Welcome to the ISA RC57 - Research Committee

The Visual Sociology RC is an international, inter/trans disciplinary community of academics, practitioners and professionals with a shared interested in the visual as a way to unpack and frame our experience of the world. We live in a visual age and so it is right that we work with images and think about visual artefacts, building global partnerships and scholarly links to collaboratively see the world, sociologically.

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RC57 News

The 2022 Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology

The 2022 Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology

23rd December 2021
A social science photography and analysis competition open to undergraduate and graduate students worldwide. 1st Prize: $2,500 - 2nd Prize: $1,500 - 3rd Prize: $500
The Rachel Tanur prize recognises students in the social sciences who incorporate visual analysis in their work. It is named after Rachel Dorothy Tanur (1958-2002), an urban planner and lawyer who cared deeply about people and their lives and was an acute observer of living conditions and human relationships.
Submission due: MARCH 22, 2022 To apply: www.racheltanurmemorialprize.org
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Introducing the 2020 winners of the Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize in Visual Sociology

Introducing the 2020 winners of the Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize in Visual Sociology

17th June 2020
Through their visual analysis of complex social realities, the 2020 Rachel Tanur Prize winners have highlighted the politics of identities, peoples and places are important themes.
As an official partner of this prize, we are excited for you to meet the people behind these important insights, and to have the opportunity to engage with their work.
First Prize: Henry Moncrieff Zabaleta Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México | Image title: Warao Queen: Challenging beauty in Venezuela
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The 2020 Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology

The 2020 Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology

22nd January 2020
A social science photography and analysis competition open to undergraduate and graduate students worldwide. 1st Prize: $2,500 - 2nd Prize: $1,500 - 3rd Prize: $500
The Rachel Tanur prize recognises students in the social sciences who incorporate visual analysis in their work. It is named after Rachel Dorothy Tanur (1958-2002), an urban planner and lawyer who cared deeply about people and their lives and was an acute observer of living conditions and human relationships.
Submission due: JANUARY 22, 2020 To apply: www.racheltanurmemorialprize.org
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Images as Agents in Digital Public Spheres

Images as Agents in Digital Public Spheres

13th March 2019
3rd International Workshop on Visual Research is scheduled for the 27-28 JUNE 2019
Subsequent to the second workshop at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK, in 2017, which focused on the politics of visibility, this event will focus on questions concerned with visual practices in digital public spheres. A second focus is on methods suited to bridging sociological and visual research in the digital age. The workshop calls for interdisciplinary approaches in the field of cultural, social and media sciences.
Abstract Submission: 19 APRIL 2019 | Registration Deadline: 10 JUNE 2019
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    Home Page Image Credits

    Photo by Henry Moncrieff First prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2020

    Henry Moncrieff Zabaleta
    1st Prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2020
    Venezuela is internationally known as a “Factory of Queens” for the Miss Universe, the most important female beauty contest in the world. This beauty pageant represents a hegemonic, transversal, and gendered construction of the female body in the socialist country… (read more)

     

    Camilo Leon-Quijano
    1st Prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2018
    Koumba, 16, is one of the best players of Chantereine High School. She lives in a social housing tower in Sarcelles. This city has the biggest social housing density of the country. Her father is retired and he suffers from a chronic illness… (read more)

     

    Photo by Apgraham-Kitza First prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2016

    Aubrey Graham
    1st Prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2014
    At first glance, this image may look similar to those that appear beside ‘donate here’ instructions in magazine ads and non-governmental organization (NGO) websites… (read more)

     

    Kristin Miller
    1st Prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2014
    Three men stand on a sidewalk in San Francisco. They stand equidistant from each other, not even their shadows touching. In any event, they are more engrossed in the smartphones they hold than in anything going on around them… (read more)

     

    tanur 2012 1st prize

    Eryn Snyder
    1st Prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2012
    Four to six times a day, Bedik women haul water from a nearby well back to their community. Their feet have cut trails into the red earth and worn smooth the rocks along the paths up to their mountain villages… (read more)

     

    tanur 2012 1st prize

    Emilie Dubois
    1st Prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2010
    I swung off the curb and onto the M4 bus relieved to finally step out of the thick, simmering street air of a New York City late summer afternoon… (read more)

     

    tanur 2012 1st prize

    Haruna Miyagawa Fukui
    1st Prize Rachel Tanur Contest 2010
    This photograph was taken on a sunny spring weekend at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego, California. The photographer is a graduate student from Japan… (read more)

    • 2020 1st Prize - Henry Moncrieff Zabaleta
      Venezuela is internationally known as a “Factory of Queens” for the Miss Universe, the most important female beauty contest in the world.This beauty pageant represents a hegemonic, transversal, and gendered construction of the female body in the socialist country... (read more)

    • 2018 1st Prize - Camilo Leon-Quijano
      Koumba looks at the horizon from the balcony of her apartment. In the background, we see the social housing buildings of Sarcelles, France... (read more)

    • 2016 1st Prize - Apgraham Kitza
      At first glance, this image may look similar to those that appear beside ‘donate here’ instructions in magazine ads and non-governmental organization (NGO) websites... (read more)

    • 2014 1st Prize - Kristin Miller
      Three men stand on a sidewalk in San Francisco. They stand equidistant from each other, not even their shadows touching. In any event, they are more engrossed in the smartphones they hold than in anything going on around them...(read more)

    • 2012 1st Prize - Eryn Snyder
      Four to six times a day, Bedik women haul water from a nearby well back to their community. Their feet have cut trails into the red earth and worn smooth the rocks along the paths up to their mountain villages... (read more)

    • 2010 1st Prize - Emilie Dubois
      I swung off the curb and onto the M4 bus relieved to finally step out of the thick, simmering street air of a New York City late summer afternoon... (read more)

    • 2008 1st Prize - Haruna Miyagawa Fukui
      This photograph was taken on a sunny spring weekend at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego, California. The photographer is a graduate student from Japan... (read more)

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    Guidance on Ethics in Visual Research

    R

    esearch ethics are often particularly nuanced and situated for visual sociological research and its dissemination. RC57 adheres to the ISA’s Code of Ethics and is committed to the ongoing development of high ethical standards concerning visual research and the dissemination of visual research results.

    RC57 engages in ongoing discussions on various ethical dilemmas concerning visual research (including presentations and publications) across different cultural settings and social contexts. For examples of these discussions see the abstracts from relevant RC57 sessions at XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology.

    In addition to the ISA’s Code of Ethics the following publication is a useful starting point when research topics, methods, data, analysis and dissemination etc., involve visual materials/processes:

    Paperdemas D. and the International Visual Sociology Association (2009), “IVSA Code of Research Ethics and Guidelines,” Visual Studies, 24(3), pp. 250-57.

    Advice for Presenting Visual Research

    When preparing to present visual research at conferences, lectures, seminars and/or other forms of public engagement, consider the following:

    • Is each image essential?
    • Do I have permission (verbal or written as appropriate) to use each of the images?
    • Have I attributed each image appropriately?
    • To what extent might each image be considered sensitive?
    • Is a ‘trigger warning’ appropriate?
    Useful Resources

    The broad field of visual research offers a wealth of ethics resources. The following items are simply starting points and will not suit every ethical question/dilemma/context. Let us know of other resources to include.

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      RC57 Mission Statement

      V

      isual Sociology is a diverse field of study which gathers sociologists involved in visual studies and studies of the visual. As a relatively new discipline and methodology within the Sociology, Visual Sociology attracts growing numbers of scholars and students who are using visual methods, and/or interested in the production, use and dissemination of visual knowledge.

      The overall goal of the research committee is to bridge discussions on theoretical and practical aspects of the analysis of visual data. The research committee provides the opportunity to share, exchange and develop ideas which are relevant to Visual Sociology in the global arena. The focus of the research committee is on applying visual methods in sociology at large, and developing theoretical perspectives as well as specific sociological methods, such as web-site analysis, photo-elicitation interviews, sociological video and photo production and analysis.

      With this in mind, the Committee and its membership has 3 objectives:

      • To generate further discussions concerning the collection of visual data in the field (in archives, photo albums, media, websites etc.) as well as the production of visual materials by the researcher (photography and documentaries) with an emphasis on
        methods of analysis of these data.
      • To work is the contemporary and historical analysis of the socio-cultural locus of the visual. The key concern here is how the visual is produced, used and disseminated, and how it intersects with the verbal and other means of communication and
        sensual experiences.
      • Lastly, it is our goal to put to debate broader theoretical issues of the Sociology of the visual sphere and discuss the applicability of various sociological theories in the analysis of the visual data.

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      What we are and who we are...

      V

      isual Sociology RC57 is an international, inter/trans disciplinary community of academics, practitioners and professionals with a shared interested in the visual as a way to unpack and frame our experience of the world. We live in a visual age and so it is right that we work with images and think about visual artefacts, building global partnerships and scholarly links to collaboratively see the world, sociologically. We have an elected board which is revised every four years, with one member not being able to serve for more than two-terms.

      With members from the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas, specialising in a range of disciplines, including (but not limited to) Sociology, Anthropology, Ethnography, Visual Culture, Photography, Media and Communication, Criminology, Geography, Pedagogy, Politics and more, we are well represented, academically and globally.

      Through our workshops, conferences and publications, we encourage debate, analysis and application of Visual Sociology, both in the interest of scholarly and methodological advancement as well as for practical application that contribute to a better world. In particular, we host free, pre-Forum and pre Congress workshops wherever the ISA participates globally. The workshops are an important facet of what we do, and we are one of only a handful of groups (TG/WG or RC) who offer free, pre-forum activities. In an effort to democratise knowledge and make it accessible to all, the Pre-forum/Congress workshops reflect the ethos and values of our group to share ideas, spaces and understanding with local partners, academics and communities, to better acquaint ourselves with the spaces outside our immediate locality and to collaboratively co-create knowledge and build
      relationships.

      Additionally, we also pride ourselves on our very own, standalone event, the Visual Workshop. A biannual event that moves between a Board member’s host institution, the Visual Workshop is our own international, PGR/ECR focused forum. These workshops offer a space to build collegiate relationships, learn and exchange ideas, whilst emphasising PGR/ECR development, supported by key thinkers and established academics and
      practitioners in the field.

      The RC57 History

      T

      he Visual Sociology Research Committee (RC57) is the 57 th Research Committee within the International Sociological Association (ISA), having achieved RC status in 2018, 10 years after its initial inception. Originating as an ad-hoc group of graduate students who first met at an International Visual
      Sociological Association (IVSA) summer school in 2006, the Visual Sociology Thematic Group (TG05) was formally established one year later in 2007 by Dennis Zuev and Regev Nathansohn, holding its first sessions at the ISA forum, Barcelona in 2007 and was officially approved by the ISA in 2009. The group was upgraded to a working group (WG03) in 2013 and again, finally to a full Research Committee (RC57) in 2017, having exceeded the 100 members threshold. At present, the RC 57 is only one of two official bodies engaging with and foregrounding Visual Sociology as a disciplinary field.

      In addition to our collegiate and scholarly work, we also offer a photography prize, the Rachel Tanur Prize in Visual Sociology (in collaboration with the SSRC, USA and the Mark Family Trust). The prize recognizes students in the social sciences who incorporate visual analysis in their work. It is named for Rachel Dorothy Tanur (1958–2002), an urban planner and lawyer who cared deeply about people and their lives and was an acute observer of living conditions and human relationships.

      The award is also biannual and is administered by SSRC in collaboration with ISA RC57 who provide jury members for the prize. The award is given at the ISA Forum/Congress and in addition to a financial award and publication, the winner is given honorary membership of the RC57 board and mentoring for two years by members of RC57, which we are delighted to participate in and consider it an honor to co-host.

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