Some remarks on visual history

Abstract

In the course of its development historiography has faced all kinds of challenges typical of a given stage in the development of civilisation. Visual representations come into the category of such challenges. An incresingly acknowledged subdiscipline of history, visual history sets itself the task of studying all kinds of audiovisual representations of the past, including the artistic ones such as film, photography and art. It is informed by the assumption that the increasing role of audiovisual ways of representing reality, including the past reality, makes it necessary for historiography to modify the fundamental presuppositions on which it is based, without, however, abandoning the traditional goals it is called upon to pursue. Visual history insists on the use of film or photographs as historical sources. This in turn requires the elaboration of specific methods of dealing with such sources, which are so significantly different from those usually made use of by historians. The discipline in question also takes an interest in the use of audiovisual means in historical education and in the popularisation of historical knowledge. History’s shift in the direction of audiovisual media inspires methodological discussions that contribute to the elaboration of both practical and theoretical solutions to a variety of problems this shift creates.