Image in focus in social sciences

• Grant number: 97/11810-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: December 01, 1998
• End date: June 30, 2003
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Sylvia Caiuby Novaes
• Grantee: Sylvia Caiuby Novaes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: MIRIAM LIFCHITZ MOREIRA LEITE ; Paulo Roberto Arruda de Menezes

Abstract

This project is composed of 16 participants, who are interested in research where the image is a privileged focus. The projects proposed here can be divided into three main groups. Research where the image is the instrument and language for the investigation, production and dissemination of knowledge. The results of these works will be presented in the form of videos, photography and CDF-ROM. Research on the issue of representation in filmic and photographic images. Research leading to adequate methodologies for the cataloguing of images and the creation of data banks. Our objective, in these three main groups, is to demonstrate the pertinance of the analysis and production of the image on the part of scientists in the area of Social Sciences, where little has yet been done on this theme. As social scientists, we are interested in the image as a field expressive of values, categories and contradictions of our society. These are images which recontruct/reelaborate reality, whether through potography or through documentary of fictional films (a distinction which should, of course, be addressed). Images which affect us rationally and/or emotionally, and which transform our relationship to and perception of reality. However, precisely because we are investigating images, we must take into account the relative autonomy of this socio-cultural universe of images, with the specificities inherent to it, without treating it as a mere reflex of the general socio-cultural order. Our program of activities will be carreid out over four years, the time necessary for us to be able to develop the research projects, and to discuss, analyze and produce results adequate for the publication. It is also our objective to develop a team of students at undergraduate level to offer, through grants, the opportunity for research and more systematic training in this area of research. Given the central focus on the image, we will also develop compatible forms for the dissemination of this knowledge, be it through CD-ROM, Web sites, photographic and video essays and exhibitions, film and photography showings, as well as texts for publication. (AU)