Coordination: Roger Canals Vilageliu
We understand visual anthropology in a broad sense: as an anthropology of images and as an anthropology through images, which uses visual methods of social research. By “multimodal anthropology” we refer to an anthropology that experimentally combines different forms of research and writing (image, text, sound), making active use of social networks and with a clear public vocation. It is from the perspective of visual and multimodal anthropology that we want to address one of the main debates of our present: the one that has to do with disinformation, visual manipulation, and fake images. These topics have been relatively studied from communication and media studies but less so from an anthropological perspective. We will ask about the criteria for authentication and verification of images held by specific social and cultural groups, relating religious, scientific, and social images. One of the key concepts here is “trust,” and specifically visual trust. This reflection connects with a tradition of studies within CINAF around religious images in indigenous and Afro-American contexts, social networks, and communication. In fact, an important part of this research will be carried out with Afro-descendant communities in the Caribbean. We will also conduct fieldwork in Europe and India in order to enhance a comparative dimension that CINAF has always had since its beginnings.