The Role of Camera as a Tool for Colonialism

Abstract

A camera is an invention of which performance is to capture a reality in front of it. The camera can record the details of reality straightforwardly. It cannot distort the reality, as its very nature is of a mechanism. Therefore, a photograph is viewed as an evidence of things that exist or once existed. The camera was used to serve the political agendas of France and England that expanded their influences all over the world. This process is known as colonialism. Printed photographs in magazines and books taken by early European travellers, with or without their intention, became part of the exploring processes that allow France and England to understand people, their environments, histories, and cultures of countries that they desired to occupy.