THE PORTUGUESE COLONIAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL MISSIONS

Founded in 1923, the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Porto was the scientific entity responsible for the colonial anthropological missions, always supervised by its director, the physician António Mendes Correia (1888-1960). Other members of this school of physical anthropology carried out fieldwork. Different members of the team ensured the photographs and filming.
 

List of missions:
Anthropological Mission of Mozambique,
Campaigns of 1936, 1937/38, 1945, 1948, 1955/56.

Anthropological and Ethnological Mission of Guinea
Campaigns of 1946 and 1947

Anthropobiological Mission of Angola
Campaigns of 1948, 1950, 1952 and 1955.

São Tomé Scientific Mission (São Tomé Ethno-Sociology Brigade), 1954.

Overseas Physical and Human Geography Mission, campaigns 1960, 1961 to Goa, Damão and Diu.

Timor Anthropological Mission, 1953 to 1975.

"Here are the two primary purposes of anthropobiological research in the Portuguese colonies: the ergometric assessment – of work capacity – and the ethnocultural assessment of behavioural characteristics (namely intellectual skills). They were indispensable for using authentic “human material” […] constituted by colonised bodies at the service of colonial occupation and exploitation."

António Fernando Cascais and Mariana Gomes da Costa, 2019

"Colonial photography could be a valuable source for analysing those photographed, but above all, for analysing those who photographed or promoted their realisation."

Patricia Ferraz de Matos, 2014

 BERTILLONAGE: CRIME, IDENTIFICATION AND PUNISHMENT

Based on the findings that the human bone structure at the age of 20 is relatively fixed and that the measurements of certain bones of the skeleton vary significantly, in a non-proportional way, from person to person, Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914) defines the founding principles of anthropometry: all human measurements obey a natural law of statistical distribution; the choice of characteristics to be measured must be based on their non-correlation, as well as on their immutability and clarity; from the measurement of a defined number of bones it is possible to fix descriptive data that identify an individual with a high degree of certainty. Based on these principles, Bertillon developed an identification system for criminals.

As the identification of repeat offenders is the primary concern of the criminal system, anthropometry, despite the limitations it reveals, quickly becomes the basis of an identification system to which Bertillon adds a series of complementary descriptive techniques to personalise anthropometric measurements and enable the identification of individuals based on the spoken portrait, cataloguing of distinctive marks, signage sheet with the colour of the iris of the left eye and forensic photographs. The new system, coined bertillonage, in a few years saw its scope expand to France and beyond borders. In many countries, the establishment of anthropometry offices dates back to the second half of the 1880s. In Portugal, the introduction of anthropometric stations was officially instituted by the decree-law of August 17, 1899, ratified by the Regulation of Civil Prisons of September 1901 and created in 1902.

The same assumptions were applied to Colonial Anthropology.

"It is the profile with precise lines that confers the fixed individuality of each figure. The silhouette makes it possible to measure the ups and downs of the human figure whose face only offers a projection. (...) [On the other hand] experience shows that frontal portraits of the face are better recognised, both by the subject himself and the public."

Alphonse Bertillon, Forensic photography, 1890.

Alphonse Bertillon's photographic system

Consisting of two photographs of each subject, one from the front and the other in profile, it ensured the recognition of any individual. The frontal photograph depicts the face we must remember, while the profile photograph guarantees the perfect coincidence between silhouettes, proving the identity. To obtain standard photos, neutral backgrounds were used, and the lighting, lens type, and framing were controlled to constitute an archive of similar images.

This system allowed expanding the application of this photographic practice to contexts of domination in which the production and management of visual data are central, as was the case of colonial physical anthropology.

Neutral background screen for photographs, used in anthropobiological missions
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