teaching with images ‘in the beginning...’. what are images? they are not visual representations...
TRANSCRIPT
TEACHING WITH IMAGES
‘IN THE BEGINNING ...’
WHAT ARE IMAGES?
• They are not visual representations like graphs, diagrams, maps, organograms
• But symbols - that point beyond themselves into deep emotions
VisualImage
VerbalText
Visual Representation
Celtic CrossNuminous geometry
Dependency theory• A relationship of inequality &
exploitation between First World & Third World countries• Based on trading cheap raw
materials for expensive manufactured goods• It results in distorted TW economies
Manufacturing
Manufactured goods
FIRST WORLD
Raw materials
UNEQUAL EXCHANGE
THIRD WORLD
Primary production
DEPENDENCY THEORY
The Mythical Kraken (1801) – origins in Greek and Norse mythology
VisualImage
VerbalText
Visual Representation
The Debate in 16th C Catholicism
• Religion as an experience of the senses – ritual, incense, music, stained glass windows, sculptures (with corruption)
• Religion as a precise & rational understanding of the written Word – hence iconoclasm
• Image vs Text
St Peter’s cathedral Rome:an intention to overwhelm
Sumptuous Greek Orthodox worship
St Francis In PrayerBy Caravaggio1603Meditation onmortality
The Ecstacy of St TeresaBernini
• Eusibius, Bishop of Caesarea 400 BCE• “The evidence of our eyes
makes instruction through the ears unnecessary.”
ICONOCLASM IN THE CHURCH
• “ ... the image is valued because of its power to move, to focus the senses and the mind, and to offer a mnemonic aid that gathers the worshipper’s strongest and most fundamental ideas, emotions, and memories in an enriched present”
• Margaret Miles (1985)
Martin Luther’s printed Bible translated into everyday German
The Academic Parallel• Word = precise, linear , scientific logic
elaborating causal theory, objective & impartial i.e. cleansed of emotion
• Hence image is fuzzy, subjective, emotional, lacking in rigour
• Image = prior to, & foundational of, theory; this is what theory is actually reaching to
5 STUDENT RESPONSES TO IMAGES
• Clarificatory1 : ‘helps to understand’, ‘to visualize’ vs verbosity
• Clarificatory2 : ‘makes things concrete’, relates to ‘real life situations’ vs abstract theory
• Mnemonic: ‘jogs the memory’, ‘helps to find material’, ‘helps to remember’
• First emotions: ‘clever’, ‘exciting’ ‘stimulating’• Intense emotions: ‘evocative’, ‘haunting’ ‘heart-
breaking’
Starving child Sudan 1993: the power of the symbol
“That picture touched my heart and made me determined to help these unfortunate human beings”. “That picture really made me cry … but most importantly it made me see the reality of what is happening out there.”
In the beginning ...
• Genesis 1.1• In the beginning ...
the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
• St John 1.1• In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
THREE RELIGIOUS STEPS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE
1. Establishment of a moral universe2. Re-integrating the Other 3. Submission to an alternative
reality
A MORAL UNIVERSE
• Constructing judgment of what is good and bad• Implications for action and justice• A Heroic stance in the world• An Eye for an Eye ...
RE-INTEGRATING THE OTHER
• Othering is projecting your own dislikes, fears on to Others
• Reintegrating Others is to see that those ugly, terrifying, disgusting attributes are part of yourself
• Social science shows how ordinary people can become ugly
• Forgive us our trespasses ...
SUBMISSION TO AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY
• Levi-Strauss: Myths speak themselves through men without their knowing it. (Les mythes se parlent par les hommes et à leur insu.) • Thy Will be Done ...
Stained glassSt Peter’sPart of a sensualexperience
Perseus rescues Andromeda from the sea monster
Conscious
Freudian Personality Structure
Unconscious Id
Ego
Superego Culture/FatherConscience
FantasyBeautyDreamsTelepathySlips of the tongueMythsFairy Tales
RealityRepression
Interpretation
Darth Vader –castrating father/superego