Visual culture revisited

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Is there a visual culture or only visual cultures? While images cannot stand alone and must be understood within practices and institutions, suggesting a singular understanding of visual culture, it is clear that this field is not monolithic. There exists a plurality of pictorial representations, ranging from sitcoms to children's book illustrations, cartoons to satellite photos, and high art to everyday life. Moreover, the visual realm is marked by conflicts between self and other, mainstream and counterculture. This collection of English-language articles explores theoretical reflections and case studies that highlight the dialectics of visual culture(s). It focuses primarily on examples from the U.S. context, including the portrayal of Native Americans as the ‘vanishing race’ in nineteenth-century photography and the media coverage of the Columbia shuttle disaster in February 2003. This book is highly recommended for students and scholars in American Studies as well as those engaged in the interdisciplinary discourse on visual culture(s). It offers valuable insights into the complexities and nuances of visual representation and its societal implications.