This site gives anyone the opportunity to practise deconstructing (describing, interpreting and commenting on) colonial images. The exercise involves
- choose a photo of Togo from the German colonial era from one of the following websites:
http://www.ilissafrica.de/vk/#vkCatHits-dkg
http://www.ub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankfurt.de/Bildprojekt/frames/hauptframe.html
http://bildarchiv.frobenius-katalog.de/
- read the descriptive information on the image,
- describe the character(s), objects and their respective environments in the photo,
- propose an interpretation or commentary on the photo based on the knowledge acquired in relation to it:
- to the lives of the characters, animals, objects, buildings, landscapes, etc. that appear in them;
- the social, economic, cultural, religious and/or political environments in which the images were taken
The commentary is presented as an answer to questions asked at the end of the description of the photo.
He can be confronted with the idea that the photo might arouse, when it is based on colonialist ideology.