CDA War, Photography & Empire: Visual Propaganda and British India, c.1941-47

From popular photo-magazines published for British citizens, to wall newspapers and pamphlets addressing Indian audiences, a wealth of dynamic visual propaganda in multiple languages and formats was produced to communicate Allied war aims and progress across the globe. Following the surrender of Japan, the machinery of ‘public information’ directed its work (including the network of photographers and the range of photographic outputs) towards the question of colonialism in the postwar world.

The enormous resources commanded by this initiative, as well as the wealth of institutional archives and published artefacts left behind, evidence the faith placed in visual communications in this period. The continued postwar commitment to the value of visual propaganda is seen in the public relations work of the United Nations. Yet, its relevance for the era of decolonisation has yet to be researched in depth.

This project addresses the use of official photography and commercial photojournalism in visual propaganda concerning British India (now Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar) during the Second World War and up to Partition.

This project invites candidates to:

·       Assess the centrality of photography to the evolution of public information campaigns about British India and for diverse Indian audiences.

·       Critically analyse the aims and activity of the people and institutions involved in producing visual propaganda, and the photographic material circulated.

·       Examine the interactive roles of the British Army Film and Photographic Unit, the MOI (London) and the Bureau of Public Information (Delhi).

Aiming to deliver a new cultural history of public information work between war and empire and assessing the relevance of wartime experience to postwar developments for the first time, this project will make a significant contribution to a developing research field addressing visual propaganda and British imperialism (e.g., Chandrika Kaul, James Ryan, Gabrielle Moser).

Drawing on the successful student’s interests, expertise and language skills, the project will bring exciting new interdisciplinary perspectives to the study of pioneering visual propaganda both catalysed by the anti-fascist struggle, but also marked by twentieth-century European colonialism.

The project will address the following key research questions:

·       Which professional photographers, publications and networks were engaged in the production and circulation of visual propaganda depicting and directed at soldiers and civilians in British India?

·       What was the relationship between official departments such as the Ministry of Information (London) and the Bureau of Public Information (Delhi) in this period?

·       To what extent were Indian photographers being trained, commissioned or employed to record the war effort and the impact of the conflict?

·       What photographic publications, pamphlets and artefacts were produced? And what differences can be traced in how the war and the postwar moment were represented in the UK and India?

·       What research methods and historiographical frameworks best facilitate critical examination of the genesis, aims and legacies of visual propaganda across the British Empire?

The student should combine historical research with critical methodologies, approaching relevant archival material from multiple perspectives. They will address the planning and development of propaganda campaigns through the lens of media and imperial history, analysing visual material using methodologies from the fields of photographic and visual history, and considering the cultural and social impact of visual propaganda using cultural and postcolonial theory.

The student is encouraged to bring archival holdings (official and unofficial), collections and knowledge bases into dialogue to generate new knowledge and insight. Central to this work would be engagement with:

·       Photographs held by Imperial War Museums (IWM), including material relating to IND Series of photographs covering British Army units in India, Indian Army units, Indian women's services, the Home Front in India, and Indian political figures during and just after the Second World War.

·       Associated documentation, press clippings etc. held by IWM.

·       The archives of the Press Information Bureau (formerly the Bureau of Public Information, National Archives of India).

·       Other relevant formal or informal archives or collections as identified by the student.

This doctoral project will contribute to interdisciplinary research on photography and visual history, as well as engaging ongoing methodological and ethical debates about visual culture and colonialism. The project will also use postcolonial theory and decolonial praxis, considering issues of representation, rights and repression as evidenced by both archival traces of the social networks behind propaganda production, and the conception of its racialised, colonised audiences instantiated in visual artefacts.

This project will deliver an essential new chapter to the history of wartime public information campaigns – a history that had far-reaching implications for government communications, public relations work, NGO communications strategy, and even activist campaigning in the postwar decades.

This research supports the IWM’s Second World War and Mid-Twentieth Century Collections Strategy by seeking out new angles, perspectives, and voices; prioritising the histories of those who have been demonstrably underrepresented in the past; and increasing understanding of the multi-vocal, global nature of the SWW. The project offers exciting opportunities including public engagement work and support exhibition development.

The successful student will become part of a thriving interdisciplinary research culture and join the cohorts at Cardiff and Exeter universities of CDA and CDP students partnered with a range of other non-HEIs including Historic England, Science Museum Group, National Trust, etc. Opportunities exist to deliver joint public-facing initiatives with fellow students (e.g., activities contributing towards decolonising the secondary school history curriculum) that will build both transferrable employability skills and sectoral knowledge relevant to career trajectories beyond academia.

The student will be embedded within IWM with access to training courses relevant to the professional development of roles in the sector. IWM hosts the War and Conflict Subject Specialist Network which hosts regular training and seminar opportunities, while students at IWM are encouraged to share their work including via the IWM Research blog.

The supervisory team brings together research specialisms including social and cultural histories of South Asia; imperial histories; the history of photojournalism and conflict; transnational visual propaganda; activism and activist imagery; visual representations of the Second World War and mid-twentieth century; curatorial practice.