Social Geography Discussions
www.soc-geogr-discuss.net
1816-1499
1816-1502
2
1
2006
10.5194/sgd-2-1-2006
http://www.soc-geogr-discuss.net/2/1/2006/
http://www.soc-geogr-discuss.net/2/1/2006/sgd-2-1-2006.html
http://www.soc-geogr-discuss.net/2/1/2006/sgd-2-1-2006.pdf
1
26
2006-08-16
Der husserlsche Bildbegriff als theoretische Grundlage der reflexiven Fotografie: Ein Beitrag zur visuellen Methodologie in der Humangeografie
P. Dirksmeier
Universität Bremen, Institut für Geographie, Bibliothekstraße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
The article picks up on a gap in the methodology of human geographic
empirical research. Although geography is a visual science, an in-depth
analysis of its self-produced images, maps and charts has not yet been made
from the point of view of image theory. The <I>mental map</I> research carried out in the
1970s can be seen as the last examination of this subject. Against this
background, the paper initially develops an image theoretical approach based
on Edmund Husserl's <I>Phenomenology</I> in order to elaborate on these theoretical
considerations and introduce into specialist discussions the method of
reflexive photography that comes from <I>visual sociology</I> as an important method of
investigation, one that has so far been disregarded in geographical
methodology. Reflexive photography marks a change of perspective. The test
person photographs autonomously without being influenced by the scientific
observer and appears in the subsequent interview as an expert on his own
photographs. The objectivisation of the subjective perspective of
photography that has been achieved technically and theoretically acts as a
visual stimulus in the interview situation and permits profound reflexive
thought in the test person. Reflexive photography therefore provokes more
profound responses than in a pure interview situation. At the end of the
paper, possible fields of application for the method in human geography are
considered.
<BR>
<BR>
<I>,,Dadurch, daß die fotografische Industrie die Zuflucht aller gescheiterten
Maler wurde, der Unbegabten und der Faulen, hatte diese allgemeine Überfütterung
nicht nur Verblendung und Verdummung zur Folge, sondern wirkte auch wie eine Rache.
Daß eine so dummdreiste Verschwörung, die wie stets die Böswilligen und
die Narren vereint, vollen Erfolg haben könnte, glaube ich nicht oder besser:
Ich will es nicht glauben.''</I>
<BR>
<BR>
<I>Charles Baudelaire, 1859</I>