Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2023.2168960
I. Tivyaeva
This article discusses the potential of memorial plaques to be a means of transmitting collective city memories—understood to include the depersonalized spatially motivated commemoration of events and people. The study analyzes such plaques as location-attached material testaments of Moscow’s most outstanding historic and cultural phenomena. Memorial plaques are examined within the city’s semiotic framework and treated as multimodal units communicating socially and locationally relevant information that gets encoded, both verbally and visually. Findings suggest that the key strategy of conveying a collective city memory relies primarily on a combined memorial data objectification model that employs both a verbal code and non-verbal iconic and symbolic elements.
{"title":"Memorial Plaques in Multimodal Urban Discourse: A Visual Narrative Reflecting Moscow’s Glorious past","authors":"I. Tivyaeva","doi":"10.1080/08949468.2023.2168960","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2023.2168960","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses the potential of memorial plaques to be a means of transmitting collective city memories—understood to include the depersonalized spatially motivated commemoration of events and people. The study analyzes such plaques as location-attached material testaments of Moscow’s most outstanding historic and cultural phenomena. Memorial plaques are examined within the city’s semiotic framework and treated as multimodal units communicating socially and locationally relevant information that gets encoded, both verbally and visually. Findings suggest that the key strategy of conveying a collective city memory relies primarily on a combined memorial data objectification model that employs both a verbal code and non-verbal iconic and symbolic elements.","PeriodicalId":44055,"journal":{"name":"Visual Anthropology","volume":"36 1","pages":"38 - 53"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49637030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2023.2168963
A. Grossman
The dialogues and engagements between the fields of anthropology and contemporary art emerging over the last decades have been increasingly nuanced, provocative and insightful. They are also interestingly elusive. As an anthropologist who has long been drawn to incorporating elements of artistic practice into my own research, I still struggle with defining such work — is it art or anthropology, or something else entirely? For all my efforts to situate my own practice within a distinct disciplinary framework (art – anthropology?), it is still not entirely clear to me how to articulate this framework, where exactly it belongs. Plenty of artists and anthropologists now collaborate or borrow ideas from each other and apply them to their own work, whether this involves filmmaking or exhibition-making or social practice. But most of these projects are still classified ultimately as either art or anthropology, leaving insufficient space to explore the subtleties of their intertwined relationship. Such readings leave these works in a bind: categorized as art, they often are accused of falling short of “ proper ” anthropology; categorized as anthropology, they often are dismissed as bad art. Where is the sweet spot of convergence, that enigmatic ground where both art and anthropology can co-exist, each on their own terms but also in genuine correspondence with one another? The field has now developed to a point where the space between these two arenas has sharper focus but is still in flux, not quite fleshed out to its full potential. Arnd Schneider ’ s most recent book, Expanded Visions , adds another integral component to this evolving scaffolding, examining the configurations of “ consilience ” that arise when these two realms come into contact (a space he refers to as “ art – ethnography ” ). From experimental filmmaking practices to the social dynamics of film production, Schneider engages with a diverse set of examples, delving into the theoretical implications of such work within contemporary anthropology.
{"title":"Expanded Visions","authors":"A. Grossman","doi":"10.1080/08949468.2023.2168963","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2023.2168963","url":null,"abstract":"The dialogues and engagements between the fields of anthropology and contemporary art emerging over the last decades have been increasingly nuanced, provocative and insightful. They are also interestingly elusive. As an anthropologist who has long been drawn to incorporating elements of artistic practice into my own research, I still struggle with defining such work — is it art or anthropology, or something else entirely? For all my efforts to situate my own practice within a distinct disciplinary framework (art – anthropology?), it is still not entirely clear to me how to articulate this framework, where exactly it belongs. Plenty of artists and anthropologists now collaborate or borrow ideas from each other and apply them to their own work, whether this involves filmmaking or exhibition-making or social practice. But most of these projects are still classified ultimately as either art or anthropology, leaving insufficient space to explore the subtleties of their intertwined relationship. Such readings leave these works in a bind: categorized as art, they often are accused of falling short of “ proper ” anthropology; categorized as anthropology, they often are dismissed as bad art. Where is the sweet spot of convergence, that enigmatic ground where both art and anthropology can co-exist, each on their own terms but also in genuine correspondence with one another? The field has now developed to a point where the space between these two arenas has sharper focus but is still in flux, not quite fleshed out to its full potential. Arnd Schneider ’ s most recent book, Expanded Visions , adds another integral component to this evolving scaffolding, examining the configurations of “ consilience ” that arise when these two realms come into contact (a space he refers to as “ art – ethnography ” ). From experimental filmmaking practices to the social dynamics of film production, Schneider engages with a diverse set of examples, delving into the theoretical implications of such work within contemporary anthropology.","PeriodicalId":44055,"journal":{"name":"Visual Anthropology","volume":"36 1","pages":"87 - 90"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41563939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2023.2168956
O. Suleimanova, I. Tivyaeva
From the moment an individual steps out into the city streets and onto public transport or other city domains s/he enters into an unspoken dialogue which is going on between the city and its citizens through a variety of communication channels, both textual and visual, each of which relies on its own hybrid discourse. Audio, visual and textual modalities combine to project an image which the city (through its authorities) intends to translate to its inhabitants. What does the city have to say to its residents? Why? How? What can they see and hear? What do they understand and what instructions and ideas are expected to follow? The principles and ultimate goals of all the messages basically coincide, as they are all meant to resonate with the social background and operating political and social practices, and to translate administrative power. Sometimes the city is sending a clear, straightforward message, sometimes an unobtrusive, subtle and silent one, with a hidden agenda to foster values and beliefs, knowledge and power. Despite the city’s discourse being omnipresent in the life of its public, “place-name research has carved out such a marginal existence within the discipline of geography and is commonly conceived of as ‘the old and largely discredited field of toponymy’” (Goodchild 2004, 712). Moreover, some genres have been escaping researchers, especially those which combine different codes, and it’s only recently that they have got into their research focus. Smallformat texts such as commemorative plaques, or other multimodal ones that combine audio, visual and verbal codes, are now getting more and more attention, however. The authors here refer to these texts as multimodal, a term emphasizing the focus on perception channels, rather than using the term multicode(d), which does, in turn, focus on the coding systems (visual, textual, auditory); nor do they use the term hybrid, which suggests that the text is in some respect not homogeneous—without specifying in which particular respect. Modality implies the speaker/recipient’s being an active participant in the state of affairs, which better reflects the communication specifics the parties are involved in. Originally research into the city’s information landscape focused on the accumulation of data, proceeding further to etymological and derivational data analysis (cf. the review in Rose-Redwood, Alderman, and Azaryahu 2010); but then the end of the 20th century saw a “critical turn” to a discursive approach to the analysis, toward hybrid forms within a multidisciplinary approach. This turn entailed new methodologies and new principles that focus on semiotics, hybrid codes, cultural arenas and the discourse of power on behalf of the authorities.
{"title":"Introduction","authors":"O. Suleimanova, I. Tivyaeva","doi":"10.1080/08949468.2023.2168956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2023.2168956","url":null,"abstract":"From the moment an individual steps out into the city streets and onto public transport or other city domains s/he enters into an unspoken dialogue which is going on between the city and its citizens through a variety of communication channels, both textual and visual, each of which relies on its own hybrid discourse. Audio, visual and textual modalities combine to project an image which the city (through its authorities) intends to translate to its inhabitants. What does the city have to say to its residents? Why? How? What can they see and hear? What do they understand and what instructions and ideas are expected to follow? The principles and ultimate goals of all the messages basically coincide, as they are all meant to resonate with the social background and operating political and social practices, and to translate administrative power. Sometimes the city is sending a clear, straightforward message, sometimes an unobtrusive, subtle and silent one, with a hidden agenda to foster values and beliefs, knowledge and power. Despite the city’s discourse being omnipresent in the life of its public, “place-name research has carved out such a marginal existence within the discipline of geography and is commonly conceived of as ‘the old and largely discredited field of toponymy’” (Goodchild 2004, 712). Moreover, some genres have been escaping researchers, especially those which combine different codes, and it’s only recently that they have got into their research focus. Smallformat texts such as commemorative plaques, or other multimodal ones that combine audio, visual and verbal codes, are now getting more and more attention, however. The authors here refer to these texts as multimodal, a term emphasizing the focus on perception channels, rather than using the term multicode(d), which does, in turn, focus on the coding systems (visual, textual, auditory); nor do they use the term hybrid, which suggests that the text is in some respect not homogeneous—without specifying in which particular respect. Modality implies the speaker/recipient’s being an active participant in the state of affairs, which better reflects the communication specifics the parties are involved in. Originally research into the city’s information landscape focused on the accumulation of data, proceeding further to etymological and derivational data analysis (cf. the review in Rose-Redwood, Alderman, and Azaryahu 2010); but then the end of the 20th century saw a “critical turn” to a discursive approach to the analysis, toward hybrid forms within a multidisciplinary approach. This turn entailed new methodologies and new principles that focus on semiotics, hybrid codes, cultural arenas and the discourse of power on behalf of the authorities.","PeriodicalId":44055,"journal":{"name":"Visual Anthropology","volume":"36 1","pages":"1 - 2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43886155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2023.2168961
Natalia N. Beklemesheva, Natalia A. Chekmaeva
Social changes bring shifts in our way of life. This article offers insights into how the city addresses its residents of different social and age groups, to deliver messages on a variety of issues (such as health, safety, or environment). Then an overview related to anti-COVID measures in Moscow is given. The methodology involves multimodal and interdisciplinary approaches, and analysis of the city landscape semiotics. The empirical material consists of photographs taken at city sites—public transportation, billboards, shopping centers, and polyclinics. The results show that the city aims to keep its residents informed, alert, and in a safe residential place.
{"title":"City-to-Resident Communication: Speaking with Seniors and Youth","authors":"Natalia N. Beklemesheva, Natalia A. Chekmaeva","doi":"10.1080/08949468.2023.2168961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2023.2168961","url":null,"abstract":"Social changes bring shifts in our way of life. This article offers insights into how the city addresses its residents of different social and age groups, to deliver messages on a variety of issues (such as health, safety, or environment). Then an overview related to anti-COVID measures in Moscow is given. The methodology involves multimodal and interdisciplinary approaches, and analysis of the city landscape semiotics. The empirical material consists of photographs taken at city sites—public transportation, billboards, shopping centers, and polyclinics. The results show that the city aims to keep its residents informed, alert, and in a safe residential place.","PeriodicalId":44055,"journal":{"name":"Visual Anthropology","volume":"36 1","pages":"54 - 68"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43310112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-20DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2022.2129253
Jingjiang Zhu
This paper considers the ways in which the painter Pang Xunqin “translated” the bodies of non-Han people, by examining his visual representation of the Miao people of Guizhou during the 1940s. His work needs to be understood within the context of the history of anthropology in Republican China. Since he worked closely with Chinese anthropologists his work was largely informed by an anthropological understanding of human diversity and of ethnographic collecting and museum practice, a matter hardly explored among current studies on Pang Xunqin. Pang’s representation of the Miao was influenced in equal measure by customary Chinese ethnographic illustration and Western anthropological photography. This paper highlights the many sources that can be found in Pang’s works and reveals how he depicted the peripheral frontier. The biopolitics of the body, employed as a system of ethnic classification by Chinese anthropologists, affected Pang’s visualization of Miao bodies. In order to build a politicized and unifying Zhonghua minzu, Chinese anthropologists, demonstrated bodily similarities between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities in the southwest of China under categories of “Mongoloid” or “Yellow” racial types. Pang thus depicted Miao bodies by emphasizing their bodily similarities with the majority Han Chinese and adopting the physical features of “Mongoloid/Yellow.” His work provides a fine example of the ways in which art can become politicized.
{"title":"Art, Anthropology and Non-Han Bodies: Pang Xunqin’s Paintings of Miao People in Guizhou Province in the 1940s","authors":"Jingjiang Zhu","doi":"10.1080/08949468.2022.2129253","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2022.2129253","url":null,"abstract":"This paper considers the ways in which the painter Pang Xunqin “translated” the bodies of non-Han people, by examining his visual representation of the Miao people of Guizhou during the 1940s. His work needs to be understood within the context of the history of anthropology in Republican China. Since he worked closely with Chinese anthropologists his work was largely informed by an anthropological understanding of human diversity and of ethnographic collecting and museum practice, a matter hardly explored among current studies on Pang Xunqin. Pang’s representation of the Miao was influenced in equal measure by customary Chinese ethnographic illustration and Western anthropological photography. This paper highlights the many sources that can be found in Pang’s works and reveals how he depicted the peripheral frontier. The biopolitics of the body, employed as a system of ethnic classification by Chinese anthropologists, affected Pang’s visualization of Miao bodies. In order to build a politicized and unifying Zhonghua minzu, Chinese anthropologists, demonstrated bodily similarities between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities in the southwest of China under categories of “Mongoloid” or “Yellow” racial types. Pang thus depicted Miao bodies by emphasizing their bodily similarities with the majority Han Chinese and adopting the physical features of “Mongoloid/Yellow.” His work provides a fine example of the ways in which art can become politicized.","PeriodicalId":44055,"journal":{"name":"Visual Anthropology","volume":"35 1","pages":"358 - 389"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45709808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-20DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2022.2129254
Renyou Hou
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a Chinese village and at a wedding planning company, this article analyzes the matrimonial norms and practices, as well as the representation of gender relations, in contemporary rural China. I argue that even though for mass consumption the bridal-gown photography still enables young villagers to have an extraordinary experience that promotes expression of their personal desires. By examining the mise en scène of photographed protagonists, I conclude that the gender relations cannot simply be viewed as male domination, but rather as a more complex hierarchical relationship with a possibility of reversal of power and authority positions in family and social life.
{"title":"“Male Gaze” or “Power of Display”? Love, Conjugality and Gender in Bridal-Gown Photography in Contemporary Rural China","authors":"Renyou Hou","doi":"10.1080/08949468.2022.2129254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2022.2129254","url":null,"abstract":"Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a Chinese village and at a wedding planning company, this article analyzes the matrimonial norms and practices, as well as the representation of gender relations, in contemporary rural China. I argue that even though for mass consumption the bridal-gown photography still enables young villagers to have an extraordinary experience that promotes expression of their personal desires. By examining the mise en scène of photographed protagonists, I conclude that the gender relations cannot simply be viewed as male domination, but rather as a more complex hierarchical relationship with a possibility of reversal of power and authority positions in family and social life.","PeriodicalId":44055,"journal":{"name":"Visual Anthropology","volume":"35 1","pages":"390 - 419"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42064137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-20DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2022.2129260
Nadi Tofighian
Sandeep Ray ’ s Celluloid Colony is a critical historiography of film in colonial Indonesia. The book sets out to address three core concerns. First, it provides a close reading of a comprehensive selection of Dutch ethnographic films shot in the vast colony between 1912 and 1930. Secondly, it seeks to illustrate how motion pictures can function as primary source material for historical and ethnographic research. And thirdly, it aims to bring to light unexplored materi-als from colonial archival records. Methodologically Ray offers an alternative historiographical approach to studying colonialism, arguing that these archival films are relevant to analyze, as “ the tensions between colonial rule and native life surface in these films ” (4). The author, who is also a novelist, has a succinct and accessible writing style, with the potential to attract an audience beyond academics. The envi-sioned audience for the book however appears to consist primarily of historians and anthropologists. The purpose of a large part of the introduction and the first chapter, “ Situating Early Non-fiction Film in Colonial Studies, ” is to encourage these categories of readers to use moving images as source material in their studies. The objective here is to demonstrate that filmed sources pro-vide unique and detailed material not only for film historians and cinema scholars, but also to anyone working in other fields of historical enquiry. The author emphasizes
{"title":"Celluloid Colony","authors":"Nadi Tofighian","doi":"10.1080/08949468.2022.2129260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2022.2129260","url":null,"abstract":"Sandeep Ray ’ s Celluloid Colony is a critical historiography of film in colonial Indonesia. The book sets out to address three core concerns. First, it provides a close reading of a comprehensive selection of Dutch ethnographic films shot in the vast colony between 1912 and 1930. Secondly, it seeks to illustrate how motion pictures can function as primary source material for historical and ethnographic research. And thirdly, it aims to bring to light unexplored materi-als from colonial archival records. Methodologically Ray offers an alternative historiographical approach to studying colonialism, arguing that these archival films are relevant to analyze, as “ the tensions between colonial rule and native life surface in these films ” (4). The author, who is also a novelist, has a succinct and accessible writing style, with the potential to attract an audience beyond academics. The envi-sioned audience for the book however appears to consist primarily of historians and anthropologists. The purpose of a large part of the introduction and the first chapter, “ Situating Early Non-fiction Film in Colonial Studies, ” is to encourage these categories of readers to use moving images as source material in their studies. The objective here is to demonstrate that filmed sources pro-vide unique and detailed material not only for film historians and cinema scholars, but also to anyone working in other fields of historical enquiry. The author emphasizes","PeriodicalId":44055,"journal":{"name":"Visual Anthropology","volume":"35 1","pages":"472 - 475"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46659331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-20DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2022.2129251
Sergio Palencia Frener
Guatemala’s imagery of the war has been mostly construed from the standpoint of state militarism and violence. In the 1980s photos of rebellious Maya villages scarcely appeared in international publications, all of which were forbidden in Guatemala. Using a historical anthropological approach, visual memory, and ethnography of the Maya highlands, this essay delves into the photography of Megan Thomas and Luis Felipe González, two militants of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor who, in 1980 and 1981, took pictures of Mam and Akateko Maya villages during the uprising. Through fieldwork in San Miguel Acatán and Guatemala City, interviews with former indigenous and non-indigenous insurgents, conversations with the photographer Megan Thomas, and archival research in Guatemala and Mexico, this essay proposes to rethink the war in highland Guatemala through visual materials, spoken stories, and indigenous memories.
{"title":"“There Was a Time of Dancing”—Visual Memory of the Maya Uprising in Guatemala, 1980–1981","authors":"Sergio Palencia Frener","doi":"10.1080/08949468.2022.2129251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2022.2129251","url":null,"abstract":"Guatemala’s imagery of the war has been mostly construed from the standpoint of state militarism and violence. In the 1980s photos of rebellious Maya villages scarcely appeared in international publications, all of which were forbidden in Guatemala. Using a historical anthropological approach, visual memory, and ethnography of the Maya highlands, this essay delves into the photography of Megan Thomas and Luis Felipe González, two militants of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor who, in 1980 and 1981, took pictures of Mam and Akateko Maya villages during the uprising. Through fieldwork in San Miguel Acatán and Guatemala City, interviews with former indigenous and non-indigenous insurgents, conversations with the photographer Megan Thomas, and archival research in Guatemala and Mexico, this essay proposes to rethink the war in highland Guatemala through visual materials, spoken stories, and indigenous memories.","PeriodicalId":44055,"journal":{"name":"Visual Anthropology","volume":"35 1","pages":"319 - 343"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43959549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：