Correspondence(s) in The Pen Friend by Ciaran Carson

In The Pen Friend published in 2009, Ciaran Carson draws upon the form of the epistolary novel, albeit in a somewhat non-conformist way. How to convey reality through language, or languages – photography, painting among others – is once more the purpose of the writer, even though subject and form have been renewed. This article aims at showing how the reader is transported into a world full of correspondences, a world transfigured by the power of language.     

‘The Stupidest Tea-Party in All My Life’: Lewis Carroll and Victorian Psychiatric Practice

An analysis of the numerous connections of Lewis Carroll to the Victorian psychiatric profession reveals their influence on the portrayal of insanity in Carroll’s fiction. Through examining his relationship with his uncle Robert Wilfred Skeffington Lutwidge, a Commissioner in Lunacy, and collating Carroll’s personal recollections from diaries and letters with correspondences of the Lunacy Commission, this article offers a comprehensive picture of Carroll’s intellectual engagement with Victorian psychiatry. Combining these insights with his literary writings illuminates the psychiatric origins of the ‘Mad Tea-Party’ and characters such as the Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in the organization and methods of mid-Victorian pauper lunatic asylums and their treatment of impoverished workers. Likewise, the illustrations of Carroll’s works stood in dialogue with popular imagery of insanity as well as ideas of physiognomy and their diagnostic application in asylum photography by Hugh Welch Diamond. This piece will argue that the framework of Victorian psychiatry provided Carroll with imagery he utilizes to satirize aspects of Victorian moral values. It thus aims to highlight the benefits of re-framing the works of Lewis Carroll beyond the genre children’s literature, and considering them as part of the wider Victorian discourse of the sciences of the mind.     

Obituary. Wolfgang Scharfe (1942–2003)

At the turn of the twentieth century, a popular mania developed around the idea that Mars was inhabited by intelligent beings. This obsession was originally based in the science of the time, but it outlasted astronomers' certainty regarding the red planet's conditions of habitability. Cartography was vital to the popular construction of Mars as an inhabited world and created a powerful landscape icon that differed significantly from the observations of astronomers. Acceptance of a Martian civilization began to wane only when cartography's status as an objective representational format was weakened by new photographic technology in the early 1900s. Although the processes and formats of cartography are rarely considered primary factors in the Mars mania, they were integral to the origin, development and expiration of the conceptualization of Mars as a world that was possibly inhabited.     

Family leisure,family photography and zoos: exploring the emotional geographies of families

In this paper we explore the significance of the zoo as a place for family leisure and the emotional work of sustaining a positive family life. Zoos are understood as culturally laden places, widely identified as locations for family-friendly leisure and as stages for practicing family and then capturing and memorializing this behavior in and through family photographs. Zoo family photos become souvenirs of quality family time, depicting the time and emotional investment made in the social relations captured in the images. We draw on an interdisciplinary mix of literatures and use this as context for the interpretation of a sample of family zoo photographs, illustrating our findings with examples drawn from public and personal sources. In so doing we seek to better understand the significance of family leisure environments, and specifically zoos, as places facilitating the emotional work of building and maintaining family connection and interaction.     

Picturing the poor: fundraising and the depoliticisation of homelessness

In this paper, we discuss the role images play in attracting charitable donations in an English homeless shelter. Focusing in particular on two image-based projects which feature service-users (one series of black-and-white still photography and one series of film clips posted on YouTube), we draw on interviews with fundraisers and the homeless participants themselves to discuss how they motivated their involvement and what impact they hoped the images would achieve. We conclude by providing some snapshots of how earlier images produced in the shelter have been circulated.     

The Fabulous Tales of the Common People,Part 1: Representing Hadrian’s Wall

Abstract

Hadrian’s Wall is one of the most instantly recognizable ancient monuments in the UK. This paper explores the historical and contemporary visualization practices which have created this iconic image. Moving between the disciplines of archaeology, cultural geography, and heritage and tourism studies, the paper draws upon a variety of data sources such as paintings, photographs, models, and reconstructions to consider how the Wall is visually represented within contemporary public discourse. The paper focuses on digital photography and considers the ways in which images create and sustain particular readings of the Wall’s function and significance. These contemporary representational practices demonstrate strong continuities, and earlier images are used to provide historical context. Emphasis is placed on the monument’s landscape setting in visual representations and the importance of this environmental context for readings of the Wall’s cultural and political significance. The present paper deals primarily with representations of the Wall, but it is argued that these representational practices are also fundamentally embodied. The physical encounters of visitors and archaeologists will be considered in greater detail in the second part of this study (Witcher, forthcoming).     

Snapshots: Images of Men in the United States Colored Troops

Abstract

This article considers the intertwined impact of two very different developments that emerged during the era of the American Civil War. The first concerned the invention and dissemination of new photographic technology that made it possible for ordinary citizens to sit for portraits and come away with multiple copies of new cartes de visite. The second concerned the revolutionary decision by the federal government to recruit African American men into the Union Army. As a result, in the final two years of the war uniformed African American men were having their portraits taken, and those small images began circulating among friends and family members. This speculative essay considers how these small cultural artifacts might have reflected and shaped a world in transition.     

None daring to make us afraid

ABSTRACT

J.W. Breyer, the young South African military administration's first game warden in Namibia, was based at Namutoni on the south-eastern margin of the Etosha pan. Breyer died a lonely death and a meticulous inventory was rendered of Breyer's estate. Viktor Franke, the German commander in south-western Africa, and Cocky Hahn, the second South African commissioner of native affairs stationed at Ondangwa, similarly left a visual record of their intimate surroundings. An itinerary of their material worlds and hence of colonialism in Namibia is here revealed using photographs and other evidence, highlighting some of the complexities of the cultural practices of colonial administration and policing in southern Africa.     

Recovering traditions in the digital era: the use of blimps for modelling the archaeological cultural heritage

Driven by progress in sensor technology, algorithms and data processing capabilities, the recording and 3D virtual modelling of complex archaeological sites is currently receiving much attention. Nevertheless, the problem remains the huge effort and costs that have to be invested to obtain realistic models. Besides on-site measurements, much time is often spent in manually rebuilding the whole site with a CAD package or a 3D-modelling tool.