Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Visual Culture Reader

Rate this book
Ten years after the last edition, this thoroughly revised and updated third edition of The Visual Culture Reader highlights the transformed and expanded nature of globalized visual cultures. It assembles key new writings, visual essays and specially commissioned articles, emphasizing the intersections of the Web 2.0, digital cultures, globalization, visual arts and media, and the visualizations of war. The volume attests to the maturity and exciting development of this cutting-edge field.

Fully illustrated throughout, The Reader features an introductory section tracing the development of what editor Nicholas Mirzoeff calls "critical visuality studies." It develops into thematic sections, each prefaced by an introduction by the editor, with an emphasis on global coverage. Each thematic section includes suggestions for further reading. Thematic sections include:

Expansions
War and Violence
Attention and Visualizing Economy
Bodies and Minds
Histories and Memories
(Post/De/Neo)Colonial Visualities
Media and Mediations

Taken as a whole, these 47 essays provide a vital introduction to the diversity of contemporary visual culture studies and a key resource for research and teaching in the field.

Contributors: Ackbar Abbas, Morana Alac, Malek Alloula, Ariella Azoulay, Zainab Bahrani, Jonathan L. Beller,Suzanne Preston Blier, Lisa Cartwright, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Beth Coleman, Teddy Cruz, René Descartes, Faisal Devji, Henry Drewal, Okwui Enwezor, Frantz Fanon, Allen Feldman, Mark Fisher, Finbarr Barry Flood, Anne Friedberg, Alex Galloway, Faye Ginsburg, Derek Gregory, J. Jack Halberstam, Donna Haraway, Brian Holmes, Amelia Jones, Georgina Kleege, Sarat Maharaj, Brian Massumi, Carol Mavor, Tara McPherson, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Timothy Mitchell, W. J. T. Mitchell, Naeem Mohaiemen, Fred Moten, Lisa Nakamura, Trevor Paglen, Lisa Parks, Sumathi Ramaswamy, Jacques Rancière, Andrew Ross, Terence E. Smith, Marita Sturken, Paolo Virno, Eyal Weizman

736 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 1998

17 people are currently reading
449 people want to read

About the author

Nicholas Mirzoeff

21 books33 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
54 (37%)
4 stars
52 (36%)
3 stars
30 (20%)
2 stars
8 (5%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Bridget.
14 reviews
July 2, 2007
this book was a fabulous way to be exposed to some critical original source material for those studying visual culture. It isn't coming at the visual from an art perspective, but a theoretical perspective, and it's not just fine art. Very informative and a must read.
Profile Image for David Michael.
10 reviews5 followers
August 31, 2007
A collection of some great essential essays... but in many ways, despite the editor's intent, such a book really extinguishes Visual Culture's radical potential by virtue of making it a canon of sorts.
Profile Image for emi k.
22 reviews5 followers
November 2, 2011
the best "reader" on visual culture i've ever read, and i've read many. Althusser, Barthes, Baudrillard, Butler, Dubois, Fanon, GUY DEBORD (!!!), Descarte, Foucault, Haraway, Shohat(!!!), Halberstam, and the list goes on and on. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Profile Image for maile.
13 reviews30 followers
April 18, 2007
This book rules, if you are into conceptual art at all or you're interested in how contemporary theories of art are influencing cultural studies, read this bitch!
Profile Image for Vanessa.
131 reviews4 followers
trying-to-read
May 1, 2009
i really want to get through this book. technically i've been 'currently reading' this for about 5 years. it's the first essay that makes my brain spin. but it's by the editor and i feel like i owe it to him to finish it! once i get through that one, i think the other essays will be much more manageable.
Profile Image for Katie Chico.
6 reviews1 follower
March 5, 2009
Terrific collection of essays I had to read for my Master's course work. I still have it to this day and often find myself referencing many of the essays. This really is a must read for anyone serious about deconstruction of visual culture or for anyone who wants to be able to appreciate it more.
Profile Image for Pamela.
199 reviews32 followers
December 17, 2015
some amazing pieces on the gaze, visual colonialism, digital culture, etc.. While this edition may be out of date, the ideas are not.. A keeper for certain.
Profile Image for Merve.
4 reviews2 followers
Read
June 13, 2018
A great collection of essays. You cannot just read it and be done with it. It is more of an ongoing reading experience that requires one to read some of the essays again and again.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.