As seen in your prospectus: A critical essay on the representation of ethnic diversity in stock photography

Abstract: This work discusses the representation of ethnic diversity in contemporary stock photography imagery in the light of postcolonial critical theory. Departing from the Visual Content analysis of a random sample of stock photography retrieved from the Getty Images database, it attempts an interpretation of the empirical findings following the concepts of Whiteness and Self / Other dichotomy, both belonging to the postcolonial critical theory. The major findings discussed are the high priority ethnic diversity enjoys as a theme for representation in European and north American stock photography agencies compared to their Asian counterparts, and the rapid decrease found in the representation of non-Caucasian models when the needs of representation do not favor the depiction of ethnic diversity but are instead limited to the depiction of single persons or body parts. The discussion unfolds in three semantically interrelated sections. The first section sets the focus on the paradox ways in which the depiction of ethnic diversity in the material examined supports the concept of Whiteness, while the second section attempts an interpretive approach on the visual phenomenon under the concept of Political Correctness. The final section concludes the former two, tracing the common power structures lying in the representation of ethnic diversity in stock photography and in representations of the ‘Other’ traditionally related to the postcolonial discourse drawing from the concept of the Self / Other dichotomy.