(Session proposal)

Visual history: the role of "mediators" in creating visual representations (19th and 20th centuries)

In recent years, historians have paid more attention to the use of visual material as an historical source. The methodological and theoretical issues surrounding this visual material have been described amply. However, the empirical scope within social (and cultural) history still needs to be broadened. This session, therefore, tackles the concept of visual culture from a very specific angle. The so-called mediators of visual material are the central object of study, thus emphasizing the (possibly recurrent) "strategies" used by these creators and users/beholders while representing a certain group of people, objects or events. The session will focus on photographic media, their producers and circulators. It is indeed important to gain a global insight into the strategies of distribution and contextualisation, revealing the power of images and the close link they have with reality. Not only the contextual information is of importance here (size, colour, date of creation, photographer, context of publication), but also the specific content of the images is crucial, possibly revealing otherwise hidden parts of history and definitely forming important elements of the already visible parts of history.

Some suggestions

- representation/communication of workers analyzing corporate magazines, the work of social reformers or workers' pictures
- representation/communication of a colonial past
- representation/communication of war
- representation/communication of everyday life
- representation/communication of groups etc.

Deadline and format

The International Institute for Social History will organize the ninth European Social Science History conference at Glasgow University, Scotland, UK, 11 - 14 April 2012. The aim of the ESSHC is to bring together scholars who are interested in explaining historical phenomena using social sciences methods.

The conference welcomes papers and sessions on any historical topic and any historical period. It is organized into 28 networks which each cover a specific topic. The conference language is English (more information is to be found on the website: www.iisg.nl/esshc)

Jens Jäger and Joeri Januarius are organizing a session on "visual history" (deadline for the session proposal is 1 May 2011).

Abstracts (in English) of approximately 250 words should be sent to Joeri Januarius (jjanuari@vub.ac.be) AND Jens Jäger (jens.jaeger@uni-koeln.de) before 11 April 2011. Accepted abstracts will be announced in the week starting 18 April 2011.

The organizers will explore the possibility of publishing a selection of the papers after the conference.

Contact (for more information)

Joeri Januarius
jjanuari@vub.ac.be
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
History Department
Pleinlaan 2
1050 Brussels
Belgium

Jens Jäger
jens.jaeger@uni-koeln.de
Universität zu Köln
Historisches Institut
Albertus Magnus Platz
50923 Köln