Edges of EmpireAs I stood in the reading room of the DeGolyer library, I struggled to process the sheer amount of visual information being thrown at me. Before me stood three long tables which were scattered with various photographs, frail and aging, their warm, brown tints calling me closer. The DeGolyer library at Southern Methodist University
India: http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/eaa/id/722/rec/17 This photograph, titled Golas or Hereditary Slaves of Kattiawar, by William Johnson, is one of the few photographs to depict India’s lower classes. Four men are depicted surrounding one man in the middle. The title of this photo says that they are golas, or hereditary slaves. The four men on the outside of
The photograph titled, Ghatee Hamalls, or Bearers, was taken around the 1850s or 1860s by William Johnson, and displays six men outside a building. In the center of the photograph, there is a man who appears to be lounging in a raised-up compartment. The fact that he is being carried insinuates that he is too