93598 - IMMAGINARIO FOTOGRAFICO E SOCIETA' MEDITERRANEE

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide the basis for a knowledge of the ways in which the fundamental historical passages of the last two centuries in the Mediterranean world have been reflected in the social imaginaries mediated by the photographic device. At the end of the course, the student is able to use and critically analyze visual sources; acquired a basic knowledge of the first season of construction of photographic imaginaries of the Mediterranean through the work of nineteenth-century photographers-travelers; of the subsequent ambivalent use of photography both in propaganda and in the ethnographic sciences and in “visual anthropology”, up to the profound influence of photography, already noted by historical anthropologists such as Elizabeth Edwards, on the construction of the national identities of post-colonial states.

Course contents

The first part of the course will address some of the theoretical questions preliminary to the concept of the Mediterranean as a landscape formed starting from the different gazes that are placed on it. The photographic device and its relationship with the imaginary and social representations will also be treated as a preliminary.

Subsequently we will begin to address the theme of travel photography: from the cultural premises of the "Mediterranean passion" that develops in England since the early nineteenth century and represents an important cultural heritage, to which is added the development starting from 40 years of a flow of tourists that crosses Italy and feeds the production and trade of photographic images of monuments and local "types" that should have accounted for the genius loci, represented in an emblematic way by the experience of the Alinari Brothers of Florence.

From these premises the idea of a classic Mediterranean develops, rediscovered by a whole series of photographers / archaeologists that is linked to a vein of European high culture, naturally centered on Greece and Rome, to which studies are closely connected, for example. of philology and Nietzsche, but also Schliemann, the discovery of Troy, the tombs of the Argives, etc. but also the work of some great photographers such as Macpherson in Rome, and Wilhelm Von Gloeden in southern Italy.

In the second part, the link between photography and “orientalism” will be developed, according to Said's lucky definition, based on a close intertwining of representations and power. A series of European professional photographers who have crossed the Mediterranean since the 1840s will face each other, all supported by an orientalist culture that will determine stereotyped representations in their work, in line with the pictorial culture of the time, which went to stimulate the tourist imagination : the colors, the smells, the flavors, the climate, the landscapes, the folkloristic aspects; a collection of commonplaces that are good for all eras and that are reconciled with any ideology, but they deviate from the pictorial language to adhere to the typically documentary style of photography.

We will talk about the development and characters of colonial photography, which once again proposed an external and hegemonic vision of the Mediterranean, its propaganda declination in particular in an era of totalitarianism, in this sense attention will also be given to the use of photography in the great illustrated magazines. from the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, up to some important experiences of important ethnographic expeditions (for example the expedition to the south of De Martino).

Finally will be addressed the theme of the use of the photographic image as a means for the construction of the national identities of the post-colonial states of the Mediterranean area, without forgetting the strong implication of photography in today's activities of recovery of the historical memory of the Mediterranean countries and in the narration of contemporary migrations.

Readings/Bibliography

A) Theoretical - methodological essays

All students must prepare the following essay:

A. Azoulay, Civil Imagination: A Political Ontology of Photography, New York: Verso, 2012.

B) Monographies and collections of essays regarding the course topic.

All students must chosen a work or a group of works from the following listed:

a. Antiquity and Photography: Early Views of Ancient Mediterranean Sites, Eds. by Claire L. Lyons, John K. Papadopoulos, Lindsey S. Stewart, and Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, Los Angeles, GettyEdu, 2005; combined with Michèle Hannoosh, Practices of Photography: Circulation and Mobility in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean, History of Photography, 40:1, 3-27.

b. Photography’s Orientalism: New Essays on Colonial Representation, a cura di A. Behdad, L. Y Gartlan, Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2013; combined with Michèle Hannoosh, Practices of Photography: Circulation and Mobility in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean, History of Photography, 40:1, 3-27.

c. Colonialist Photography Imag(in)ing Race and Place, Edited By Eleanor M. Hight, Routledge, New York, 2004; combined with G. Proglio, Fotografia coloniale: imaginis mundi. Strumenti per una metodologia storica della fonte fotografica, pp. 71-80, in L'impero nel cassetto. L'Italia coloniale tra album privati e archivi pubblici, a cura di P. Bertella Farneti, A. Mignemi, A. Triulzi, Roma, Mimesis, 2013.

d. Stephen Sheehi, The Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography 1860–1910, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2016; combined with Michèle Hannoosh, Practices of Photography: Circulation and Mobility in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean, History of Photography, 40:1, 3-27.

e. Imaging and Imagining Palestine Photography, Modernity and the Biblical Lens, 1918–1948, Edited by Karène Sanchez Summerer, Sary Zananiri, Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2021.

f. F. Faeta, Vi sono molte strade per l'Italia. Ricercatori e fotografi americani nel Mezzogiorno degli anni Cinquanta, Rubettino, 2022; combined with F. Faeta, Rivolti verso il mediterraneo. immagini, questione meridionale e processi di 'orientalizzazione' interna, in «Lares», Maggio-Agosto 2003, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Maggio-Agosto 2003), pp. 333-367.

g. A. Pellizzari, The Idea of Italy: Photography and the British Imagination, 1840-1900, Yc British Art, 2022; combined with Michèle Hannoosh, Practices of Photography: Circulation and Mobility in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean, History of Photography, 40:1, 3-27.

h. A. Azoulay, From Palestine to Israel: A Photographic Record of Destruction and State Formation, 1947-1950, PlutoPress, 2011 combined with Michèle Hannoosh, Practices of Photography: Circulation and Mobility in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean, History of Photography, 40:1, 3-27.

C) Only for non-attending students, in addition to the volume indicated in point A) and the group of works chosen on the theme of the course listed in point B), knowledge of the following text is mandatory:

P. Burke, Testimoni oculari. Il significato storico delle immagini, Roma, Carocci, 2002

 

 

 

 

Teaching methods

Lectures, use of videos and power-points.

Assessment methods

Preparation will be assessed on a final oral exam. The test will take place with an oral test consisting of at least three questions on authors, periods and interpretative nodes of the development of the photographic imagination whose knowledge was acquired during the course based on the works in point B of the bibliography and a discussion on the texts theoretical and methodological character that highlights the essential issues addressed (Works at point A of the bibliography and at point C (only for non-attending students).


The candidate must be able to correctly frame the languages, protagonists and events of the development of the photographic imagination of Mediterranean societies in their historical-cultural context. For the part relating to the methodological and theoretical works, it is required to know how to highlight the essential problems addressed in the volumes and the main theoretical and methodological issues.

For all students, the final assessment will comply with the following indications in accordance with the University guidelines:

- insufficient grade: gaps in basic knowledge and inability to produce a correct interpretation of the texts and / or of the main theoretical and methodological issues.

- sufficient grade: possession of basic knowledge; mainly correct interpretation, but carried out with imprecision and little autonomy.

- good grade: possession of intermediate level knowledge; fully correct interpretation, but not always precise and autonomous.

- excellent grade: possession of high level knowledge; interpretation of problems not only correct but conducted with autonomy and precision. Excellent oral expression skills.

Teaching tools

Maps, images and source commentary.

 

Exam materials and further readings can be found online on UNIBO https://virtuale.unibo.it.

Reading lists and publications are available on Virtuale [https://virtuale.unibo.it/] . They can serve as preparatory materials for the course and can be useful to fill any gaps for those who have never had an approach to the Byzantine Art.

Students who are affected by learning disability (DSA) and in need of special tools to compensate it, are kindly requested to contact the Teacher, in order to be referred to the colleagues in charge and get proper advice and instructions.

Office hours

See the website of Raffaella Biscioni