III International Symposium on Visual Culture. Interdisciplinarity in the Study of the Image

Iconology seeks an approach to cultural history by studying the image. To accomplish this, one must first master and draw upon a wide variety of disciplines, as Panofsky had, among which history, literature or theology usually stand out. However, as we propose in this symposium, interdisciplinarity is not necessarily limited to the humanities.

Despite the time that has elapsed since Panofsky published his discipline-defining works, a real integration has not always been achieved between Art History and the rest of disciplines. In this period, too, Art History — as the study of the image — has expanded to include Visual Culture Studies. Sometimes understood as a methodological imposition, interdisciplinary interaction has often been superficially resolved.

Faced with this problem and the difficulty of implementing it, we propose a theoretical topic to reflect on the scope of interdisciplinarity, which in no case should be understood as a product of disciplinary pluralism. It opposes, therefore, other relational categories, such as multi-disciplinarity, in which two or more disciplines cooperate, but without achieving methodological integration.

On the contrary, the aim of this symposium is to promote genuine interrelationships between disciplines for the study of the image. Concretely, we propose an approach that addresses both the meaning of the image and its cultural function in different contexts, from innovative perspectives. Such innovative perspectives include reflecting on gender, which is proposed as transdisciplinary and, consequently, can be taken into account in each of the topics.

Six topics have been suggested, one of a theoretical nature and five thematic axes, in which the image has to support the construction of the different discourses (historical, political, ideological, archaeological, etc.) in each of them. However, we proposed some flexibility between the topics, to allow the correct implementation of the method. According to the disciplines that have been integrated in the studies of the image, some papers, at the proposal of their authors/s, will have a place in several topics, that can even be reorganized according to the papers received.

EVENT DATES AND PLACES

The symposium will be held on 27-29 October 2021, at the Facultat de Geografia i Història de la Universitat de València.

Depending on the health situation, the symposium would be organised on-site and online.