Multiplicity of Balinese Characters

Abstract

Photography as main research data has not been used in anthropology to the extent that it was by Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson in the late 1930s. This paper takes a critical examination of their use and analysis of photographs in their research in Highland Bali, to demonstrate that their subsequent conclusions may be misrepresentative of the people they were studying. By reviewing analyses by Ira Jacknis and Gerald Sullivan, along with more historical and theoretical considerations, it will become apparent that although the couple exhaustively used the photographic medium, their analysis and conclusions seem to have been manipulated to suit their original hypothesis. Their conclusions being drawn from a small portion of the unprecedented corpus of material, the bias from one of their funding bodies and their lack of collaborative analysis with the research subjects may have been the causes of this possible misrepresentation, although further research would be needed in order to support this claim. The paper concludes with a brief analysis of how the Mead and Bateson project should be viewed by contemporary students of visual anthropology, specifically with respect to reflexivity, collaboration. and contemporary ethical considerations. Finally, the paper calls for further research to be done with this material.