italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
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Call for Papers
Locating Photography
Durham Centre for Advanced Photography Studies
University of Durham, UK
20-22 September 2007
Following the success of its inaugural conference 'Thinking Photography
- Again' (July 2005), the Durham Centre for Advanced Photography Studies
(www.dur.ac.uk/dcaps) invites proposals for a conference on 'Locating
Photography'.
From its inception to the present, photography has been haunted by what
Allan Sekula termed the 'universal language' myth, whereby the
photographic image is deemed to possess broad cross-cultural currency
and to be comprehensible within conventions shared by a vast
trans-national audience. The reliance of the world's press on
international agencies such as Reuters or Associated Press means that
the same photographs of global events appear in newspapers in London and
Washington, Madrid and Mexico City, Paris and Senegal. This process of
centralisation and globalisation has been accelerated by the advent of
digital photography and the internet, which now allow photographers to
submit pictures to agencies within minutes of their being taken.
Photojournalists now roam the world, filing images of the events which
shape it, images which are then circulated back around the globe.
At the same time, the history of photography has frequently been
understood in national terms, and scholars continue to situate the work
of individual photographers in the context of specific national
cultures. There are by now numerous publications devoted to e.g.
'American/ German/ Soviet Photography', and many of the longest entries
in the recently published Oxford Companion to Photography (2005) are
those devoted to a series of 'national' photographies: from Australia to
the United States, via (among others) Austria, France, Germany, Great
Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland.
'Locating Photography' seeks to investigate the relationship between
national paradigms and the apparently universal nature of the medium.
What is at stake in insisting on or resisting the national paradigm? Why
has it been so persistent, and can it continue to provide an adequate
framework for understanding the history of the photographic medium in a
global, digital age?
Possible topics include but need not be limited to:
* Global language versus national histories.
* Is there such a thing as a 'national tradition' in photography? How
can it be theorised?
* Vernacular photography.
* The changing role of the photojournalist: national, trans-national,
international.
* Photography and its institutions.
* Nationalism and internationalism in photographic movements (e.g. the
inter-war avantgarde)?
* Photography and the national imaginary.
Proposals are invited for 30 minute papers related to the conference
theme. Please send a 200-300 word abstract and your contact details by
November 30, 2006 to [log in to unmask] Notification of
acceptance will be sent out in December 2006.
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