Photographic reportage and the colonial imaginary

Abstract

This article critiques the first Australian cricket tour of India in 1935/36 through a synthesis of history, theory and imagery, and argues that the photographic content provides invaluable and historically overlooked insight into the cricketers’ perspective. Employing this methodology is unorthodox in sports writing and is innovative in application. The photographs provide a rare and previously unobtainable glimpse into the everyday cultural life and practice of the tour, and deliver a subjective representation of the cricketers’ experience. The significance of the images is twofold: they function as proof to verify the Australians presence in India and they assist a cultural critique of the tour. The images reveal that the cricketers’ response to the colonial paradigm was multifaceted and hallmarked by ambiguity. Despite at times adhering to their anticipated civiliving and educating role as white touring cricketers, the Australian team also challenged colonial protocols and simultaneously demonstrated support for the nationalistic sentiments brewing in 1930s India.