African Fractals

This article examines the visual essay as a special verbal/visual mode of expression that is practised both by social scientists and social documentarians, although still on a very limited scale. Examining some of their commonalities and differences sheds light on the particularities of the scientific versus the social documentary approach more generally. To conclude, a photo‐essay from a social documentary photographer is discussed, as it comes close to what could be termed a sociological approach. This borderline application allows elaboration of some of the specifics of the visual essay as a mode of visual anthropology/sociology.