Early photography as cultural transfer in imperial Russia: visual technology, mobility and modernity in the Caucasus and Central Asia

Abstract

Photography is well understood as a global technology that rapidly circulated by the midnineteenth century, but the History/ Archaeology of its early transfer to and within the Russian imperial context has been overlooked. This paper will focus on the technological transfer of photography from the 1840s to the 1870s, applying the theory of cultural transfer to examine various case studies of modernity along a trajectory from West to East. It considers exchanges of this visual technology from its European origins to Russia, and then from Russia to colonized territories in Asia. Specifically, this route of transfer assumes that from France, England and Germany to Russia, St. Petersburg and Moscow, and then, through the Caucasus and Orenburg, to Central Asia. This study brings to light new and original research on the general History/ Archaeology of photography, its imperial relationship and applications for colonial power as well as its development and circulation within contexts of the late Russian empire.