Image Ecologies, Spiritual Polytropy, and the Anthropocene
This article advances a four-fold contribution to theorizing the relationship between images, religion, and the Anthropocene. First, it proposes a process-semiotic' definition of the image as a sensorially perceptible form that mediates agential relations both between humans and between humans...
| Published in: | Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox Publ.
2019
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| In: |
Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Geology, Stratigraphic
/ Environmental perception
/ Imagination
/ Picture
/ Spirituality
/ Iconology
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics ZB Sociology |
| Further subjects: | B
Anthropocene
B Iconology B media ecologies B image regimes B image ecologies |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article advances a four-fold contribution to theorizing the relationship between images, religion, and the Anthropocene. First, it proposes a process-semiotic' definition of the image as a sensorially perceptible form that mediates agential relations both between humans and between humans and the larger world. Second, it argues for a conception of religion and of spirituality that sees the world as varying on a scale between the polytropic' and the monotropic', where tropism' refers to the turning' toward sources of sustenance, relief, hope, authority, and the like. This turning is commonly, if not universally, accomplished with the aid of images. Bringing these ideas together, it then advances a typology of image regimes', each of which establishes relationships between understandings of images and of reality, relationships which can be traced across diverse religious and cultural contexts. Finally, it proposes a set of questions by which to bring ecocritical analysis to expressions of these image regimes in the emerging image-world' of digital culture, a culture that is coterminous, if not causally linked with, the growing recognition of the Anthropocene. It ends with a brief application of these questions to the Anthropocene Project, an art exhibition, film, and book project by Edward Burtunsky, Jennifer Baichwal, and Nicholas De Pencier. |
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| ISSN: | 1749-4915 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/jsrnc.39183 |