Reading National Geographic, Catherine A. Lutz and Jane L. Collins, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1993

As I write this, I have just received an advertisement from the National Geographic Society, saying that as a member, I have the opportunity to be one of the fIrst to purchase a volume on the greatest photographs ever published in the National Geographic. Like many others, especially anthropologists (I suspect), I grew up reading National Geographic, had access to,National Geographic publications, and probably got my fIrst images of different cultures and peoples from the magazine. How accurate a picture do we get? What does it attempt to portray and why?

The burgeoning field of visual anthropology examines images and films and attempts to under­ stand them within their social context. How do photographs communicate or evoke ideas? What is the social framework in which they are produced-"the historical and cultural context that gives the photograph and its elements their meaning and significance"? What is the role of such images in our society, and do they play a major role in enculturation?