Attached Paper Annual Meeting 2024

On Photographic Agency and Agency of Photography – Performing Visual Knowledge after Disidentifications

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

This paper explores the Hashem el Madani Collection (1953-1982) within the Arab Image Foundation, focusing on exhibitions curated by Akram Zaatari. Drawing from José Esteban Muñoz’s concept of disidentifications, the study examines visual knowledge performance in this epistemological field, exploring agency within photographic practices and photography as a medium. It critiques normative secular-liberal views through Saba Mahmood’s work on agency in the women’s mosque movement. Ulrike E. Auga’s notion of agency photography is discussed as a means to overcome colonial photographic canons. By integrating Muñoz’s, Mahmood’s, and Auga’s frameworks, the paper outlines new modalities of agency, emphasizing the transformative potential of piety in reshaping visual discourses on the 'Middle East'. This interdisciplinary approach offers insights into subject formation, human flourishing, and the politics of representation within both religious and secular-based historical and contemporary discourses on gender and sexuality in Lebanon.