Although postcards are often dismissed as nostalgic trivia, in the early 20th century they were truly a media phenomenon. Billions of postcards were produced and consumed in the ‘golden era’ of the medium, carving out complex local and global networks as the first affordable form of mass-produced photography. However, what distinguishes postcards from other forms of photograph is that they are also a kind of postal correspondence, which link people in widely dispersed situations through both images and written messages. At our Online Talk #PicturePostcardBombay, social anthropologists Dr Emily Stephenson and Dr Stephen Hughes will explore the medium of the picture postcard through a focus on early 20th century Bombay. From the representation of street scenes and vendors to public monuments and posed studio portraits, they will examine the role of picture postcards in the construction and dissemination of stereotyped views, as well as the more complex social histories of which they were a part and which they reveal.

Talk link will be shared a couple of hours before the event

About the speakers

Dr Emily Stevenson is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews where she teaches on topics such as anthropological research methods, visual and material culture, and anthropology, art and the senses. Her research interests include visual and historical anthropology, photography and heritage, specifically in the context of Bengaluru where she conducted her doctoral research on the ‘social life’ of picture postcards from the early 20th century into the present. 

Dr Stephen Hughes currently works at the Royal Anthropological Institute, UK as Film Festival Director and Film Officer.  He previously taught in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, SOAS, The University of London, for 23 years. Having lived and worked in Tamil-speaking south India on and off over the course of the last 35 years, he has conducted research and published on various topics related to the history of mass media - including film-going and cinema exhibition, the gramophone industry, radio, music, drama, dance, film songs and postcards.