Demanding Images: Democracy, Mediation, and the Image-Event in Indonesia

Karen Strassler

Published by Duke University Press 2019

Demanding Images

Democracy, Mediation, and the Image-Event in Indonesia

Karen Strassler

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478005544

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this ethnography of Indonesia's post-authoritarian public sphere, Karen Strassler explores the role of public images as they gave visual form to the ideals, aspirations, and anxieties of democracy.

Author / Editor information

Karen Strassler is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Queens College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and author of Refracted Visions: Popular Photography and National Modernity in Java, also published by Duke University Press.

Reviews

“Karen Strassler convincingly links ideologies of transparency that are associated with new media forms with political and social concepts. Especially valuable is her attentiveness to both the ideological valence of new media and the pragmatic implications of what it can and cannot do in practice. Smart, stylish, and sophisticated, Demanding Images is absolutely superb.”

-- Webb Keane, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Anthropology, University of Michigan

“An inspiring account of the demands made upon images (to testify and endure) and the complex demands images make in turn upon those who use them. Establishing the conflictual politics of the visual, Karen Strassler dissects the ambivalence and volatility of image-events in prose that is both analytically precise and poetically rich. This is a learned contribution to the study of contemporary Indonesia and an ominous handbook illuminating the convulsive nature of new media landscapes that are changing lives everywhere.”

-- Christopher Pinney, Professor of Anthropology and Visual Culture, University College London

"Demanding Images encourages readers to adopt a valuable new perspective on post-authoritarian Indonesian politics."

-- Megan Brankley Abbas PoLAR

"Demanding Images is a fascinating, entertaining, and insightful read. A one-of-a-kind book on Indonesia, it will appeal to those interested in Indonesian media, politics, and society, as well as those who want to understand how images affect politics in our more complex media environment."

-- Colm Fox Pacific Affairs

"As an interdisciplinary work that draws from a number of sophisticated analytical frameworks, this accessible study holds value far beyond the immediate topic of Indonesian visual culture and public discourse in recent decades."

-- S. G. Jug Choice

"Karen Strassler is highly regarded in Indonesian studies, and . . . her ideas and theories have incredible depth and should be relevant to a larger audience critically engaged with photography and visual culture, those actively trying to grapple with the complexity of images within our social and political experience."

-- Brian Arnold Afterimage

"An engaging and thought-provoking book, which certainly demands attention from anyone with an interest in Media, Cultural, and Area Studies."

-- Edward Jurriens Anthropos

"Strassler's notion of the 'image-event' elegently draws attention to the permeability between static and mobile, enduring and fleeting, picture and performance, making her work relevant well beyond the limits of Indonesian studies and her disciplinary home in visual anthropology."

-- Krishna Sen Journal of Anthropological Research

"Whether one is interested in contemporary Indonesian politics, in understanding the role of images in public spheres more generally, or in the production and life of images themselves, this book will certainly be a valuable read."

-- Jonathan Kraemer Anthropology Book Forum

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction. The Eventfulness of Images Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
One. Face Value Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Two. The Gender of Transparency Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
Three. The Scandal of Exposure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
Four. Naked Effects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Five. Street Signs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Conclusion. The Eye of the Crowd Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 336
Illustrations
- Other: 193 illustrations, incl. 26 in color

eBook

Published: March 20, 2020
ISBN: 9781478005544