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2: Reading Photographs - A Close Look at Photographic Origins of Mugshots and Facial Recognition

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    In this chapter, you will be introduced to early photographic technologies, particularly those being used in the late 19th century (1800s) and early 20th century (1900s). You will explore some visual and textual primary sources as well as secondary sources to shed light on ways that photography--which was seen as inherently scientific by many in that era--was applied by pseudoscientists like Alphonse Bertillon and Francis Galton to devise a method of predicting traits like criminal tendencies in individuals...just by looking at that person's face or a specific feature of their face.

    Definition: pseudoscience

    n. a system of theories and methods that has some resemblance to a genuine science but that cannot be considered such. Examples include astrology, numerology, and esoteric magic. Various criteria for distinguishing pseudosciences from true sciences have been proposed, one of the most influential being that of falsifiability. On this basis, certain approaches to psychology and psychoanalysis have sometimes been criticized as pseudoscientific, as they involve theories or other constructs that cannot be directly or definitively tested by observation (see prediction; risky prediction). See also parapsychology. —pseudoscientific adj.

    American Psychological Association (APA) Dictionary of Psychology

    The use of photography to generate mugshots and classify what pseudoscientists deemed to be "typical" features representative of entire races or other groups of human beings (such as "murderers") made many people mistake what were often white supremacist assertions for science. But rather than following the scientific method, the strategies used by pseudoscientists involved drawing a conclusion first and then looking for evidence that supported that idea while simultaneously ignoring contradictory evidence.

    • The emergence of these specific uses of photography continues to influence the present as our appearance--especially our face--is recorded for various functions and with various impacts. Which uses of these facial records do we feel comfortable endorsing, and which might we instead want to resist?

    Detail of book page with illustration showing profiles of stereotypical faces sfrom different races black and white photographic mugshot of white man with facial hair

    Left: "Wells, Physiognomy (1868) n.142" by Richard L Saunders is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Right: "Alphonse Bertillon 1913" by Unknown authorUnknown author is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

    Content Warning

    Please note that images depicting historical events may contain themes or include verbal descriptions which do not reflect current understandings of topics like race, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability status, and religious diversity. These are provided in a historical context.

    Racist caricatures are included in some of this chapter's readings.

    2: Reading Photographs - A Close Look at Photographic Origins of Mugshots and Facial Recognition is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.