We would like to remind you of our on-going call for papers on topics related to the journal’s general coverage of the history of art and visual culture, including relevant book reviews. At the same time, we want to extend a special invitation to authors to submit articles to our upcoming thematic dossier:
caiana # 5 Special Dossier
Image and Science
Coordinators: Piroska Csúri and Mercedes García Ferrari
Visual representations have accompanied scientific activity since its very first moments. Far from serving as mere illustrations meant to make scientific texts more appealing to the eye, images have formed an integral part of scientific methodology as observational records, formulations of hypotheses, representations of theories, or as reasoning tools. As such, visual representations have been inseparable from scientific practice itself. Beyond representing a particularly interesting angle on scientific practice and methodology, an analysis of images in science offers a privileged opportunity to problematize and examine general issues relating to the social construction of the meaning of images, and constitutes a valuable contribution to the study of the visual culture of the specific socio-historic contexts in question.
From the 15th century on, the continuous development of image-printing technologies advanced on a par with the growing communicational ties between scientists working in the different branches of natural sciences (astronomy, physics, botany, medicine, etc.). Additionally, innovation in image-technology fomented the emergence of a modern, non-expert audience as consumers of scientific ideas. The invention of photographic processes in the 19th century made it possible to mechanize image capture, thus giving a strong impetus to the pretensions of the objectivity of science. At the same time, the continuing progress of science and the emergence of new scientific disciplines (anthropology, ethnology, archeology, geography, criminology, etc.) diversified and expanded the use of images, enriching and adding complexity to their ties with science and society as the newly emerging social sciences made themselves available as social devices in the service of social control in its various forms. More recently, the irruption of digital technology provoked an explosion in scientific data collection and revolutionized the processing of visual information. As the availability of the digital image challenged the existing conventions of visual representations and the corresponding interpretative conventions, it also contributed to the consolidation of a true popular culture of science.
caiana therefore invites submission of unpublished manuscripts to our special dossier Image and Science on the topic of the relation between science and image in its multiple facets: images in scientific methodology, the social construction of the meaning of scientific images, notions of objectivity of the image, the relationship between visual and textual narratives, image-production processes as well as questions relating to general representational and aesthetic issues concerning scientific images. We extend our call for papers to texts on a wide variety of visual media, disciplines, historical periods, geographic regions and intellectual traditions, with a special interest in manuscripts that address the theoretical-methodological issues relating to the status of the image as socio-historical source material and its relationship to other types of sources.
Submission deadline:August 15, 2014
The journal accepts manuscripts in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian. For submission guidelines and style sheet please visit:
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