Between an empty camera and bare white feet: Racial complexity in the photographic archive of Ricardo Rangel

Melo e Castro, P. (2021) Between an empty camera and bare white feet: Racial complexity in the photographic archive of Ricardo Rangel. Hispanic Research Journal, 22(5), pp. 517-541. (doi: 10.1080/14682737.2022.2061794)

Abstract

Amplified by a feedback loop of nationalist memorialization and international reception, the dominant narrative on Ricardo Rangel’s work reduces the anti-colonial purchase of his images to a simple disclosure of binarized injustice. By reading lesser-known images alongside his more canonical production, I argue that his wider archive in fact shows a gradated engagement with the racial complexities of late-colonial Mozambique and provides a key source of material for a post-colonial analysis of its capital, Lourenço Marques. To wit, Rangel’s images permit both a nuanced reflection on his own intermedial status and a critique of colonialism that goes beyond the sheer fact of native exploitation and marginalization.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: British Academy/Leverhulme Small Project Grant (SG160694).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Castro, Dr Paul
• Authors: Melo e Castro, P.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > Hispanic Studies
• Journal Name: Hispanic Research Journal
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1468-2737
• ISSN (Online): 1745-820X
• Published Online: 30 August 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Hispanic Research Journal 22(5):517-541
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license