Output details

Image studies: theory and practice

Research content/process:

The output sets out an original formulation of ‘image studies’, which stems from visual culture studies, but articulates an array of different methodological approaches and expands the domain of images. Previously accounts of image studies (notably within the work of W.J.T. Mitchell, James Elkins, Hans Belting, Gottfried Boehm, Mieke Bal, Susan Buck-Morss, Barbara Stafford, and Lisa Cartwright) have lacked coherence as a distinct field. Manghani's book innovatively draws together interdisciplinary perspectives in order to break with the dichotomy that persists between thinking about images on one side and their making on the other. A particular contribution of the book is the notion of an ‘ecology of images’ presented as a critical tool for image analysis. Though drawn from Susan Sontag, the study imaginatively expands and critically reviews this notion. The book incorporates design features to ensure its best use by a variety of reader groups. In addition, the book develops an understanding of image studies through a series of collaborative projects, covering image-making practices across both the arts and sciences, and within the context of new media and Big Data, to explore, for example, the relationship between image and information. The underpinning research is echoed in the publication of two other anthologies by the author. The first, Images: A Reader (Manghani, et al., Sage, 2006), a co-edited volume, brought together over 80 key readings, across the domains of philosophy, art, literature, science, critical theory and cultural studies. This volume was expanded, following a commission by Bloomsbury, for a 4-volume collection of primary and critical sources (Manghani, ed. 2013).