After cultural theory: the power of images, the lure of immediacy1
After cultural theory: the power of images, the lure of immediacy1
Janet Wolff’s concluding chapter for Beyond text? identifies the academic trends behind the aesthetic attitudes towards the celebration of the image and image making in the humanities as: the turn to ‘affect’; the (re)turn to phenomenology (and post-phenomenology); actor-network theory in sociology and science studies; theories of the post-human; theories of materiality; emphasis on the agency of objects; the insistence on ‘presence’ as an unmediated encounter’. Wolff goes on to make the case for a certain caution in relation to tendencies to abandon too hastily the solidities of cultural and sociological theory. The theoretical turns that Wolff describes, suggests that while there may be opportunities for opening up and engaging with the senses in anthropological enquiry there are dangers to be had in the diminishment or loss of a critical attitude and social perspective.
Keywords: Art, Agency, Affect, Images, Critical theory
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