Photography had played a central role in the emergence of anthropology as a discipline in the late colonial period. Despite this, why is it that photography is not taken seriously in contemporary mainstream social anthropology and sociology in South Asia—and, to a great extent, in the rest of the world—as a possible way of conducting research or as an object of research?

The Fear of the Visual? explores this question through a study of the histories of anthropology / sociology and photography. The author studies past and present practices of photography – including contemporary practices such as the 'selfie', and the framing of social / familial events such as wedding photography – and possibilities with regard to theorising the visual.

He also tries to understand the ‘intellectual rupture’ that led to the visual being removed from mainstream sociology / social anthropology to the separate fields of visual sociology and visual anthropology.

This book is as personal as it is academic. The author opens each chapter with personal recollections, choosing to not separate the two domains that have impacted each other in important ways. Central to these personal narratives and the academic discussions that follow are photographs, which form a core part of the argument.