Visual Anthropology

Background: Refractive errors are the second most common reason of blindness in India after cataract. It accounts for 33.3% of cases of childhood blindness. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of refractive error and related visual impairment in children visiting a tertiary care eye center in Southern India.Methods: This was hospital-based descriptive study. Children <15 years of age with significant refractive error were included in the study. They were examined for visual acuity measurements, ocular motility evaluation, retinoscopy and autorefraction under cycloplegia, and examination of the anterior segment and fundus. Significant refractive error was defined as myopia ≥-0.75D, hypermetropia >+2D and astigmatism >0.75D. Descriptive statistics with frequency, mean±Standard deviation were computed for better and the worse eye. Statistical tests were applied between the worse and better eye using Chi square test.Results: A total of 946 children were scr...

In this article, I offer a critique of the notions of decolonial and indigenous scholarship by conceptualising ondeursigbaarheid as analytic through which to think the complexity of the visual as a source. Ondeursigbaarheid emphasises both the untransparent nature of much of the visual on the one hand, and simultaneously sheds light on possibilities of certainty in spite of a lack of transparency on the other hand. The concept is scaffolded by four others, namely oorsprong, visual sovereignty, nousig, and toe-sig. After conceptualisation, I analyse a number of images of ||kabbo, a nineteenth century |xam man, from the Bleek and Lloyd archive in relation to ondeursigbaarheid – illustrating the pitfalls of reading the visual as a transparent source. Finally, I critique the decolonial and indigenous scholarship of Sylvia Vollenhoven on ||kabbo through reference both to my earlier analysis and the concept of ondeursigbaarheid. I conclude by highlighting the importance of intellectual scepticism and rigour in relation to the study of indigenous questions – particularly if those questions are primarily historical in nature.

La vista y lo que percibimos ver son dos elementos clave para una reflexion sobre la vision desde la antropologia. Al analizar desde una optica interdisciplinar las relaciones entre imagen y cultura, hemos hecho hincapie en como vemos y las particularidades de las maneras de ver. Sin embargo, no hemos analizado las fronteras fisiologicas de nuestras visiones. Uno de los objetivos de esta introduccion es resaltar las diferencias entre el ver sin la intencionalidad de mirar, es decir, entre la facultad de ver y la naturalidad con la que la vista concentra la atencion al encontrarse frente a un foco de interes inmediato y la mirada que no se encuentra en el ambito fenomenologico del ver sino del mirar.

This article analyzes what we call the ‘post-ethnographic’ condition of visuality. The point of departure of this study is the unproductive status of contemporary art’s ethnographic gaze, once the discourse of decoloniality has been established as the ethical foundation of global curatorship. To address these issues, the article revisits “The Artist as Ethnographer” by Hal Foster, tracing the implications this text had and still has today on curatorial practices. Based on Foster’s reflections, the article argues that the ethnographic gaze of contemporary art has reached its limits today, becoming into an exhausted dispositive exhausted, incapable of representing otherness.

Hannes Gasser, viajero y fotógrafo austríaco (*1933) publicó el libro titulado "Indianer, du musst sterben", una extensa crónica visual de su visita a los territorios de los pueblos Laulapiti, Kamaiura, Txukai, Aura, Txucarramae y Juruna en el río Xingu de Brasil, durante varios meses de 1973.

Hannes Gasser, Austrian traveler and photographer (*1933) published the book titled "Indianer, du musst sterben", an extensive visual chronicle of his visit to the territories of the Laulapiti, Kamaiura, Txukai, Aura, Txucarramae and Juruna peoples on the river Xingu of Brazil, during several months in 1973.

En los últimos años, la estabilización de juegos clasificados como slow, clicker o idler supuso una novedad en la oferta videolúdica. Esas transformaciones pueden ser abordadas desde una perspectiva semiótica y atendiendo al funcionamiento de la enunciación, en tanto los desvíos desarrollados por esos juegos respecto del horizonte de los géneros muestran oscilaciones del jugador-modelo, figura de orden discursivo dominante en la historia del medio. Los casos analizados en este trabajo muestran fluctuaciones de esa figura que pueden caracterizarse siguiendo algunas de sus operaciones elementales: se analizan, así, enunciatarios que se demoran, que se entregan a una tarea única y excluyente o cuya performance resulta intermitente.

In this paper, through my curatorial experiences of four major exhibitions that I curated between 2021 and 2023, I would like to share with you my ideas of “How can the Powerhouse Museum, a museum of applied arts and science, shape the experience of cultural memory and national identity” of nations in Diaspora? Focusing on my own curatorial role, observation and reciprocal participation with the different Middle Eastern migrant communities of Western Sydney, this paper develops this question through the analysis of the entanglement of sensations, values, affects, and the museum’s forms of addressing the beholder.

Passado algum tempo da proclamação do regime republicano em Portugal (1910) e da Lei da Separação do Estado das Igrejas, publicada em 1911, o Estatuto Orgânico das Missões Católicas Portuguesas na África e Timor (1926) retoma a estreita relação entre Estado e missionários – os católicos portugueses “em condições especiais”401. O decreto nº 12.485, que ficaria conhecido como o Estatuto João Belo e posteriormente, a Constituição de 1933, reafirmaram o catolicismo como a religião oficial da nação portuguesa.
Nesse artigo, nossa proposta é pontuar questões específicas a respeito da missão conjugada de civilização e cristianização empenhadas pelo Estado Português e a Igreja Católica. Para isso, analisaremos um instrumento de propagação dos feitos imperialistas portugueses durante a Ditadura de Salazar (1933-1970), os chamados “Cadernos Coloniais”. Mobilizaremos um número que nos interessa especialmente, de título “Missões Católicas Portuguesas”, escrito pelo padre Joaquim Alves Correia, em 1936. O recorte temporal se situa entre a promulgação do decreto de 1926 e a publicação do Cadernos, em 1936.

This article demonstrates how new media technologies remediate traditional cinematic modes of stardom, specifically in and through small towns in India. Through two case studies, it explores registers of stardom that have emerged through the short video sharing app TikTok – both on the platform and in its filmic renditions. The first case looks at the cinematic construct of a TikTok star, which fuels the formal and narrative force of the 2019 film Bala (dir. Amar Kaushik). Bala illustrates how cinema can self-reflexively interweave traditional tropes with new media technologies. The second case features a ‘real-life’ TikTok star and political aspirant who brings into focus the political and electoral valence of TikTok stardom in the town of Adampur, Haryana. The cinematic is central to this narrative, where cinephilic nostalgia indicates a shared cultural intimacy between the political candidate and her followers and helps further her political ambitions. While the real TikTok star, Sonali Phogat, directly addresses her constituency, lip-syncing to old movie songs in 15-second videos, her reel counterparts pay homage to their cine-ancestors, 15 seconds at a time. In a setting where ‘the star’ has traditionally been understood through the prism of cinema, this article brings to light shifting registers invoked through the platformisation of the star and the cinematic in small town India.

The article deals with the interpretation of miniatures in illustrated medieval chronicles. Two case studies are taken as examples: Radziwill Chronicle of the late 15th century illuminated with miniatures that still preserve archaic features of original drawings, and the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible of the 16th century. These monuments contain important material exemplifying the theme of Russia and evincing the singularity of their artistic language and drawing techniques. To better interpret those miniatures, we proceed from the fundamentals of Christian worldview to the function of images in Middle Ages. The artist-drawer was well aware of Christian cosmology. His world consisted of an infinite and invisible ‘Heaven’ and a limited in space ‘Earth' where historical events unfolded, being depicted in a narrow horizontal band, commenting historical events closely to the text.
At the same time, the artist used traditional graphic tools to create images laden with recognizable connotations. Visual images did not so much depict a topic or an object to be illustrated, but rather conveyed their typological features. Further evolution of the artistic language of fine arts during the Late Middle Ages is evidenced in the miniatures of the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible. In the course of time the narrative aspect of book miniatures has matured, strengthening their function as information sources in their own rights within the overall composition of the book and saturating it with suggestive details, thus truly portraying the events instead of just indicating or signifying. Рассматриваются подходы к интерпретации содержания, заложенного в книжных миниатюрах Радзивиловской летописи конца XV в., сохранившей архаичные рисунки своих протографов, и Лицевого летописного свода XVI в. В этих памятниках, представляющих разные периоды развития исторической миниатюры, сосредоточен основной материал, связанный с русской темой и позволяющий судить о своеобразии изображений и эволюции приёмов их построения. Чтобы понять смысл, заложенный в визуальных образах, необходимо исходить из особенностей христианского мировосприятия, функций изображений в средневековый период, степени их зависимости от литературной основы и совокупности специальных художественных приёмов, используемых при создании произведений. Художник осознаёт структуру христианского понимания картины мира, состоящего из бесконечного и невидимого «Неба» и «Земли», ограниченной во времени и пространстве. По этой причине в рисунках для обозначения исторических событий использовалась только горизонталь в виде короткой узкой полосы, вмещающей объекты природного и исторического происхождения, а также персонажей, ощущавших воздействие «невидимого мира». Изображения полностью зависели от своей литературной основы, как в выборе темы, так и в полноте передачи содержания. Одновременно художник, в отличие от писателя, обладал своими изобразительными средствами, позволявшими по-своему её интерпретировать. В таких условиях визуальные образы не столько изображали, сколько обозначали иллюстрируемую тему, передавая лишь типологические признаки объектов. Об изменениях выразительных возможностей изобразительного искусства, произошедших в период зрелого Средневековья, можно судить по миниатюрам Лицевого свода. Усиление повествовательного языка книжных рисунков приводит к возрастанию их информационной роли
в составе книги, наполнению деталями, позволяющими передавать черты конкретных объектов. В результате эволюции на смену миниатюрам, «обозначавшим» событие, приходят рисунки, тяготеющие к его изображению.

The paper considers the way Rudolpf Sohm and Adolf von Harnack debated each other over 1 Clement as evidence of the institutionalisation of early Christianity and the rise of early Catholicism. Moving beyond their treatment, it considers ways in which Clement supports his arguments for restoration of deposed leaders by appeals to civic themes of concord and then relates those themes to the natural order. The paper concludes by locating Clement's arguments about concord and the natural order within Roman imperial conceptions of the political order from the Flavian through the Hadrianic period during which the letter may be dated.

Whereas European countries received more than a million refugees in 2015 alone, the United States admitted just over a half million that year and only 25,782 in 2019, following limits placed by the Trump administration. The rhetoric surrounding the alleged dangers migrants pose pushed the issue to the front of the political agenda in Europe and the United States, resulting in significant shifts in public opinion. Based on five similar surveys conducted in four European countries (N = 6,000) and in the United States (N = 1,031), this study focuses on how perceptions of migrant deservingness might be affected by television news exposure and perceived threat. The findings indicate that in Europe, exposure to public news is associated with lower threat perceptions and greater deservingness, whereas exposure to commercial news is associated with higher threat perceptions and lower deservingness. In the United States, exposure to CNN is associated with lower threat perceptions and greater...

Wnioskodawcy, przystępując do przygotowywania koncepcji projektu (Fijałkowska 2018),
który jest złożonym przedsięwzięciem obejmującym wiele etapów (Torończak 2011), stoją przed wyzwaniem zaprezentowania spójnego planu upowszechniania rezultatów już na etapie pisania wniosku. Jest to wymagające zadanie, rodzące wiele trudności i pytań. Dlatego też w niniejszym artykule zostanie podjęta próba odpowiedzi na kilka ważnych pytań: Co to jest upowszechnianie? Po co upowszechniać rezultaty projektu? Jak zaplanować strategię i proces upowszechniania rezultatów? W jaki sposób narzędzia Komisyjne wspierają proces upowszechniania rezultatów?

In this article, I offer an examination of the use of sound in 'Demartinian' documentaries—that is, documentaries influenced by the research conducted by Italian anthropologist Ernesto De Martino in isolated areas of the Italian South during the 1950s. I argue that the imperfectly synchronised relationships between sound and image in these documentaries constitute reminders of De Martino's conceptions of trance states: by using the same or similar sounds across a number of documentaries, the films engage with the notion that these states are historically determined cultural forms, rather than individual states of madness. Additionally, I argue that the moments in which sound and image do not align serve to recall the mediated quality of these documentaries. They call attention to the directors' contemplation of the ethics of the ethnographic encounter in a manner that is reminiscent of De Martino's meditations on the topic.

The article explores and discusses the doctoral research's creative, digital, and visual representation through the "RADICANT 003" virtual reality experience. Grounded in visual methods and the arts sciences, the article outlines its overall structure and contextualizes it within the broader research that in/forms it. It introduces Guma Joana, the Brazilian artist at the centre of this phase of the project. The article articulates theory and practice, ethnography and data presentation. And it is the experience we offer of the work of the artist and of our own view of her that accounts for this dual operation. The paper details two digital mechanisms designed to engage users within the virtual reality environment: one mechanism deconstructs Instagram posts, while the other immerses the user in 360° videos.

Los últimos 30 años fueron testigo del avance de un nuevo espacio
geográfico, el espacio  virtual. En este territorio convergen las tradicionales tecnologías de las palabras y las nuevas narrativas digitales. En las sociedades donde la tradición oral apuntaba a la transmisión de saberes mediante la palabra y la memoria, en la Modernidad, con la imprenta, podemos observar como se profundizaron esos saberes escritos, en las sociedades digitales somos testigos del entrecruzamiento entre contenidos, conocimiento y recreación. ¿Esto quiere decir que las redes no pueden construir y generar contenidos más allá del divertimento? ¿Pueden las disciplinas científicas utilizar este nuevo espacio para divulgar sus avances y desarrollos, sin perder legitimidad académica? El proyecto Historia.Itinerante, y su dispositivo
#FEMerides, se enmarca en este diálogo entre conocimiento científico, difusión y redes sociales.
El objetivo de esta ponencia es dar cuenta de la experiencia de Historia Itinerante, proponer como estudio de caso, pensar resultados y desarrollar perspectivas a futuro para seguir construyendo sentido histórico en una nueva dimensión del conocimiento mediado por la “era” digital.

Resumo: O presente trabalho de final de disciplina "Comunicação, Imagem e Perspectivismo Ameríndio" visa explanar considerações preponderantes acerca dos temas de cinemas indígenas abordados a partir do prisma teórico do perspectivismo ameríndio. De tal maneira, é importante ressaltar que as implicações trazidas por essas produções, do ponto de vista da área conhecimento que estou inserida, no caso a história, reflete não só no âmbito da historicidade que os percursos cinematográficos das produções sobre povos indígenas até aquelas produzidas sobre e com eles.

Articulamos o tema da recuperação pessoal (recovery) com conceitos de saúde e doença de Georges
Canguilhem e Donald Winnicott, em diálogo com registros autobiográficos de Patricia Deegan,
pesquisadora e ativista do movimento do recovery. Originada na década de 1970, em movimentos sociais
de usuários de Saúde Mental, a recuperação pessoal vem sendo incorporada a espaços acadêmicos,
serviços e políticas, como expressa sua inclusão no Plano de Ação em Saúde Mental da Organização
Mundial da Saúde (OMS). Reconhecendo sua utilidade como ferramenta conceitual e lógica de cuidado
ainda pouco difundida no Brasil, buscamos contribuir com sua consolidação reafirmando que
a experiência intersubjetiva é substrato fundamental para a avaliação da saúde, e considerando a
dimensão psicossocial da Reforma Psiquiátrica que orienta a Política de Saúde Mental brasileira.

Статията разглежда най-основните пътища, по които в българската книжнина след Освобождението /1878 г./ до днес се натрупва информация за чумните и холерните епидемии в Османската империя. Дейността на мнозина български медици, етнолози, историци, сред които са д-р Христо Тантилов, проф. Христо Гандев, проф. Миладин Апостолов, проф. Минчо Георгиев и други е насочена към изучаване на историята на чумата и холерата по българските земи през 17-19 в. Защитава се мнението, че е необходимо да се разширяват съвместните изследвания на историци с учени от природните науки и медицината върху динамичните изменения, протичащи на ниво климат – епидемии – социални бедствия.

This study explores the significant contributions of traditional Manipuri dance
(Jagoi) and Pung drumming to the socio-cultural development of Manipur, a northeastern
state of India. Manipuri dance, characterized by its lyrical grace, lasya movements, and
spiritual themes, encompasses key forms such as Raas Leela, Lai Haraoba, and ThangTa. Pung drumming, or Pung Cholom, integrates complex rhythms with vigorous dance
movements, emphasizing musicality, rhythm, and physicality. These traditional arts play
a crucial role in preserving Manipur's cultural heritage, fostering community cohesion,
and providing educational value. They also contribute to the local economy through
cultural tourism and have garnered national and international recognition, enhancing
cultural pride and encouraging the preservation of unique traditions. By examining the
multifaceted impact of these art forms, the study highlights their essential role in enriching
Manipur's social and cultural landscape

This OPEN ACCESS book is freely available for download from punctum books via this link:
https://punctumbooks.com/titles/burning-diagrams-in-anthropology-an-inverse-museum/

Burning Diagrams in Anthropology examines the use of diagrams in anthropology to reimagine how we think about, and challenge, intellectual histories. Highlighting the impossibility of escaping what different disciplines and institutions deem to be “past,” the author combines critical analysis of selected diagrams with an expansive, exploratory reimmersion in their aesthetic, ethical, and political potential.

Diagrams persist. Yet while other visual components of scholarly work – especially photography, cartography, and film – have been subject to significant critical scrutiny, diagrams have received far less reflexive attention. Reversing this trend, Partridge presents a collection of 52 diagrams, covering a period of 150 years, to create an “inverse museum” – a space where the collection matters less than reactions to it. While the images are drawn from sociocultural anthropology, they are discussed in dialogue with approaches from philosophy, postcolonial studies, architecture, aesthetics, posthumanism, and critical art theory.

Dissecting the notion of The Canon in order to confront academic complicity in hierarchical and racialized relations of inequality, the figurative burning of the title refers to how we might prepare the ground for scholarly work that meets the immediate, collective needs of an Earth in crisis – not least, by refusing adherence to disciplinary normalcy. By refusing this adherence, Partridge reaffirms knowledge creation in general, and anthropology in particular, as deeply ethical, creative, and relational processes.

This article is an introduction to the issue’s special theme on “Mountain Jews: Identity, Multilingualism, and History of Studying the Group”, featuring contributions by Dmitriy Sen’, Vladimir Kolesov, Svetlana Amosova, Arusyak Agababyan, Leonid Dreyer, Igor Kuznetsov, and Rita Kuznetsova. The theme is devoted to the discussion of a sub-ethnic Jewish group. Mountain Jews lived dispersed in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, and now this is a transnational group. This group has experienced processes of active migration and adaptation in new places of residence, economic and social changes over the past few decades. The main topics of the special theme are the ethnic identity of Mountain Jews, as well as their multilingualism and attitude towards their language.

The article is devoted to the forms of Mountain Jewish identity. It is based on the materials of the Derbent community of Mountain Jews. The Derbent community is one of the largest Mountain Jewish communities. Mountain Jews have retained the idea of internal division into ethnoterritorial and dialect groups. There are many stereotypes and autostereotypes that remain important in various areas of the life of this ethnic group. The article examines the following aspects: what groups and subgroups do Mountain Jews distinguish within their community, what stereotypes and autostereotypes exist in relation to these groups, and the ways in which they are formed. The Derbent group turns out to be central in geographical terms and, in this regard, is  perceived by many Mountain Jews as a “model” of tradition and language.

Habsburg Imperial Image-Space: Negotiating Belonging Through Photography1
by Martin Rohde and Herbert Justnik
This article examines the visualization of Hutsuls in German-Austrian, Ukrainian, Polish and Russophile ethnographic texts, asking how national and imperial imaginations of space were produced through such fluid cross-linking of texts and photographs. Considering the radical changes in image circulation since the late-19th century, we aim to reconsider the role of photography in image-making of the Habsburg Empire. This article shows how the same images were supposed to serve many purposes, when they were embedded in different settings. The construction of photographic objectivity, the circulation of images through imperial infrastructures and the exoticization of rural peoples were, however, common phenomena.

Целта на студията е да се анализират общотеоретичните проблеми на възникването, развитието и състоянието на психотерапията. Разгледани са възгледите за същността на психотерапията в хронологичен ред, започвайки от Древността, през Античността, Средновековието, Новото време и Модерното време. Обсъжда се развитието на концепциите за психотерапевтична помощ и тяхното влияние върху разбирането на човешкото функциониране.

با خواندن این قصّه پرغصّه کوتاه، متوجّه می‌شوید که فقر در کشور بزرگ ایران، در سال 1392، یعنی زمانی که حسن روحانی با بستن قرارداد برجام، تنها یک قلمش این بود که 150 میلیارد دلار آزاد شود؛ ولی خامنه ای نگذاشت یک دلار آن از گلوی ملت پایین رود و همه را هزینه ماشین جنگی خود در منطقه کرد، و این در حالی بود که کودکان کار بودند و تورم دو رقمی شده بود!  و ملت به خاک سیاه نشستن خود را تمرین می‌کرد.

Este texto toma como base una serie de charlas mantenidas en 2024 con el artista Carey (José Luis Carrasco Reyes), en múltiples visitas a su casa-estudio ubicada en el sur de la ciudad de México. Aunque se toma en cuenta lo hablado con el artista, el autor del presente texto vierte aquí sus propias impresiones y reflexiones. La tristeza del diablo es el título de una canción mostrada por el artista al autor en una de estas visitas y charlas.

This research studied and analysed the creation of content, styles, types, meaning and interpretation of surrealistic advertisements. The study compared the surrealism of fine art and advertisements, their similarities and differences of the two models of the surreal: traditional and modern. The research was conducted using qualitative research methods and utilised a random brand advertising selection that was composed only of ads that used surreal images. Most of the samples were compiled from print advertisements including magazine ads, newspaper ads and clippings that were published both nationally and internationally on the internet, websites or blogs. An integrated analysis of theories and concepts from semiology theory, advertising creativity, surrealist creativity and marketing concepts were used to analyse and explain these results. The findings indicated that creative images in surrealistic advertising were mainly influenced by the paintings of Salvador Dali and Rene Magrit...

В статье на основе широкого круга статистических материалов определена полиэтническая структура населения Саратовской губернии, выделены основные вехи формирования этнической карты региона. Использование разнообразных архивных документов позволило определить численность, удельный вес, размещение основных этносов в губернии, проследить их изменения в пореформенный период, выяснить влияние основных демографических и этнических процессов на состав населения.

Research on the labour market insertion of young migrants has largely centered on the reltionships between education, unemployment, and occupational attainment across different ethnic groups. Meanwhile, youth studies have explored the transition to adulthood, intergenerational disadvantage, and the strategies adopted by young migrants to shape their life trajectories, without paying much attention to work experiences and labour processes. Interdisciplinary research addressing the labour market insertion of young migrants also remains limited, with much of the focus placed on the so-called «second generation».
Given the growing importance of youth migration and the evolving characteristics of young migrants in recent years, this session invites contributions that explore their experiences when accessing new labour markets. These markets are often marked by poor employment conditions, informality, deskilling processes, and gender inequalities. Such structural constraints are differently experienced by highly stratified migrant populations in terms of legal status, including those born in the host society (either third country nationals or naturalized migrants), those arriving through family reunion, refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors, people without regular legal status. Additionally, this population varies in terms of social capital (e.g., the presence of reference communities), human capital (e.g., education, skills), and factors such as gender, ethnicity, race, religion, and possible trauma related to migration.
This session warmly encourages interdisciplinary approaches, engaging sociology, anthropology, human geography, and other social and human sciences, as well as combining different research strands such as the sociology of migration, labour studies, and youth studies.
Open questions
How do young migrant workers represent their integration into the labor market and their transition to adulthood?
How are the structural constraints that young migrants face in accessing new labour markets perceived, and what resources do they draw on to improve their working lives?
To what extent do individual resources and multiple layers of stratification resulting from intersecting factors impact the narratives and work experiences of young migrants?
How do young migrant workers envision their future, and what are the implications of these narratives in terms of agency?
What are the methodological and ethical challenges in studying young migrant workers?
Keywords
young migrants; labour market insertion; discrimination; exploitation; agency; aspirations; transition to adulthood; transnationalism; qualitative methods.
https://erq-conference.soc.unitn.it/2024/10/23/10-labour-market-inserton-of-young-migrants/