Juang Girls

Photography was a major development in technology and of cultural representation. In colonial India, photographs became a way for people to represent themselves and display themselves. It also became a form of documentation for criminals and murder scenes. Photography has become a way to more accurately depict the culture, land, and people of India – though it still had its opportunities to be manipulated. Photography was also a major for of cross-cultural representation for those of colonial India, as compilation of images were created and displayed in Europe to represent India for those who were unable to visit the country. By this doing, photography became a major tool for empirical development. Socially, photos – especially ethnographic
In Dalton’s Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, there is an image labelled “Juang Girls.” This image portrays two young Juang females. They were described as “wild timid creatures” and the photographer, Tosco Peppe, stated that they were difficult to take pictures of. The two females are portrayed in front of a wooden, fence-like background and both subjects are mostly nude. The only form of clothing on these two females are the leaf wraps around their hips to cover their genital area. They are, however, portrayed with man accessories such as strews of braided or beaded necklaces around their necks and multiple bangles stacked on their wrists. The hairstyle they are shown in is a simple braided style. Both females are pressed against the wooden background, indicating a recoil or retraction from the camera. While one female is making direct eye contact to the camera, the other is shying away from its gaze with downturned eyes – though both portray somber or even unhappy facial expressions. The photograph was taken for ethnographic purposes. The photographer, Peppe, was requested by Dalton to proceed “into the wild part of Singbhum and Keonjhur” and to essentially take images of “some of the most primitive of human beings [Juang].” This request from Dalton highlights the fascination, and possibly fetishism, that British society had towards Indian natives. Dalton would come to compile the Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal – upon this knowledge, it is not unusual that Dalton would request images that not only represented culture unfamiliar to the British, but also one that portrayed Indian natives as “other” to be able to compile such an ethnology. Despite being a picture of ethnographic study, many photos that portrayed Indian natives in such “primitive” forms were doctored or staged to hyperbolize the concept of the “other-worldly” or