Visual Discourse

This unit includes a set of activities to work in class the documentary Tres instantes, un grito by Chilean filmmaker Cecilia Barriga. The documentary shows three examples of public outrage in 2011 in three different places: the Plaza del Sol in the Spanish capital, Madrid, Zucotti Park, Wall Street in New York, and high schools in Santiago de Chile. After watching the documentary and completing the activities in this unit, students will be able to show a better understanding of these historical events that have had an important impact, not only in Spanish-speaking societies –like the Spanish and Chilean documented in the film- but also at a global level. Besides that, students will acquire habits and strategies to critically analyze cinema products.

The title of this paper invites the famous René Magritte's painting The Treachery of Images to suggest the basic thesis of this research. We can recognize Magritte's urge to warn and clearly distinguish the different ontological belonging of the painting and the object it represents as a methodological intention in two illustratively powerful philosophical topoi of Plato's philosophical system. 1. In the dialogue Cratylus Plato tends to differentiate the word from the object it refers to and commence a discussion on the "correctness of names". 2. In Phaedrus (275d) Plato clearly distinguishes the different capacities of expression and correctness with the written and spoken (verbal) word. What links Plato to Magritte is not only the establishment of the existence of "treachery", but this particular field of the visual used by these two authors to warn about a certain differentiation in the ontological belonging of the painting and the painted. Magritte's visual concretization is manifested with Plato as a semiotic equivalent of his visual vocabulary which he uses to present these ontological distinctions.

The paper aims to accommodate in the academic discourse, within the theory of response, ineffable concepts of exterioriation of the Liturgy through brickwork ornaments used at the apse as material sign of inner vision / prayer. These concepts of visual screening are at the very centre of the Byzantine altars. The analysis of churches built at the very end of 13th and the beginning of the 14th-century  in Ohrid helps to assemble a cohesive group of churches where brick was used as main building material in  the same time as in Constantinople and other building centers of Byzantium. The reception of the Constantinopolitan model was given a symbolic meaning. In this sense, brickwork models were translated form Constantinople to the architecture of Ohrid, what especially can be shown on the example of the apse of the Holy Mother of God Perivleptos Church.  As a specific wall-membrane made of brickwork cloisonné, the east facade of the Perivleptos church in Ohrid reveals on its exterior surface made of brick the hidden mystery performed beyond the altar.

Creative cognitive is a new research field that examines the cognitive process involved in constructing novel representations. It is further concerned with studying the role of such a process in generating new ideas, concepts and representations (Finke et. al, 1992; Smith et. al, 1995; Ward et. al, 1997; ascited in Vega-Moreno, Rosa E., 2007, 6). Hilligoss and Howard (2002, pp. 3-5) stated that one should know how to
read and what to read as readers as usually selective. On the other hand,
Cohn et. al (2012) maintained that visual images represent a universal means of communication, reflecting as a result the cultural symbolisms that might be interpreted. They further stated that visual language is the quickest and succinct means of communication. Accordingly, in this paper, the researchers intend to conduct the research from the qualitative and quantitative points of view using a conceptual framework to examine the role a visual caricature image plays in highlighting creative cognition. To achieve the present objective, the researchers selected an image and copied it to fit the number of the respondents
selected to do the test. The respondents were asked to give their descriptions and expressive understandings to it. A specific rubric has been constructed by the researchers to be used in the data analysis. The paper ends with a number of concluding remarks, such as: generally, the respondents managed to access DM; though they failed to give the intended meaning; however, they managed to provide creative expressive meanings that are subjective by nature; and the level of visual literacy of the respondents is acceptable; yet it needs to be enhanced.

This  study  explores  the  socio-cognitive  dynamics  of  the  photographic representation  of  Afghan  Refugees  residing  in  Pakistan.  It  aims to  reveal counter discursivity present in the images of Afghan refugees and accentuate the visual nature of this counter discourse. Data sets taken for analysis consist of five photographs of Afghan refugees retrieved from the album collection of an  international  photographer  Muhammad  Muheisen.  By  adopting  an interdisciplinary  perspective  based  on three  schools,  i.e.  Critical  Discourse Studies,  Social  Semiotics  and  Cognitive  Linguistics,  the  study  proposed  a Cognitive  Grammar  approach  to  traditional  Transitivity  Analysis.  Cognitive transitivity    analysis    explored    the    discursive    strategy    of    Structural Configuration by  highlighting the cognitive systems such as image schemas, narrative structures and processes in both visual representations and textual taglines assigned to the images by the photographer. The findings of the study revealed  the  employment  of  CONTAINER,  FORCE,  SPACE,  and  SOURCE-PATH Schemas and dominant presence of agentive and transactional roles of Afghan  refugees.  The  taglines  of  photographs  revealed  material  processes dominating  the  discourse,  thus,  coinciding  with  agentive  representation  of Afghan  refugees.  The  findings  revealed  that  image  schemas,  narrative structures and processes, being embodied sources, preconceptual and mimetic structures, project Afghan photographic discourse as marginalized in the face of Pakistan’s Refugee Policies.

The paper aims to accommodate in the academic discourse, within the theory of response, ineffable concepts of exterioriation of the Liturgy through brickwork ornaments used at the apse as material sign of inner vision / prayer. These concepts of visual screening are at the very centre of the Byzantine altars. The analysis of churches built at the very end of 13th and the beginning of the 14th-century  in Ohrid helps to assemble a cohesive group of churches where brick was used as main building material in  the same time as in Constantinople and other building centers of Byzantium. The reception of the Constantinopolitan model was given a symbolic meaning. In this sense, brickwork models were translated form Constantinople to the architecture of Ohrid, what especially can be shown on the example of the apse of the Holy Mother of God Perivleptos Church.  As a specific wall-membrane made of brickwork cloisonné, the east facade of the Perivleptos church in Ohrid reveals on its exterior surface made of brick the hidden mystery performed beyond the altar.

Luxury is a 913BE global industry spanning multiple categories according to the Boston Consulting Group, and it represents a major market worldwide, one that has registered a tremendous growth in the last decade. Brands have developed a significant presence in the digital space and consumers have, indeed, augmented their purchases in the online environment. Even though there are a few studies about luxury in media and magazines there seems to be an absence of luxury studies on online
magazines. More important, the examination of discursive representations of luxury in the online media has not, until now, deserved much attention. This paper explores the discursive construction and representations of luxury on the top 5 web magazines on
luxury lifestyle. It concludes that Leisure, Hedonism, Carpe Diem, Singularity, Escape and Magnificence form the pentactic axis from which web magazines audiences take part in luxury discourse. By exposing this discursive pentactic construct, as well as by uncovering luxury web magazines social-cultural practices, linguistic, visual and
strategic discursive principles, this investigation sheds light into the discursive mechanisms through which web magazines luxury discourse occurs. At the same time, the paper found that web magazines portrait luxury standing between
two opposing poles: on one hand, luxury discourse is associated with the display of social status; on other hand, it is linked with personal gratification in a clear alignment with postmodern principles of Individualism, Hedonism and Indulgence.

KEYWORDS: Media discourse, luxury, lifestyle, online magazines, visual discourse

Resumen:
Lo audiovisual ha merecido poca atención en la investigación social, aún en campos de conocimiento especialmente “iconizado” donde las representaciones sociales se construyen fundamentalmente a partir de los discursos visuales transmitidos en la mediapolis. La imagen ha sido generalmente utilizada en sociología para ilustrar textos y no tanto como documento para analizar e interpretar. Es necesario integrar los documentos audiovisuales como fuentes primarias de investigación ya que sin ellos es imposible analizar y comprender numerosos fenómenos de las sociedades contemporáneas. Este potencial analítico-comprensivo de las fuentes audiovisuales deriva de su naturaleza discursiva y los mecanismos de producción de sentido que incorporan.
En este artículo reflexionamos algunos aspectos del análisis y la producción audiovisual como herramienta conceptual y metodológica de la sociología: el uso de fuentes visuales en la investigación; las implicaciones multidisciplinares del análisis del discurso visual para establecer cómo se construye el significado (cómo es visualizado un hecho social y cómo pueden construirse otras formas de visualidad); o la imagen audiovisual en la construcción de la alteridad.
Pero lo audiovisual, además de fuente y herramienta analítica en la tarea sociológica, constituye también una importante herramienta de intervención social en nuestro campo. En este sentido, la producción audiovisual es el aspecto quizás más novedoso que podemos incorporar en nuestro quehacer sociológico. La sociología visual ha abordado casi siempre problemas asociados al poder en los que ahora podemos plantearnos intervenir construyendo otras formas de visualidad desde los actores-sujetos que están en situación de subalteridad. La producción audiovisual sociológica puede construirse como un espacio específico alternativo de intervención social que contribuya a transformar la realidad incorporando la perspectiva empática y la visión de los propios actores implicados, normalmente ausentes en los discursos establecidos desde el poder. Esta construcción de un nuevo discurso alternativo desde la perspectiva del actor, permite su fortalecimiento y mejora su autoimagen, en un proceso de reconstrucción identitaria que lo hace verse a sí mismo como un verdadero actor social con capacidad de acción, intervención y cierto ejercicio de poder. Estos han sido los resultados de nuestras experiencias en el grupo de investigación GIEMIC.

Abstract:
The audio-visual has deserved few attention in social research, even in fields of knowledge specially "iconized" where social representations are constructed fundamentally from the visual speeches transmitted in the mediapolis. The image has been generally used in sociology to illustrate texts and not so much as document to analyze and interpret. It is necessary to integrate the audio-visual documents as primary sources of research, since without them it is impossible to analyze and understand numerous phenomena of the contemporary society. This analytical-comprehensive potential of the audio-visual sources derives from its discursive nature and the mechanisms of production of sense that they incorporate. 
In this article we think over some aspects of the analysis and the audio-visual production as a conceptual and methodological tool of sociology: the use of visual sources in research; the multidisciplinary implications of the analysis of the visual speech to establish how the meaning is constructed (how a social fact is visualized and how other forms can be constructed of visuality); or the audio-visual image in the construction of the otherness.
But the audio-visual, besides being a source and analytical tool in the sociological task, also constitutes an important tool of social intervention in our field. In this respect, the audio-visual production is probably the newer aspect we can incorporate in our sociological work. Visual sociology has almost always approached problems associated with power in which we can now consider to control ourselves constructing other forms of visuality from the actors-subjects who are in situation of underotherness. The audio-visual sociological production can be constructed as a specific alternative space of social intervention that helps transform the reality incorporating the empathic perspective and the vision of the implied actors themselves, normally absent in the speeches established from the power. This construction of a new alternative speech from the perspective of the actor, allows the strengthening and improvement of his autoimage, in a process of identity reconstruction that makes him see himself as a real social actor with capacity of action, intervention and certain exercise of power. These have been the results of our experiences in the research group GIEMIC at Castilla-La Mancha University.

The decorative programs of ancient Egyptian temples represent a rich source for the thoughts of the priestly and the ruling elites of Egypt. This is especially true regarding the speculations about the socio-religious role of the king. In my research, the elaboration of these ideas as found in the decoration of New Kingdom Temples (ca. 1550-1050 B.C.) is investigated by conducting a discourse analysis of the monumental space.

Qu’entend-on par péronisme dans un contexte de mobilisations intenses et d’enthousiasme révolutionnaire? Si pendant la proscription du péronisme, différents groupes récupérèrent les bases symboliques de sa période « classique » (1946-1955), leur concurrence se traduisit rapidement par une montée de violence. Animé par la volonté d’explorer la complexité d’un imaginaire prégnant dans la culture politique argentine, cet ouvrage porte sur les interactions entre les acteurs sociaux, le pouvoir en place et le champ de la création visuelle au cours d’une période particulièrement agitée de l’histoire de l’Amérique latine. Il s’agit donc d’un questionnement sur les usages politiques de l’image et leur rapport aux sensibilités sociales au fil d’une décennie encadrée par deux coups d’État.
En analysant les ressources mobilisées par le biais de la représentation
visuelle afin d’imposer un projet politique, cette étude montre que les formes de légitimation mises en œuvre s’appuient sur une démarche d’esthétisation qui va souvent de pair avec le recyclage de certains symboles et mythes historiques susceptibles de produire un impact sur la mémoire collective. Lorsqu’une lutte acharnée se déclenche au sein de ce « péronisme tardif » profondément hétérogène, ses différentes composantes s’emparent de certaines « armes symboliques » pour mener leur bataille politique. À quarante ans du coup d’État qui inaugure le chapitre le plus sombre de l’histoire de l’Argentine, cette réflexion est, sans aucun doute, pertinente et nécessaire pour comprendre sa société actuelle.

With this special issue, we aim to address visibility not just as a representation of the social, but as an aspect and element of social and cultural orders sui generis. The texts in this volume are dedicated to understanding the practices, power relations and the technological infrastructures in which (audio)-visual practices unfold. To make our proposition clear, we lay out a methodological strategy that we – drawing from the French debate – call sociology with the image. Then we provide an overview of the articles in this special issue and point to some ongoing tensions within qualitative inquiry more broadly.

Considering the efforts to resolve the widespread societal phenomenon of violence against women, awareness-raising and the role of the media comprise one of the key targets by the most important international agreements to combat it. The women’s anti-violence movement since the 1970s has made essential contributions to the recognition of violence against women as a human rights violation and is a crucial player in the field of violence prevention. Its anti-violence initiatives are of major importance. Looking at the media in general, we can observe how different programmes and formats depict similar (visual) narratives of clichéd imagination on intimate partner violence, whereas the systemic nature of the problem mostly remains hidden (Bonilla Campos, 2008; Boyle, 2005; Geiger, 2008; López Díez, 2005; Taylor, 2009; Wolf, 2013a, b). This lack of clarity is hindering the comprehension of gender-based violence as a societal phenomenon.

The imagery disseminated by the women’s anti-violence movement and institutionalised entities constitutes the core subject of this article, in order to obtain insights into the supposed alternative representations appropriate to contrast the ‘malestream’ media on the subject. Their contributions to visual discourse through European-wide, Spanish and Austrian anti-violence initiatives are analysed from 2007 to 2011 - before the Istanbul Convention came into force. As the social roots and the transposition of the complexity of gender-based violence constitute a rather ambiguous undertaking, the analysis aims to disclose how anti-violence initiatives shape the social accounts of male-to-female partner violence, identifying good practice examples and underlying ideological concepts.

RESUMEN:
A mediados del siglo XIX la Real Academia de San Carlos, el equivalente en la capital mexicana a la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, experimentó un fuerte impulso de renovación gracias, entre otras medidas, a la contratación de prestigiosos profesores. Pelegrín Clavé influyó notablemente en la elección de temas bíblicos por parte de los alumnos, escogiéndose pasajes especialmente significativos a la luz del contexto político mexicano de confrontación entre conservadores y liberales. El análisis de La Sagrada Familia de Samuel Flores (1857) y Cautividad de los hebreos en Babilonia de Joaquín Ramírez (1858) nos permitirá mostrar la identificación que establecieron los artistas entre los temas bíblicos y la realidad de su tiempo, haciendo de la Biblia un texto vivo y significativo en la conformación y expresión de la identidad del nacionalismo conservador mexicano.
ABSTRACT:
In the mid-nineteenth century the Real Academia de San Carlos located in Mexican capital, similar to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, experienced a deep renewal thanks, among other reasons, to the hiring of world-renowned scholars. Pelegrín Clavé had a notable influence in the use of biblical topics by the students, choosing passages especially significant in light of the Mexican confrontation between conservatives and liberals. Through the analysis of The Holy Family of Samuel Flores (1857) and Joaquin´s Ramírez Captivity of the Hebrews in Babylon (1858), this paper will show the identification that the artists established between biblical episodes and the reality of their time, making the Bible a living and meaningful text to conform and express the identity of Mexican conservative nationalism.

Buscamos avaliar a forte incidência que a discussão sobre imagens nos estudos comunicacionais sofreu de um discurso fortemente marcado pela predominância de categorias próprias ao campo das teorias da linguagem; reconhecendo este movimento de incorporação dos saberes lingüísticos, para a avaliação das estruturas discursivas próprias aos ícones visuais, propomos um viés alternativo de análise, fundado na compreensão da relação entre as estruturas de sentido próprias às representações visuais e aquilo que constitui uma matriz originariamente perceptiva dos fatos visuais.

Considering the efforts to resolve the widespread societal phenomenon of violence against women, awareness-raising and the role of the media comprise one of the key targets by the most important international agreements to combat it. The women's anti-violence movement since the 1970s has made essential contributions to the recognition of violence against women as a human rights violation and is a crucial player in the field of violence prevention. Its anti-violence initiatives are of major importance. Looking at the media in general, we can observe how different programmes and formats depict similar (visual) narratives of clichéd imagination on intimate partner violence, whereas the sys-temic nature of the problem mostly remains hidden (Bonilla Campos, 2008; Boyle, 2005; Geiger, 2008; López Díez, 2005; Taylor, 2009; Wolf, 2013a, b). This lack of clarity is hindering the comprehension of gender-based violence as a societal phenomenon. The imagery disseminated by the women's anti-violence movement and institution-alised entities constitutes the core subject of this article, in order to obtain insights into the supposed alternative representations appropriate to contrast the 'malestream' media on the subject. Their contributions to visual discourse through European-wide, Spanish and Austrian anti-violence initiatives are analysed from 2007 to 2011-before the Istan-bul Convention came into force. As the social roots and the transposition of the complexity of gender-based violence constitute a rather ambiguous undertaking, the analysis aims to disclose how anti-violence initiatives shape the social accounts of male-to-female partner violence, identifying good practice examples and underlying ideological concepts.
Keywords: audio-visual media; visual discourse; violence against women; gender-based
violence; prevention; campaigns

The aim of this article is to analyze the phenomenon of the eroticizing of seaside vacations in the visual discourse represented by ‘amusing’ postcards showing naked
bodies. The author refers to theoretical findings concerning the eye of the tourist and the discourse of corporeality, but goes beyond the simplified and fairly commonplace idea of men’s disciplining gaze at women as sexual objects. Analysis of the visual discourse shows that what postcards make into an object of sexualization is rather the vacation as a cultural practice and vacation sites rather than any category of tourists. Even though the postcards studied could be viewed in categories of comicality or exaggeration, in the author’s opinion they represent a real imagining of ideal seaside recreation.

Othering begegnet uns nicht nur im geschriebenen Wort. Es kann sich ebenfalls in der Kombination von Bild und Text manifestieren. Wie wichtig eine Reflexion der Artikelbebilderung durch die Redaktion ist, mochte ich im Folgenden anhand eines Artikels der „Berliner Morgenpost“ veranschaulichen. Hierzu ist ein poststrukturalistisch orientierter Zugriff besonders geeignet, da hier die Auffassung vertreten wird, dass die Bedeutungen den Dingen nicht immanent sind, sondern sie ihnen diskursiv zugewiesen werden. Somit werden im Diskurs die Dinge erst als soziale Phanomene konstituiert, uber die gesprochen bzw. geschrieben wird. Mittels einer solchen anti-essentialistischen Perspektive auf Identitaten kann die Forschung dazu beitragen, binare Identitatskonstruktionen aufzudecken, zu hinterfragen und letztlich zu uberwinden.

Buscamos avaliar a forte incidência que a discussão sobre imagens nos estudos comunicacionais sofreu de um discurso fortemente marcado pela predominância de categorias próprias ao campo das teorias da linguagem; reconhecendo este movimento de incorporação dos saberes lingüísticos,
para a avaliação das estruturas discursivas próprias aos ícones visuais, propomos um viés alternativo de análise, fundado na compreensão da relação entre as estruturas de sentido próprias às representações visuais e aquilo que constitui uma matriz originariamente perceptiva dos fatos visuais.

This chapter aims to focus on the impacts of some particular fashion adverts which are breaking the prevalent ideas regarding 'the representation of men' on Bangladeshi youths of different ages and areas by making a survey on the youths studying at different Bangladeshi universities. The media of the western countries are acquainted with these types of representation of men while the Bangladeshi media has let its viewers know about this lately through different advertisements specially fashion adverts. This new type of representation of men and "masculinity" or the emergence of "Metrosexual men" in the Bangladeshi media has its own impacts on the youths of Bangladesh whether it is about creating a new concept or it is only about dealing with the consumer culture. However, this chapter points to highlight on the fact that to what extent the concepts of the urban Bangladeshi youths (both male and female of different ages and areas) are molded by the emergence of this type of adverts in Bangladeshi media.

This collection advances the study of context-dependent characteristics of argumentative discourse by examining a variety of media genres in which text and image (and other semiotic modes) combine to create meaning. The chapters have been written by an international group of senior and junior scholars researching multimodal argumentation in the last two decades. In each chapter, a specific approach to argumentation and rhetoric is combined with insights from visual studies, metaphor theory, scientific visualization, cognitive science, semiotics, conversation analysis, and (documentary) film theory in order to explain how multimodal genres function argumentatively and rhetorically. Together the chapters present a state-of-the-art in the analysis of multimodal argumentation in such diverse genres as print advertisements, news photographs, scientific illustrations, political cartoons, documentaries, film trailers, political TV advertisements, public debates, and political speeches. The volume will be of interest to advanced students and scholars in argumentation studies, rhetoric, and multimodal communication.

[In Spanish: see below]

Around the world millions of people suffer the consequences of financial and economic crisis; as well as the sovereign
debt crisis: under impoverishment, unemployment and homelessness, by cuts in the social, sanitary and educational
system. The problems that led to the crisis still persist. In this sense it is important the question about how the media
attract their audiences, and how they can contribute to the understanding of the crisis, its causes, consequences and
possible  resolutions.  This  article  shows  which  documentary  films  made  an  important  contribution  on  the  cinema,
television and internet in the mentioned context. This is related to the question, if specific aesthetic forms are particularly
suitable for such politic comprehension objectives. The paper examines, on the first place, four of the most successful
films in Europe in the range of documentary films on the financial crisis, starting from discourse as rethoric, aesthetic
and affective strategies. Let’s make Money (Erwin Wagenhofer, Austria 2008), Capitalism (Michael Moore, United States
2009), Inside Job (Charles H. Ferguson, United States 2010) and Debtocracy (Xpeokpatia, Katerina Kiitidi; Chatzistefanou
Aris, Greece 2011).
Keywords: Medias; Financial crisis; Documentary Movies; Aesthetics; Affection.

Resumen
Alrededor del mundo millones de personas sufren las consecuencias de la crisis financiera y económica; como también
de la crisis de la deuda soberana: bajo el empobrecimiento, el desempleo y la falta de vivienda, bajo recortes en lo
social, en la salud y en el sistema educativo. Los problemas que condujeron a la crisis aún persisten. En este sentido
es de importancia la pregunta respecto a cómo los medios atraen a sus audiencias, y cómo pueden contribuir en la
comprensión de la crisis, sus causas, consecuencias y sus posibilidades de resolución. El presente texto muestra qué
películas documentales de importante contribución en cine, televisión e internet corresponden a este contexto. Esto
está en relación a la pregunta, si acaso formas estéticas específicas son particularmente adecuadas para tales propósitos
de comprensión política. El artículo examina en primer lugar cuatro de las más exitosas películas en Europa de la gama
de películas documentales sobre la crisis financiera, partiendo de posiciones de discursos como estrategias retóricas,
estéticas  y  afectivas.  Let’s  make  Money  (Erwin  Wagenhofer,  Austria  2008),  Capitalism  (Michael  Moore,  Estados
Unidos 2009), Inside Job (Charles H. Ferguson, Estados Unidos 2010) y Debtocracy (Xpeokpatia, Katerina Kiitidi; Aris
Chatzistefanou, Grecia 2011).
Palabras clave: Medios; Crisis Financiera; Películas Documentales; Estética; Afecto.