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Representations of the Other in the Time of War: Does War Matter?
We are dealing with the cultural representations and their influence on culture;
for example, with the way that stereotyping functions in society. We must look at
“how it works (essentializing, reductionism, naturalization, binary oppositions), at
the ways it is caught up in the play of power (hegemony, power/knowledge), and at
some of its deeper, more unconscious effects (fantasy, fetishism, disavowal)” (Hall
1997: 180). In general terms, all cultural representations—either of material or im¬
material character—have been produced in this way, with the process of construct¬
ing meaning constantly going on everywhere we look. The idea of representation is
central for the investigation of images and the Other.
We also need to reflect upon what representation means. To represent some¬
thing is to depict it, to call it up in the mind by portrayal or imagination, as well as
symbolising, standing for’; so representing certainly is a universal device working
in all areas of culture and society. It is the main way of making meaning. Within
the limits of this project, we have narrowed the wide range of elements this process
entails strictly to representing encounters with the Other. In doing so, we target
the representation of otherness and difference. As Stuart Hall puts it, “how other
cultures are made to signify through the discourses of exhibition (poetics) and how
these practices are inscribed by relations of power (politics) (...) which prevail be¬
tween the people who are represented and the cultures and institutions doing the
representing” (Hall 1997: 225). Marking the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’
indicates that meaning is relational, thus the difference itself is meaningful and
significant. Meaning may depend on the difference between particular opposites.
It is the relationship between ‘us’ and ‘them’ that shapes the degree and expression
of otherness in the representations.
Photography and Caricature
The photographic picture is in common thinking often perceived as a faithful
record of reality. It is treated as an objective expression of a visual convention,
exemplifying the way things are depicted at a given time. Deeper reflection, how¬
ever, reveals how photography is at all times constructed and contextualised. This
shows that we cannot simply take what we are seeing or what we believe is being
represented for granted. Photography may also convey information of the group
identity of its author, because through its affinity to a particular way of thinking it
often refers to a certain culture, typical to the group of people to which the author
belongs. It still documents the world, remaining an evidence of the past, although
construed one; but it is also an indication or a trace of how the author has seen
the reality, since every photograph carries the convictions, stereotypes, ideas etc. or
assumptions of the ideology the author subscribes to.
! For a more detailed overview, see Hall 1997.
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