An Eye for the Tropics Tourism, Photography, and Framing the Caribbean (review)

UJ UJ AIM EYE FOR T H E T ROPI CS TOURISM, PHOTOGRAPHY, AND FRAMING THE CARIBBEAN Krista A. Thompson Dur ham and London Duke Universit y Press, 2007 In An Eye for t he Tropics: Tourism, Phot ography, and Framing t he Caribbean Pict uresque, Kr ist a A. Thompson right ly obser ves t hat , over t he last decade, t here has been a slew of publ icat ions dedicat ed t o phot ogr aphi c r epr esent at i on of t he Caribbean. In t it le, books such as Bygone Barbados ( 1998) , Reminiscing: Memories of Old Nassau ( 1999) , and A Journey of Memories: A Memorable Tour of Trinidad and Tobago ( 2000) , announce t heir i nt ent i ons t o nost al gi cally commemorat e t he vi sual i zat i on of t he Car i bbean's col oni al era. Thompson, an art hi st or i an who t akes t he opposi t e t ack in An Eye for t he Tropics, right ly asks "w hat do t hese original l y t our i sm-or i ent ed post cards and phot ogr aphs of t he An gl o Caribbean signif y, in t heir newest rest i ng place, f or local r esi d ent s?"1 For Thompson, t he answer lies amid t he reasons for making t hese obj ect s in t he f irst place. She writ es: The cont emporary int erest in post cards f rom yest eryear, I argue, relat es t o local needs and desires for a societ y like t he one pict ured on many of t he t our i sm-or i ent ed p hot ogr ap hs—a saf e, di sci pl i ned, and pict uresque Locale. In t he face of a number of post col oni al di scont ent s and chal l enges, t hese t our i st i c i m ages act as vi sual pl acebos, assur i ng many local resident s of t he redempt ive possi bi l i t ies of t heir own nat i ons. 2 Thr ough her anal ysi s of post cards and t our i st pr omot i onal i mages of Jamaica and t he Baham as, in part icul ar, Thompson uncovers t he desire and will of ni net eent h- and t went i et h-cent ur y phot ogr apher s t o proffer t he Caribbean as a resolut ely t r opi cal and exot ic space. Thom pson i nvest i gat es t he devel opment of t he Caribbean pict uresque , a discour se t hat , unsur pr isingl y, has t hi ngs in common wit h t he Brit ish pict uresque, an aest het ic appl ied t o t he Engl i sh count ryside during t he ei ght eent h cent ury. It i s not so much t hat t hese l andscapes on opposi t e sides of t he At l ant ic were f ramed and experienced in t he same ways, because t hey were not . Inst ead, Thom pson argues, i t is si gni f i cant t hat t he pict uresque was meant t o reassure t hose who sought t o cont rol bot h t hese spaces t hat t hey were t imel ess, i nvi t i ng t errains , unt roubl ed by modern phenomena —w het her t he i ndust r i al revol ut ion in Brit ain or t he soci al and pol it ical movement s for i ndependence t hr oughout t he Caribbean. Inspi r ed by t he concept ual approaches of lit erat ure and geogr aphy schol ars who f ocus upon t he Engl i sh, French, and Spani sh- speaki ng Caribbean , Thom pson adopt s t he t er ms "t r opi cal i...