Margaret Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694334
- eISBN:
- 9781452953588
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694334.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
An Iconography of the Flesh theorizes the relationship between the body and the image by looking at the corpse as a special instance of a body that is both thing and representation. Unlike ...
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An Iconography of the Flesh theorizes the relationship between the body and the image by looking at the corpse as a special instance of a body that is both thing and representation. Unlike sociological or anthropological studies of death and funerary practice, this work takes as its starting point the special role of the photograph in modern mourning practices, particularly those surrounding public figures. Arguing that the evolving cultural understanding of photographic realism structures our relationship to the corpse, the book outlines a new politics of representation in which some bodies are more visible (and vulnerable) in death than others. An Iconography of the Flesh ultimately argues that death without a body is specific to the capitalist mode of social reproduction and its attendant alienation of meaningful representations of death in favor of ghostly figures of bare life that reflect the exploitation of those whose bodies are considered expendable.Less
An Iconography of the Flesh theorizes the relationship between the body and the image by looking at the corpse as a special instance of a body that is both thing and representation. Unlike sociological or anthropological studies of death and funerary practice, this work takes as its starting point the special role of the photograph in modern mourning practices, particularly those surrounding public figures. Arguing that the evolving cultural understanding of photographic realism structures our relationship to the corpse, the book outlines a new politics of representation in which some bodies are more visible (and vulnerable) in death than others. An Iconography of the Flesh ultimately argues that death without a body is specific to the capitalist mode of social reproduction and its attendant alienation of meaningful representations of death in favor of ghostly figures of bare life that reflect the exploitation of those whose bodies are considered expendable.
Margaret Schwartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694334
- eISBN:
- 9781452953588
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694334.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
In the introduction, Swartz introduces the corpse as representational object referring to deceased, and documents the relationship between photography and embalming as aesthetics as well as mourning ...
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In the introduction, Swartz introduces the corpse as representational object referring to deceased, and documents the relationship between photography and embalming as aesthetics as well as mourning practices. Schwartz defines the terms corpse and iconography. She gives descriptions of the historical figures that the chapters are about, such as Emmett Till, Abraham Lincoln, Eva Peron, Lenin, Michael Jackson, and Hamza al-Khateeb. The remainder of the introduction is dedicated to the history of mortuary rituals, particularly embalming and how they are relevant today.Less
In the introduction, Swartz introduces the corpse as representational object referring to deceased, and documents the relationship between photography and embalming as aesthetics as well as mourning practices. Schwartz defines the terms corpse and iconography. She gives descriptions of the historical figures that the chapters are about, such as Emmett Till, Abraham Lincoln, Eva Peron, Lenin, Michael Jackson, and Hamza al-Khateeb. The remainder of the introduction is dedicated to the history of mortuary rituals, particularly embalming and how they are relevant today.
