Perceptions, not illustrations, of Sefrou, Morocco: Paul Hyman's images and the work of ethnographic photography

In 1969, photographer Paul Hyman spent over four months in the Sefrou region of Morocco at the invitation of anthropologist Paul Rabinow. Sixty-four of his black-and-white photos were selected for the insert in the 1979 publication on Sefrou authored by Clifford Geertz, Hildred Geertz, and Lawrence Rosen, Meaning and order in Moroccan society. Geertz described Hyman's work as 'visual notations and Hyman as 'a professional photographer rather than an anthropologist' who catches 'the look of the place, its people, and its life,' yet the possessor of 'a mindful eye.' This essay explores Geertzian approaches to Hyman's images in particular and to visual anthropology in general.