20 december 2007

Meertens Ethnology Lecture by Dr. Rachel Hurdley
Titel: Dismantling Mantelpieces: Viewing, Reading and Writing the Home
Plaats: Symposiumzaal, Meertens Instituut
Tijd: 15.30u

Rachel Hurdley is a research associate of Qualiti (Cardiff University, UK), a research centre focusing on the innovation, integration and impact of qualitative research methods within the social sciences. Key words of Hurdley's presentation will be; visual methods, practice, photography, autophotography, representation, frames, home, memory, display.

Dismantling Mantelpieces:  Viewing, Reading and Writing the Home

The presentation will reflect upon the collection and presentation of photographic data. The problem of representing the visual as more than illustrative of written research findings is the methodological focus. An empirical study in Cardiff explored practices of cultural display in the home, focusing on the living room mantelpiece.  First, I discuss the methodological debate concerning the ‘crisis of representation’ of visual data in social research.  Following a brief discussion of a year-long autophotographic project by informants, the debate centers on photographs taken at the time of the interview. I show how the ‘crisis of representation’ in social enquiry can be illuminated by recognising both domestic display and presentation of data as cultural practices/methods of researching and remembering. Finally, I argue that multi-modal representations of these mediated frames of experience can illuminate complexities of ‘doing’ home cultures and enquiry into the domestic interior.

 
Place: Meertens Instituut, Symposiumzaal
Time: 15.30 uur, drinks after
For more information, please contact Irene Stengs, phone 020 – 4628564
Please register: irene.stengs@meertens.knaw.nl

Ethnology Lectures