Organized by Anthropology Graduate Students Bonnie Tilland, Laura Newlon, Shana West and Shin Yu Pai (Museology)

The VPC was established in 2007 by an interdisciplinary group of faculty for the purposes of exploring visual praxis—defined as balanced visual theory and practice—in research, pedagogy, and public scholarship, with an emphasis on supporting and giving greater visibility to graduate student research projects that engage with non-textual forms of analysis and knowledge production or combine more traditional textual analysis of visual material with newer non-textual methods. At a time when imaging technologies are increasingly ubiquitous and when so much knowledge production and transmission relies upon video, photography, and digital media, critical and engaged inquiry into the use of visual practices is vital to contemporary scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. As most forms of academic evaluation continue to privilege textual production, this research cluster has sought to address this gap by cultivating a space for examining how visual work can add to the scholarly record, contribute to theoretical debate and development, lead to graduate student research innovation, enhance teaching, and engage diverse audiences in research. As a student-led Graduate Interest Group in 2008-09, the VPC will continue to work toward these goals. It will also integrate the goals of balancing support for the production and critique of visual work, interests articulated by 2007-2008 group participants.