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The Visual Turn in the History of Education

Origins, Methodologies, and Examples

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Handbook of Historical Studies in Education

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

Abstract

A proliferation of images and visuals in the contemporary era has generated a profound impact on our society in a multitude of ways. This growing visual culture also affects the work of the historian and the historical method. This chapter examines the field of visual methodology within historical studies. First, this chapter examines how historians in past centuries have dealt with images as compared to scholars from other scientific disciplines. Then the chapter discusses the visual turn that has led to a small explosion of books, themed issues of journals about visual research, and different methodologies regarding the way in which images may be analyzed. Third, the authors present the ways in which historians of education have dealt with images before and after the visual turn. Finally, this chapter will discuss some future challenges for historical studies in education that will deal with the analysis of visual images.

This work forms part of the project “Educational Progressivism and School Tradition in Spain Through Photography (1900–1970) [EDU2014-52498-C2-1-P], funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness within the framework of the National R&D and Innovation Plan.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

    María del Mar del Pozo Andrés

  2. Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Sjaak Braster

Authors
  1. María del Mar del Pozo Andrés
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  2. Sjaak Braster
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to María del Mar del Pozo Andrés .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia

    Tanya Fitzgerald

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Pozo Andrés, M.d.M.d., Braster, S. (2019). The Visual Turn in the History of Education. In: Fitzgerald, T. (eds) Handbook of Historical Studies in Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0942-6_53-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0942-6_53-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0942-6

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