This content is made freely available by the publisher. It may not be redistributed or altered. All rights reserved.
The introduction offers a close reading of Walter Benjamin’s writings about photography and history, teasing out three overlapping definitions of the optical unconscious. It outlines the ways photography was central to Benjamin’s unique conception of history and how his ideas both intersected with and deviated from Freud’s work. One of the central aims of the introduction is to show how Benjamin’s thoughts about the optical unconscious are thoroughly permeated with colonialism and scientific racism.
This content is only available as PDF.
