Visual Appropriation: A Self-reflexive Qualitative Method for Visual Analysis of the International

This article introduces visual appropriation as a method in critical international political thinking and acting, contributing to the evolving repertoire of multiple, pluralist methods for visual analysis of international relations operating in a digital visual environment. We define appropriation as reuse of existing visual material—either in its entirety or in part—without substantially altering the immanent characteristics of the appropriated material. As appropriators, scholars are producers of images who capitalize on and actively participate in digital visuality (seeing–changing–sharing). Appropriators are both image-analysts and image-actors but distinct from both, contributing not only to the visual analysis, but also to the visual construction of international relations. Approaching the international through appropriation grants researchers increased agency and responsibility vis-à-vis existing visual materials “out-there.” Rather than exploring a digital space of visual images produced and appropriated by others, researchers consciously and deliberately partake in the production and dissemination of images. As a result, we highlight how we—as scholars and as citizens—are facing research-ethical problematiques linked to ways of showing and seeing inevitably emanating from appropriation.

COVID-19 nationalism and the visual construction of sovereignty during China’s coronavirus crisis

This article explores how competing actors established, spread, and challenged visual representations of the Chinese nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. It asks: how do official gatekeepers of meaning in China imbue their visual construction of a crisis-hit nation with pathos?; and what happens when their critics utilize the resulting repertoire of visual cues for their own ends? To answer these questions, the article first examines the visual libraries of nationalism and national crisis from which Chinese propaganda drew during the COVID-19 outbreak. It then analyses the struggles that ensued over such representations, specifically the use of national flags and the sentiments they elicit. The analysis traces representations of the flag of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from an initial satirical portrayal in a Danish broadsheet to the angry Chinese backlashes that followed on social media, and it shows how the tensions over such portrayals became part of a meme war over the sovereignty of Hong Kong. The analysis shows how representations of the nation can become a matter of existential anxieties during a time of crisis, especially in highly networked communication environments where authoritative official actors and their supporters are no longer in control of the symbols they established as part of their ‘emotional governance’.

The Visual Construction of the Romanian Militarized Masculinity on Romanian Army’s Facebook Pages

Because nowadays’ world is visually saturated, many social re- searchers are using visual methods to understand how images contribute to the shaping and perpetuation of social constructs, norms, and behaviors. Gender is such a construct, and the beliefs and principles that contributed to the social and visual construction of gender have been broadly argued in the last decades. However, in today’s digitalized world, there is a space poorly explored by gender and visual researchers, namely how the army as a media actor contributes to the construction of masculinity through the images it promotes online. Thus, with the purpose to explore this gap, the present paper examines how the Romanian armed forces visually construct the militarized masculinity on their official Facebook pages, highlighting how those images contribute to the consolidation of the existing gendered stereotypes. Through the photos it disseminates, the Romanian Army le- gitimizes the main role of men in defending the country by revealing de- sirable male characteristics and the high degree of connectivity with the military theatre.

Estimulación de la lectoescritura en escolares con desviación del desarrollo intelectual

Las alteraciones del sistema nervioso que frecuentemente se asumen en la educación como desviaciones del desarrollo psíquico afectan considerablemente el curso del desarrollo de cada individuo en los diferentes períodos etarios. Las primeras manifestaciones intelectuales que desempeña el sujeto en su evolución hacia la madurez psíquica se manifiestan considerablemente desde las áreas de lenguaje y locomoción, siendo la lectoescritura y la psicomotricidad pares indisolubles en la actividad evolutiva de cada sujeto. En consideración a las características funcionales que se manifiestan en los individuos con alteraciones a nivel intelectual en el primer ciclo de la educación especial, la presente investigación se propone diseñar un cuaderno que estimule las habilidades de la lectoescritura en escolares con desviación del desarrollo intelectual. Como referentes metodológicos se promueve la observación mediante encuesta, la escala valorativa, pruebas psicopedagógicas descriptivas, los test de dominancia de funciones cerebrales y el test de integración funcional básica y el criterio de especialistas. Teniendo en cuenta el orden de criterios establecidos y los resultados obtenidos, se puede inferir que la estructura secuencial que promueve la propuesta sirve como referente de estudio aplicativo a diferentes alteraciones con el diagnóstico común de alteración en la grafomotricidad, ya que aúne los requisitos indispensables para estimular las áreas del lenguaje, sensibilidad táctil fina y gruesa, visuoconstrucción, así como las praxias y gnosias. Por lo que se considera una propuesta a tono con los reclamos de las adecuaciones de la educación rumbo a la equidad e igualdad de oportunidades desde una educación inclusiva y diversa. PALABRAS CLAVE: estimulación; lectoescritura; desviación; desarrollo intelectual. Stimulation of literacy in schoolchildren with borderline intellectual functioning ABSTRACT Deficits of the nervous system that frequently it is assumed in the education as deviations of the psychic development they affect considerably the course of the subject development in each different life periods. The first intellectual manifestation that plays the subject in its evolution towards the psychic ripeness is manifested considerably from the areas of language and locomotion, being the reading-writing and psychomotor areas the equal indissoluble in the evolutionary activity in the subject. Under consideration to the functional characteristics that it is manifested in the individuals with alterations at intellectual level in the first cycle of the special education, the investigation proposes design a notebook that stimulates the skills of the reading-writing in escolars with deviation of the intellectual development. As relating methodological promotes the observation by review, the evaluative scale, psychopedagogical descriptive taste, the test of dominium of cerebral functions and the test of functional basic integration and the specialists’ criteria. By keeping in mind, the order of criterions established and the results obtained, can infer to it that the sequential structure that promotes the proposal serves as relating of study applicative to different alterations with the common diagnosis of alteration in the graphic-motoric, since the indispensable requirements to stimulate the areas of the language, tactile sensibility dies and thick, visual construction, as well as praxis and gnosis. For which is considered a proposal in tune with the fittings of the education bound for the equity and equality of opportunities from an inclusive and diverse education. KEYWORDS: stimulation; reading-writing; deviation; intellectual development.

Retrieving histories: a case study of Cyril J. Brown’s family album

This thesis examines the visual construction of family in the previously unknown personal album of Cyril J. Brown in the Royal Ontario Museum’s South Asian photography collection. Beginning with retrieving the object’s personal history and tracing its links to the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the crossover in photographic content between Brown’s personal album and the Kautz Family YMCA Archive at the University of Minnesota is examined. In doing so, I argue that family photography and institutional forms of image making are interconnected through the use of familial photographic tropes and pictorialist techniques which are common to both collections. Finally, concluding with a reflection on the significance of Brown’s album for the genre of family photography.

Retrieving histories: a case study of Cyril J. Brown’s family album

This thesis examines the visual construction of family in the previously unknown personal album of Cyril J. Brown in the Royal Ontario Museum’s South Asian photography collection. Beginning with retrieving the object’s personal history and tracing its links to the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the crossover in photographic content between Brown’s personal album and the Kautz Family YMCA Archive at the University of Minnesota is examined. In doing so, I argue that family photography and institutional forms of image making are interconnected through the use of familial photographic tropes and pictorialist techniques which are common to both collections. Finally, concluding with a reflection on the significance of Brown’s album for the genre of family photography.

Generative replay for compositional visual understanding in the prefrontal-hippocampal circuit

Understanding the visual world is a constructive process. Whilst a frontal-hippocampal circuit is known to be essential for this task, little is known about the associated neuronal computations. Visual understanding appears superficially distinct from other known functions of this circuit, such as spatial reasoning and model-based planning, but recent models suggest deeper computational similarities. Here, using fMRI, we show that representations of a simple visual scene in these brain regions are relational and compositional - key computational properties theorised to support rapid construction of hippocampal maps. Using MEG, we show that rapid sequences of representations, akin to replay in spatial navigation and planning problems, are also engaged in visual construction. Whilst these sequences have previously been proposed as mechanisms to plan possible futures or learn from the past, here they are used to understand the present. Replay sequences form constructive hypotheses about possible scene configurations. These hypotheses play out in an optimal order for relational inference, progressing from predictable to uncertain scene elements, gradually constraining possible configurations, and converging on the correct scene configuration. Together, these results suggest a computational bridge between apparently distinct functions of hippocampal-prefrontal circuitry, and a role for generative replay in constructive inference and hypothesis testing.