Agudá identity mirrored in time: Photography as a tool for social research-An account of experience

Abstract

The text presents an account of experience of an anthropological research developed in the Republics of Benin and Togo, in two moments (1996 and 2010), about the building of the agudá social identity. It is emphasized the role played by the photograph as a privileged platform for observation and record of visually relevant social phenomena, that supports the production of scientifically controlled knowledge about the societies photographed. It is analysed in temporal perspective three pairs of photographic images produced in both times of the field research, in order to put in evidence the process of actualization of traditions and identity markers of the agudá community.