{"id":961,"date":"2012-09-19T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2012-09-19T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/?p=961"},"modified":"2012-09-19T21:55:53","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T02:55:53","slug":"cel-phones-and-the-noble-savage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/19\/cel-phones-and-the-noble-savage\/","title":{"rendered":"Cel Phones and the Noble Savage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n \n $\"Fb-Button\"$ \n <\/a>\n <\/div>

<\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>

The Noble Savage – Photographs of First Earth Tribes<\/h2>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Chris Rainier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I had the chance to meet Chris Rainier<\/a> at one of his lectures five years ago. He was seated next to me, in the audience, waiting for his turn at the podium. \u00a0We struck-up a brief conversation regarding his time in Papua New Guinea<\/a>\u00a0which lead to thoughts on the search to photograph First Earth societies untouched by technology.<\/p>\n
The Technology Debate<\/h2>\n
We entered an amicable \u00a0debate on \u00a0the use of the word “primitive” as an adjective to describe tribal societies. \u00a0I took exception to the word “primitive” unless it extended only to aspects of technology. \u00a0Chris acknowledged that technology wouldn’t change the underlying base of human psyche, citing how war continues to exist. \u00a0He reflected on the week he had seen two wars: a tribal battle in Papua New Guinea, and the conflict in the Balkans.<\/p>\n
We were interrupted and never finished the conversation nor spoke again. \u00a0It is a shame because we touched on a matter that I think afflicts many photographers and audiences, particularly in Western societies. \u00a0It is the search for a supposed magical aura of poverty, or the spirit of the noble savage. This is perhaps strongest in regards to First Earth tribes who have only recently been exposed to Western society, but it also extends to societies that live side by side with modernity but remain tribal at heart. \u00a0In both cases the encroachment of modern technology is regarded as a spiritual evil, and an effort (or at least discourse) is made to preserve the “traditional” way of life. This extends to avoiding daily evidence of technology in portraits of people from these societies, despite their firm use of it.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Uncontacted Amazon Tribe – FUNAI 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
There is of course enormous merit in trying to make sure that the introduction of technology doesn’t quickly create disparaging changes, or introduce disease that destroys the social fabric. \u00a0Repeatedly,\u00a0 disastrous encounters<\/a> between Amazon Indian tribes, even as recently as this month (massacre in Venezuela<\/a>), \u00a0highlight the need to protect the tribes, and justify the Brazilian government’s isolation and protection policy. \u00a0Yet history proves that the arrival of critical change is almost inevitable, be it with the introduction of roads, gunpowder, penicillin, paper money, the internet, or more ubiquitously, the mobile phone.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Chris Rainier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Mobile Phone or Bow and Arrow?<\/h1>\n
To deliberately avoid photographic evidence of the incursions of technology seems both oxymoronic and a misguided but convenient melancholy. \u00a0I suspect the reasons are more rooted in romantic notions than \u00a0in practical ones.<\/p>\n
Take the image above as an illustrative example.\u00a0Would the highland hunter hold the same magic if in addition to his \u00a0bows and arrows he carried a mobile phone? Probably not.\u00a0We might be moved to think, “what a shame, there is no corner of the world safe from technology.”<\/p>\n
The Magical Moment – Photographing Change<\/h1>\n
The permeation of technology into a society can, in and of itself, be the<\/span> magical event worth documenting, and not an unsightly blemish. Discovering how to make fire is certainly among the most wonderful examples I can imagine. \u00a0In tribal societies that have a long tradition of trade and exposure to other cultures this happens quickly and constantly; consider the arrival of mobile phones among the Masai and the Bana:<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
The Masai go Mobile – BBC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
SIM Card as Earring – Eric Lafforgue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Eric Lafforgue sums it up: “You can see she uses a scratched sim card as an earring. It is the new fashion in Omo valley ever since mobile phones arrived. \u00a0Some will laugh reading this, but when I went to buy their wooden pillow as a souvenir, the tribesmen laughed much more!”<\/p>\n
There are of course other examples left to consider…<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a>
Neil Thomas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Noble Savage – Photographs of First Earth Tribes I had the chance to meet Chris Rainier at one of his lectures five years ago. He was seated next to me, in the audience, waiting for his turn at the podium. \u00a0We struck-up a brief conversation regarding his time in Papua New Guinea\u00a0which lead to … <\/p>\n
Read More “Cel Phones and the Noble Savage”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[1089,222,49,1088,1087,223,44,225],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6563,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions\/6563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}