The Violence of Looking : A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Sensitive Images in the Swedish State Institute for Racial Biology's Photographic Archive

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates the public discourse surrounding sensitive photographs of Sámi people in the Swedish State Institute for Racial Biology's (SIRB) photographic archive, currently managed by Uppsala University Library (UUB). The aim of the study is to identify sensitive elements in the photographs, the way that these 'offend', and how meaning is constructed and transmitted in the interaction between viewer, photograph, and discourse. Multimodal discourse analysis is employed as the primary method, with the empirical material consisting of newspaper articles, radio programs, texts by Sámi interest organizations, and social media posts. Certain trigger words provide passageways into the visual archival material. Results are relativised through the application of a knowledge map consisting of theoretical and historical context and a theoretical framework, which draws upon W. J. T. Mitchell’s ideas on image science and picture agency, as well as Marianne Hirsch’s concepts of postmemory and the familial gaze. It is found that most of the reactions are based in a concern and care for the individuals depicted in the photographs and their connection to the contemporary Sámi community. Furthermore, anger and displeasure are directed at SIRB, the fact that the archive exists at all, and the treatment of the material in the care of UUB. Central to all this is a conviction of the life of the image, the belief that a representation possesses sentiency and is affected by what is done to it, actions that offend the depicted as well as the descendants and kin of those photographed. This is a two-year master’s thesis in Archival Science.