Visual Sociology

Iconspicuous Revolutions of 1989. Culture and Contingency in the Making of Political Icons

by Dominik Bartmanski

A Chapter in the Book "Iconic Power"

Published in 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan

Sociological interpretation of news images inevitably take us beyond the surface of pictures to the surfaces and... more Sociological interpretation of news images inevitably take us beyond the surface of pictures to the surfaces and depths of events, to singular bodies and powerful crowds, sights and sites, built structures, and symbolically constructed narratives. It is precisely the new prism of iconicity through which the effects of shocking and euphoric events that seem well known can be explained in full. If icons are indeed stars of the social universe, then sociological analysis provides lenses through which we can better see them. With the theory of iconic power, we can make use of the light of “social stars” to learn new things about the social universe as such.

In his chapter “Iconspicuous Revolution: Culture and Contingency in the Making of Political Icons,” Dominik Bartmański revisits the European icons of the euphoric year of 1989 and asks what constitutes a powerful iconic fact. Specifically, he explains why the fall of the Berlin Wall emerged as the icon of 1989 and has retained this symbolic status ever since. The answer is not obvious. 1989 was full of epochal events and important figures busy making history. Especially the earlier, politically unprecedented changes in Hungary and Poland had opened up a revolutionary space in which such events like the fall of the wall became possible. And yet they have not attained the same lasting influence on the international audiences. To reconstruct this phenomenon is to tell a story about how the iconic can trump the political. By demonstrating what counts in public perception as “revolutionary,” “political signal,” and “beginning” and “end” of a social process, Bartmański shows the role that iconicity plays in constituting these key categories and thus in structuring our ability to notice, understand, and remember events. He argues that it is precisely the iconic power of events that turns them into “objective,” temporal markers of history.

A Visual Approach to Multiculturalism

by Jerome Krase

This is a draft of an article that appeared as “A Visual Approach to Multiculturalism,” in Beyond Multiculturalism edited by Giuliana Prato, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2009: 1-38.

There are undoubtedly many ways by which one can approach multiculturalism and its many intersections at the local,... more There are undoubtedly many ways by which one can approach multiculturalism and its many intersections at the local, national and global levels. Each different perspective on the subject adds another dimension to our understanding of this complex, and changing phenomena. Offered here is a visual approach to one of its more ubiquitous versions, ethnic diversity, as it is expressed in the appearance of vernacular landscapes. It is argued that there is something about ethnic vernacular landscapes that can be best grasped via the use of image-based research. It is also suggested that such an approach might provide some needed focus to the inter- and intra-disciplinary debates over cultural diversity in its many scientific and related ideological forms.

Hodgetts, D., Chamberlain, K., & Groot, S. (2011). Reflections on the visual in community research and action. In P. Reavey (Ed.), Visual psychologies: Using and interpreting images in qualitative research (pp. 299-313). London: Routledge.

by Kerry Chamberlain

Book Chapter

Crang, M. (2010). Visual Methods and Methodologies. The Handbook of Qualitative Geography. D. Delyser, S. Herbert, S. Aitken, M. Crang and L. McDowell. London Sage: 208-225.

by Michael Crang

Open access repository version

In this chapter my aim is to suggest that an engagement with visuality is worthwhile, may be even necessary, for... more In this chapter my aim is to suggest that an engagement with visuality is worthwhile, may be even necessary, for qualitative methods in geography. In doing this I want to push the case for these methods when despite sometimes warm words there are relatively few examples of their use. Indeed if one were to look at the methods in qualitative textbooks in geography, then the overwhelming dominance is of linguistic sources – be they written and/or spoken. I will focus upon methods connected to the production of what we might call visual ethnographies. In doing this I want to highlight not a set of techniques, as though they were some items on an a la carte menu, but also paradoxes in the ways visual material is treated in geographical work. That is I want to highlight an ambivalence around visuality and its treatment in geography, and point to some theoretical critiques and slippages. I shall effectively focus upon photographic and video work.  Partly my aim is to focus on visual media at a time when they are proliferating in society, and thus may form either (and I would argue both) a topic for study and a means for studies. It is also a time when visual ways of knowing have come under intense and refined critique within the discipline.

My starting point is a sense that ‘visual methods’ may almost have been killed off before they were born in qualitative geography by powerful arguments about the problematic elements of visual knowledge – and in geography especially. A variety of visual methods, and especially the long reliance on modes of observational practice in landscape work and visual tropes for truth and knowledge across the discipline, have been criticised for assumptions of detachment and objectivity of knower leading to objectification of the known. Recently the issue of representational knowledge has been challenged tout court – and the visual seems perhaps inescapably bound to the representational. Vision is positioned as the problem both in how geographers know and a powerful locus of practice within the discipline. And yet, as I browse through geographical journals, I am not exactly overwhelmed by the deployment of visual media. My contention is that we have allowed one sense of visuality, with a troubling past, to rather dominate our critical understanding of what visual methods might comprise or what they might do.

This chapter will begin with a review of some of the classic heritages of visual knowledge in geography, and their politics and legacies. It will develop an account of some of the deployments of visual methods, and different modes of visuality therein. The chapter will examine visual ethnographies that seek to offer an engaged, participatory form of seeing and set it against a more ironic and perhaps even alienated, critical forms of seeing. It will conclude by trying to refigure how we think of seeing as representing rather than a medium of connecting and making present. It will thus ask about the how we might show what is not seen, when it cannot be pictured and how we might think about vision not as the antithesis of touch but through a haptic register

Julkinen Nainen Ja Mies. Sukupuolirepresentaatiot Suomalaisten Ja Ranskalaisten Aikakauslehtien Kansikuvissa 1955, 1975 Ja 1995

by Eeva Luhtakallio

Master's Thesis, 2003

Tutkimuksen kohteena ovat sukupuolirepresentaatiot suomalaisten ja ranskalaisten aikakauslehtien kansissa. Aineistona... more Tutkimuksen kohteena ovat sukupuolirepresentaatiot suomalaisten ja ranskalaisten aikakauslehtien kansissa. Aineistona ovat neljän suomalaisen ja neljän ranskalaisen suurilevikkisen aikakauslehden kansikuvat kolmesta vuosikerrasta: 1955, 1975 ja 1995. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat yhtäältä sukupuolirepresentaatioissa kyseisenä ajanjaksona tapahtuvat muutokset, toisaalta niiden erot ja yhtäläisyydet kahden kulttuurisen kontekstin välillä.

Tutkimuskysymyksen keskiössä on sukupuoli kulttuurisena merkitysjärjestelmänä. Tutkin tämän merkitysjärjestelmän saamia kuvallis-tekstuaalisia representaatiota aineistossani. Työni konteksti on julkisuus - tarkennetusti suomalainen ja ranskalainen aikakauslehtijulkisuus.

Aikakauslehtien kansikuvissa esiintyvät sukupuolirepresentaatiot ovat leimallisesti julkisia, mutta ne saavat julkisuudessa erilaisia kehystyksiä ja asettuvat niiden myötä "yksityisen" ja "julkisen" sfäärin piiriin. Näin julkisuuden kentän sukupuolittuneita representaatiorepertuaareja ja niiden muutoksia voidaan tarkastella peilaten niitä dynamiikkaan, jossa yhtäältä tehdään yksityistä julkiseksi tuomalla sitä julkisuuteen, toisaalta julkisuutta yksityiseksi yksityisten teemojen määrittäessä julkisuutta yhä keskeisemmin.

Kuvien ja tekstien yhdessä muodostamia merkityskokonaisuuksia tutkin neljän kehyksen - halun, uusintamisen, kulttuurin ja politiikan - muodostaman jäsennyksen avulla, jonka lähtökohtana on Erving Goffmanin kehysanalyysi (Goffman 1974). Käytän kehyksiä toisaalta illustroimaan aineistoni säännönmukaisuuksia ja toisaalta niitä uudelleenneuvotteluja, joita julkisten sukupuolirepresentaatioiden osalta näytetään käyvän tarkasteluajanjakson aikana. Aikakauslehtien muodostamasta julkisuuden kentästä hahmottuu neljä kehystä, joihin kansissa esiintyvät sukupuolirepresentaatiot asettuvat. Näistä kaksi ensin mainittua kuuluu perinteisen "yksityisen" alueelle, kaksi jälkimmäistä kehyksistä taas voidaan määrittää kuuluviksi perinteisesti "julkisena" nähdyn alueelle.

Tietyt elementit pysyvät kansikuvissa varsin muuttumattomina vuosikymmenestä toiseen. Pysyvyyttä edustavat naisten representaatioissa nuoruus, viehättävä ulkonäkö, hoikkuus ja asettuminen kameran eteen silmää miellyttävällä ja katsojaa houkuttavalla tavalla. Miesten representaatioissa kypsä ikä, tumma puku ja asiallisuus ovat ne valttikortit, joihin suurimmaksi osaksi on luottaminen. Myös vuosikymmenestä toiseen toistuvat teemat saavat rinnalleen muuttuvia merkkejä, eikä niiden siten voida ajatella säilyvän täysin muuttumattomina. Muutos missä tahansa kehyksessä vaikuttaa kaikkiin muihin muuttaen kehysten asemia toisiinsa nähden. Keskeisimmät muutokset hahmottuvat yhtäältä kehysten sisäisinä sävyeroina, toisaalta sekundaarikehysten vaihteluissa, asemanmuutoksissa ja suhteissa muihin sekundaarikehyksiin. Tarkastelen suomalaisen ja ranskalaisen kuvaston muutoksia, eroja ja yhtäläisyyksiä tässä yhtäältä naisen ja miehen, toisaalta heitä yhdistävien parisuhteen ja perheen representaatioiden kannalta.

Tutkimuksen keskeinen tulos on, että yksityisen ja julkisen suhteen kehitystä tutkimuksen aikajänteellä määrittää yksi selkeä lineaarinen tendenssi: yksityisen sfäärin yhä voimakkaampi "työntyminen" julkisen sfäärin sisään. Tämä kehitys nousee esiin analyysissa käytettyjen, julkisuuden kehysten dynaamisuutta kuvaavien sekundaarikehysten esiintymissä.

Body-Representation & the Construction of Visual Meanings: a few interpretations

by Anabela Pereira

'Painting human rights: Mapping street art in Athens'

by Myrto Tsilimpounidi

Published in 'Journal of Arts and Communities', Special Amnesty International Issue on Human Rights, Vol.2(2)

Street art in Athens has boomed over the last years, transforming the fixed landscape of a city into a platform for... more Street art in Athens has boomed over the last years, transforming the fixed landscape of a city into a platform for negotiation and dialogue. As an art form, it is largely connected with the existing social conditions. A huge influx of immigrants/new citizens is transforming central areas and traditional notions of Athenian identity, giving birth to a new street-level language that has twisted, innovated, and filled in the gaps of a culture’s hegemonic discourse. In this article street art appears as a visual marker of the shifting, complex discourses of power struggles, marginality and counter-cultures that establish a new reality that must be seen and heard.

Re-inscribing the city: The streets as sites of contestation

by Myrto Tsilimpounidi

Street art and the resistant performances of the ‘outraged’ in Athens have gathered momentum over the last year,... more Street art and the resistant performances of the ‘outraged’ in Athens have gathered momentum over the last year, transforming the fixed landscape of a city into a platform for negotiation and dialogue. Both forms are connected with existing social conditions: austerity measures, mass immigration and ‘crisis’. Such narratives of globalisation and empire building are transforming central areas and traditional notions of Athenian identity, giving birth to a new street-level language that has twisted, innovated, and filled in the gaps of a culture’s hegemonic discourse. In this paper street art and protest appear as visual markers of the shifting, complex discourses of power struggles, marginality and counter-cultures that establish a new reality that must be seen and heard.

‘Performances ‘in crisis’: what happens when a city goes soft?'

by Myrto Tsilimpounidi

A city is a living organism consisting of the ‘hard city’ one can map through roads, buildings, public spaces and the... more A city is a living organism consisting of the ‘hard city’ one can map through roads, buildings, public spaces and the ‘soft city’ of inhabitants, multiple belongings, and imagining desires.  The process of softening the urban fabric is the extent to which the ‘soft city’ informs, interplays, and eventually remaps the ‘hard city’.

‘Merry Crisis-mas’

by Myrto Tsilimpounidi

Published in 'City' , Vol. 16 (1-2).

Photo essay. Photo essay.

Call2_Project Rendering the Real

by Sireita Mullings

Project Rendering the Real, is calling for participants for an interactive symposium and exhibition by project titled the “Fourth Moment”.

March 22nd – April 27th 2012.

www.renderingthereal.com

The intention is to interrogate the visual representations of art practitioners and their project participants, by way... more The intention is to interrogate the visual representations of art practitioners and their project participants, by way of papers, presentations, workshops and artwork.

The exhibition and symposium will run between
March 22nd – April 27th 2012.

Visit www.renderingthereal.com for more information.

Narratives and social experience of migration. Study Notes

by Agnese Vardanega

STUDY NOTES. Workshop - University of Koper, July 5th 2011

Social actors construct their experience in a kind of conversation with their ‘close circles’ (in Simmel’s terms), as... more Social actors construct their experience in a kind of conversation with their ‘close circles’ (in Simmel’s terms), as well as with their broader social environment. This is how they give form to their personal accounts, and to cultural ‘objects’ such as narratives.

When analysing stories of migration, thus, we are interested in finding the shared ‘categories’ transmitted in narratives.

Hand-held Motion-capture Devices in Situations of Violent Confrontation: A Visual Analysis of YouTube Video Clips

by Henrik Fürst

Paper presented at the 10th Conference of the European Sociological Association, 7-10 September, Geneva, Switzerland.

The Emergence of Iconic Depth. Secular Icons in a Comparative Perspective

by Werner Binder

Published in: Jeffrey C. Alexander, Dominik Bartmanski und Bernhard Giesen (eds): Iconic Power. Materiality and Meaning in Social Life. New York; Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, pp. 101-116.

The production of 'vis-ability ': An ethnographic video analysis of a martial arts class

by Larissa Schindler

White Fantasies, Black Bodies: Racial Power, Disgust and Desire In American Popular Culture

by Wayne Mellinger

Make Creativity in Complex Urban Spaces: The transformation of the NDSM docklands area in Amsterdam North.

by Lidia K.C. Manzo

ISA - Newsletter TG05 November 2011
Issue 3, November 2011

As we know, the built environment may be used as an empirical source. In this area my visual research it concerns the... more As we know, the built environment may be used as an empirical source. In this area my visual research it concerns the visibility and reflection of the social relations, ideas and developments of creativity in urban space.
(pag. 19)

More pictures can be seen in a slide show format on my youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcgx5Wigt8Q

Without a Safety Net: Participatory Techniques in Research with Young Migrants

by Giovanna Fassetta

Fieldwork between Distance and Intimacy. Reflections on a Photo Exhibition on the Street

by Giovanni Picker

in: 'Achab. Rivista di antropologia', IX: 33-41 (2006)

This article is an exercise of reflexivity focusing on some personal and political implications of using visual... more This article is an exercise of reflexivity focusing on some personal and political implications of using visual methods and approaches during fieldwork. During my fieldwork on memory and identity-making in the divided town of Mitrovica (Northern Kosovo) I adopted a photo-elicitation methodology. I set up a photo exhibition in the street of both parts of the town. The exhibition presented 17 old photos of public buildings and urban landscapes, and together with my informants I was having conversations with passersby standing and looking at the photos.

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Using Mind Maps to Facilitate Participant Recall in Qualitative Research

by Johannes Wheeldon

Words: Mind Maps, Data Gathering, Qualitative Research, and Legal
Technical Assistance

Mind maps may provide a new means to gather unsolicited data through qualitative research designs. In this paper, I... more Mind maps may provide a new means to gather unsolicited data through qualitative research designs. In this paper, I explore the utility of mind maps through a project designed to uncover the experiences of Latvians involved in a legal technical assistance project. Based on a sample of 19 respondents, the depth and detail of the responses between the groups were compared. Those who first completed mind maps identified a greater number of unique concepts and provided more in depth responses about their experience in later interviews. Participants suggested that by first completing a mind map, they were better able to recall, organize, and frame their reflections of past experience. The findings of this analysis of
using mind maps provide a justification for more detailed exploration about the utility of mind maps for qualitative research designs. Key