culture. Thereby the history of each individual’s life was valuable when it
was told only through the narration of the objects. What is more, the conversation
with “experts of objects” in the field was led according to a preexisting question¬
naire, which did not allow the researchers to hear any other stories than those the
objects related. Consequently the interviews (not conversations) aimed to “obtain”
from the informants as much information as possible regarding a specified object,
its history and usage. The fieldwork resembled rather a scenario in which uninvited
and intrusive incomers harassed local people with questions such as, What is this
object? How it was called? And the most important question, How old is it? One
can only suspect that sometimes it was necessary to use some violence—in a sym¬
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