Reconstructing Colonialism: Graphic Layout and Design, and the Construction of Ideology
Author(s)
Bowden, Gary
Abstract
The connection between image and ideology is one of the most analysed themes in visual sociology. Despite this, there exists a serious omission in our understanding of the visual processes used to create ideology. This article, through the analysis of the role of visual juxtaposition and sequencing in the British government publication The Colonies in Pictures, documents a previously ignored mechanism for ideology formation. I argue that the publication reconstructs British colonial ideology by shifting the marker used to distinguish between British and non-British from ethnicity to culture. Such a reconstruction was necessitated by the historical circumstances following World War II and enabled the British to retain economic control over the colonies while granting political autonomy.
