“We Live in the Water”

• Published in: Practicing Anthropology
• Main Author: Rehak, Jana Kopelent
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Informa UK Limited 2019
• Subjects: General Medicine; Smith Island
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.17730/0888-4552.41.3.48; http://meridian.allenpress.com/practicing-anthropology/article-pdf/41/3/48/2617304/0888-4552_41_3_48.pdf

Abstract Smith Island historical photographs, public and private, in their intimacy and immediacy, encourage us to think about the relationship between appearance and meaning. This article invites us to think through photographs as primary data in anthropological enquiry about the storying of climate in relation to inscribed, visual social biographies in Smith Island albums. I discuss Islanders' intimate visual, ecological, and sensory knowledge in relation to the changing ecology facing Smith Islanders. Old island photos hold memories that interface individuals and their contemporary social identities. When Smith Islanders view their family photographs, they enter the pictorial history of their island. Reading old family photographs with islanders, as they are archived in albums, boxes, or bags, opens a new space for connection of their sense of self with a sense of place.