Publicação
Visual captivity : the (in)visibility of the concentration camp and the right to look : the case of Ravensbrück
| Resumo: | The goal of this research is to examine the photographic representation of Ravensbrück, the first purpose built camp for women in the Third Reich (1939-1945). Throughout its history, this camp was captured through different gazes and distinct representational regimes, ideological scripts, power relationships and gender configurations. Based on the agonistic structure of representational practices, this dissertation interrogates the relation between the representation of captivity and the captivity of representation through the particular case of this camp. The thesis is structured around three gazes that relate to each other through a logics of countervisuality: Firstly, the Nazi gaze and the “concentrationary visuality” that normalizes the exceptionality of the concentrationary universe; secondly, the victim’s gaze, articulated through a set of clandestine pictures taken by prisoners, representing an effort of resistance to the Nazi gaze; and thirdly, the photographic coverage of the liberation of the camp, comprised by images taken by the Red Cross and by the Red Army, in which the liberator’s gaze attempts to overthrow the Nazi visual system. At the intersection of visual culture, gender and Holocaust studies, the main question of this investigation is whether the difference of the feminine makes a difference for the visual representation of a concentration camp and what does it mean for both the concentrationary logics and for the work of representation. It will be argued that the representation of sexual difference, as an expression of a wider cultural problem, is regulated and contained, and that the representation of the camp negotiates between what is visible and what remains unseen. Moreover, it will be demonstrated that visual representations, despite imprisoning subject positions within the visual field, also entail the potential to challenge and undermine hegemonic scripts. |
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| Autores principais: | Agostinho, Daniela de Jesus Silva Pereira |
| Assunto: | Visual culture Gender Holocaust Ravensbrück Concentration camp Visuality Invisibility Gaze The right to look Cultura visual Género Holocausto Campo de concentração Visualidade e invisibilidade Direito de olhar |
| Ano: | 2014 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | tese de doutoramento |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso restrito |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade Católica Portuguesa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa |
| Resumo: | The goal of this research is to examine the photographic representation of Ravensbrück, the first purpose built camp for women in the Third Reich (1939-1945). Throughout its history, this camp was captured through different gazes and distinct representational regimes, ideological scripts, power relationships and gender configurations. Based on the agonistic structure of representational practices, this dissertation interrogates the relation between the representation of captivity and the captivity of representation through the particular case of this camp. The thesis is structured around three gazes that relate to each other through a logics of countervisuality: Firstly, the Nazi gaze and the “concentrationary visuality” that normalizes the exceptionality of the concentrationary universe; secondly, the victim’s gaze, articulated through a set of clandestine pictures taken by prisoners, representing an effort of resistance to the Nazi gaze; and thirdly, the photographic coverage of the liberation of the camp, comprised by images taken by the Red Cross and by the Red Army, in which the liberator’s gaze attempts to overthrow the Nazi visual system. At the intersection of visual culture, gender and Holocaust studies, the main question of this investigation is whether the difference of the feminine makes a difference for the visual representation of a concentration camp and what does it mean for both the concentrationary logics and for the work of representation. It will be argued that the representation of sexual difference, as an expression of a wider cultural problem, is regulated and contained, and that the representation of the camp negotiates between what is visible and what remains unseen. Moreover, it will be demonstrated that visual representations, despite imprisoning subject positions within the visual field, also entail the potential to challenge and undermine hegemonic scripts. |
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