Wood Nymphs and Patriots: Depictions of Samoans in The National Geographic Magazine

Abstract

This paper examines the pictures used to illustrate articles about Samoa published in National Geographic Magazine in 1898, 1899, 1919, 1941, 1962, and 1985, and discovers a consistency of subject and approach which underscores the Geographic's unchanging role as a vehicle for capitalist and imperialist ideology. The paper analyses photographs of women, landscape and aspects of Samoan culture in the contexts of their accompanying captions and texts, as well as the specific political and economic circumstances surrounding the making and marketing of the pictures.