Edited Books by Regev Nathansohn
This collection of original articles deals with two intertwined general questions: what is the vi... more This collection of original articles deals with two intertwined general questions: what is the visual sphere, and what are the means by which we can study it sociologically? These questions serve as the logic for dividing the book into two sections, the first ("Visualizing the Social, Sociologizing the Visual") focuses on the meanings of the visual sphere, and the second ("New Methodologies for Sociological Investigations of the Visual") explores various sociological research methods to getting a better understanding of the visual sphere. We approach the visual sphere sociologically because we regard it as one of the layers of the social world. It is where humans produce, use, and engage with the visual in their creation and interpretation of meanings. Under the two large inquiries into the "what" and the "how" of the sociology of the visual sphere, a subset of more focused questions is being posed: what social processes and hierarchies make up the visual sphere? How various domains of visual politics and visuality are being related (or being presented as such)? What are the relations between sites and sights in the visual research? What techniques help visual researcher to increase sensorial awareness of the research site? How do imaginaries of competing political agents interact in different global contexts and create unique, locally-specific visual spheres? What constitutes competing interpretations of visual signs? The dwelling on these questions brings here eleven scholars from eight countries to share their research experience from variety of contexts and sites, utilizing a range of sociological theories, from semiotics to post-structuralism.
"Sociology of the Visual Sphere is a thought-provoking
collection of essays that both advances t... more "Sociology of the Visual Sphere is a thought-provoking
collection of essays that both advances the study of the
visual and secures it a central place at the sociological
table. It achieves the goal of eloquently giving
prominence to diverse theoretical and methodological
approaches to the visual sphere. The editors’ choice to
draw on contributors from across the globe lends the
text a distinct polyvocality. This slim, but intellectually
rich, volume would be a provocative addition to a
graduate-level visual sociology and/or qualitative
research methods curriculum."
Papers by Regev Nathansohn
This article explores the relentless efforts to tame, organize and purify the chaotic reality of ... more This article explores the relentless efforts to tame, organize and purify the chaotic reality of the Israeli occupation by means of the photo-taking practice, which in turn also enables, or even produces, this deranged reality.
Entangled Histories in Palestine/Israel, 2024
This chapter analyzes how tour guides in Haifa re-present the history of social relations between... more This chapter analyzes how tour guides in Haifa re-present the history of social relations between Arabs and Jews in the city. The ethnography shows that past coexistence is outlined in the tours according to the contemporary hegemonic discourse of separation in Israel, which assumes cultural and spatial distinctions between ethno-national communities and regards these distinctions as fixed and stable. The analysis reveals that the discourse of separation, as it is expressed in the tours, is maintained by two interrelated narrative taboos: a taboo on narratives depicting inter-communal mixing, which undermines the separation, and a taboo on narratives of inter-communal violence, which undermines the notion of coexistence. This informal practice is expressed by Jewish and Arab tour guides alike and shows that the national identity of the guides is less significant in determining their narrative than the discursive context.
Public Management Review , 2023
"Invisible Cities" and the Urban Imagination, 2022
This chapter offers a reading of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (1974) as a potential inspirati... more This chapter offers a reading of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (1974) as a potential inspiration and warning for smart city stakeholders who, in the last 10–15 years, have promoted computational models of urbanism through the integration of digitization and artificial intelligence in cities around the globe. The desire to gain absolute knowledge about everything that happens in the city—from its infrastructure to its residents’ behavior—is what drives the development of smart city systems, with the stated goal of improving efficiency, governance, sustainability, and convenience. Through the characters of Kublai Khan and Marco Polo, Calvino presents a similar desire for absolute knowledge about material and social life in cities. Like smart city enthusiasts, who aspire to create a fully smart city, the Great Khan sent Polo to explore the cities under his rule in order to fulfill his desire for knowledge, to better predict future scenarios, and to improve his governing of his empire.
The Corona Lexicon of Sociology, 2021
published in Uri Ram, Shlomo Svirsky and Nitza Berkovitch (eds.) The Corona Lexicon of Sociology,... more published in Uri Ram, Shlomo Svirsky and Nitza Berkovitch (eds.) The Corona Lexicon of Sociology, Adva Center and Israeli Sociology 21(2): 274—275 [in Hebrew].
The Corona Lexicon of Sociology, 2021
published in Uri Ram, Shlomo Svirsky and Nitza Berkovitch (eds.) The Corona Lexicon of Sociology,... more published in Uri Ram, Shlomo Svirsky and Nitza Berkovitch (eds.) The Corona Lexicon of Sociology, Adva Center and Israeli Sociology 21(2): 350—351 [in Hebrew].
Anthropology of the Middle East, 2019
This is a story and analysis of a film production that has never materialised. The case study fea... more This is a story and analysis of a film production that has never materialised. The case study features a group of neighbourhood residents who wished to produce a film representing their experiences of living in a mixed neighbourhood in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, where Jews and Arabs live together. The ethnography of their work documents the incommensurability between the social interactions within the group and the content of the film's script. While the group dynamic reflected the mixing atmosphere of the neighbourhood, their script succumbed to the hegemonic discourse of separation in Israel and to steering away from ambiguities. The group's aspiration to create a realistic representation required a political and visual language that was not available as an objective possibility and thus was challenging to imagine. Daylight, at Café Carmel. The camera focuses on two young men, a Jew and an Arab, each sitting at a table outside, about to finish their Greek salads. The Arab man is a bit dark-skinned; the Jew is white. They finish eating, and we see the lemon and olives on the Jewish man's plate were left untouched, while on the Arab's plate only lemon peel and olive pits are left. From inside the café, we can hear music in Arabic and sounds of people arguing. Sitting outside the café, a couple is kissing. Then, someone from the second floor throws a bucket full of water over them and curses in Russian. The camera moves to the falafel place next door and zooms in on the bilingual Hebrew/Arabic menu on the wall. From there, the camera pans outside, revealing the owner of the hookah place setting the hookahs. The camera moves on to Café Terez, where members of a left-wing student group sit in their group T-shirts. In the background, a song by Toot Ard plays. The camera then continues to the hair salon and from there to the street-art shop, where we hear a Nathansohn, Regev.
Encounters: History and Anthropology of the Israeli-Palestinian Space, 2019
Nathansohn, Regev. 2019. "Purifying the Description: Coexistence as Discourse of Separation in Ha... more Nathansohn, Regev. 2019. "Purifying the Description: Coexistence as Discourse of Separation in Haifa City Tours", in Dafna Hirsch (ed.) Encounters: History and Anthropology of the Israeli-Palestinian Space. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House [in Hebrew]. Pp. 430-459.
"Visual Sociology" (with Dennis Zuev), in George Ritzer and J. Michael Ryan (eds.) Blackwell Ency... more "Visual Sociology" (with Dennis Zuev), in George Ritzer and J. Michael Ryan (eds.) Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Blackwell Publishing, 2007. Blackwell Reference Online. DOI: 10.1111/b.9781405124331.2007.x.
Critical Asian Studies, 2010
From the Editor's preface:
"Regev Nathansohn considers a different visual dimension of the occup... more From the Editor's preface:
"Regev Nathansohn considers a different visual dimension of the occupation in the territories: photographs by photojournalists. Actually, he deals with attempts by photographers to tame, organize and distill the chaotic reality of the occupation by
means of photography. Having analyzed hundreds of photographs, he distinguishes between three types and attempts to identify the photographers of what he calls “transgressive photography.” One of the surprising results of the analysis is that
photojournalists rarely create transgressive photographs. Rather, soldiers who are not professional photographers are the ones who, surprisingly — or perhaps not— create most of the photographs that are not banal."
Shenhav, Yehouda. 2007. "Why not “The Occupation”". Theory and Criticism 31, Winter 2007. Pp. 322-332.
"Visual Sociology" (with Dennis Zuev), in George Ritzer and J. Michael Ryan (eds.) Blackwell Ency... more "Visual Sociology" (with Dennis Zuev), in George Ritzer and J. Michael Ryan (eds.) Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Blackwell Publishing, 2007. Blackwell Reference Online. DOI: 10.1111/b.9781405124331.2007.x.
Edited Collections by Regev Nathansohn
Special Sub-Section in Current Sociology 64(1), January 2016
Theses (M.A, Ph.D.) by Regev Nathansohn
Between Mount Carmel and the Mediterranean Sea lies a city that has been called “the mother of st... more Between Mount Carmel and the Mediterranean Sea lies a city that has been called “the mother of strangers” and “a mixed city.” It is also known as “a city of coexistence,” in contrast to the wider social context of ethno-national separation in Israel. The residents of Haifa, however, live mostly in separate, homogenous neighborhoods. Only a minority of its inhabitants live in a heterogeneous social setting among members of other ethno-national groups. Hadar, one of Haifa’s most diverse neighborhoods, is where I conducted four years of ethnographic research for this dissertation. Surrounded by Hadar's residents, who endeavor to make sense of living with their Other(s), I studied the various practices they use to bridge the gap between their experience of living in a mixing social environment and the deepening discourse of separation in Israel. My main finding is that being subjected to these contradictory social forces induces practices of reflexivity that open a variety of paths to bridge this gap: from working to eliminate social diversity, to legitimizing acceptance of the gap and its virtues, and to imagining an alternative discourse. The dissertation introduces the concept of “Reflexive Coexistence” to academic and public discussions of mixed cities. This concept is developed by presenting and analyzing the different forms it may take: in practices of representing past experiences of coexistence, in everyday interactions between Hadar's residents, who have diverse senses of belonging to their neighborhood, and in residents’ future-oriented political activism and artistic projects. Particularly in light of deepening practices of separation between Jews and Arabs in Israel, learning from the social dynamics of mixing social settings can offer public and academic discussions new, counter-hegemonic ideas for a more hopeful future.
This research examines the modes of production of visual representations and analyses the social ... more This research examines the modes of production of visual representations and analyses the social construction process that underlines them. The focal point is the practice of press photographers who have documented the Israeli occupation in Palestine during the third and fourth year of the second Palestinian Intifada (2000-), as compared to the practice of visual documentation of the occupation by soldiers in the Israeli army.
The main finding of this research is that the institutionalization mechanisms of the professional photography diminish the production of photographs that allow criticism of the occupation, while these such photos are in fact taken by the same soldiers who take part in the occupation apparatus and document their personal experiences as amateur photographers.
The thesis opens with a review of the literature on press photography and war photos in the global arena as well as on the Zionist-Palestinian conflict. This review gives rise to the research question attempting to fill a gap within the general study of the modes of production of visual materials and in the specific study of the photographic documentation of the local conflict.
The endeavor to decipher the collective action of the national discourse mechanisms, the professional discourse, the identity, the space and the communication market (both global and local), lies at the heart of the research question.
On the one hand, this collective action results in an “obvious” practice of presenting reality by use of the camera at times of a national conflict, and on the other hand might bring about its eradication.
In order to answer the research question, this essay shifts the emphasis from the photographer to the actual practice of taking photos. It divides the practice of shooting photos of the local conflict into three modes of photographic production: the banal, the transgressive and the aesthetic. While the banal mode participates in the reproduction of the existing social order, in the fixation of identities and power structures and in the intensification of control mechanisms, the transgressive mode dismantles the banal and the conventional patterns of representation by breaching its boundaries. This move of "breaking the rules" provides a different type of standpoint that allows criticism on the social order and existing power structures. Conversely, the aesthetic mode of photography shifts the emphasis from the content of the photograph to the visual experience that the photograph invokes by appealing to the senses and emotions of the observers.
This classification is presented in the theoretical chapter and is basically founded on the writing of philosophers belonging to the Frankfurt School and the Post-Structuralism thought.
The research claim relies on the proposed classification and suggests that there are informal institutionalization mechanisms in the professional field of press photography that limit and mold it into the banal and aesthetic modes of representing the Israeli occupation in Palestine, while reducing the mode of transgressive photography, the kind that allows denunciation of the occupation. Two derivative claims stem from this assertion. The first one is that the professional institutionalization processes cross the borders of national identity, so that its products are visual representations possessing reduced diversity even when the photographers belong to different nationalities (be it Israelis, Palestinians or "foreigners").
The second claim is that the potential for generating representations that criticize the occupation actually exists among the amateur and non-professional photographers who are not influenced by institutionalization mechanisms.
The three empirical chapters of the thesis aim to reinforce this claim on its various components.
The first empirical chapter presents analyses and classifications of about 800 photographs that document the Separation Project (popularly known as the “Separation Fence”). Professional photographers took these during the Intifada. The analysis focuses on the question “how does one represent” and confers secondary importance to the question “what does one represent” which is a predominant question in media researches. This analysis shows that the vast majority of the photographs – regardless of the national identity of the photographers – affiliate with the banal mode of photography.
The second empirical chapter offers an explanation to these findings by analyzing the practice of professional press photographers. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with six photographers. This chapter reveals the professional practice of taking photos as an artifact of social construct and formulates the structural constraints and the informal institutional framework in which photographers operate. This institutional framework sets up the Doxa, in the words of Bourdieu, which is the chief and self explanatory version of the field of press photography, as well as the professional Habitus of the photographers – that same scheme of acquired predispositions that functions as a set of productive schemes. The dynamics of powers applied on the photographers lies at the center of this analysis and the logic behind it which is narrowing down the transgressive mode of photography is being exposed, along with the formation of the photographer's moral indifference as he serves as an agent of the colonial project.
The valor of the professional institutionalization mechanism is examined in the last empirical chapter where the soldiers' amateur practice of taking photos is being analyzed.
This practice displays a double usage of the camera: as a conscience cleansing device, for example, when the soldiers express their desire to make photos protesting against the occupation; and as a device that makes transgression feasible, for example when the soldiers express their desire to document their personal military service experiences and in this way they actually show that the control mechanism is an unstable and undermined form of authority. The comparison between the soldiers' practice of photography and that of the press photographers reveals that the professional photographers practically turn into servile agents who carry out their jobs obediently and so their practice is much more hermetical than that of the soldiers – the formal agents of the occupation mechanism. Thus, while they portray themselves as autonomous, the professional institutionalization mechanisms actually serve the colonial and national discourse.
An additional conclusion cropping up from the different practices of photography has to do with the connection between the banal mode of photography and the transgressive one. That connection points to the fact that the banal form actually generates transgression and is associated with it, just as the existence of order depends on the existence of chaos and even contributes to its production. This phenomenon was noticeable among professional photographers in the creation of transgressive situations that threatened the hegemony by the very penetration of the camera into the military region – situations that were banally documented, or, as a result of the purifying practice of the banal mode of representation, were not thought of as worthy to be documented. However, this phenomenon was striking among soldiers in the distinction they made between two modes of photography: protest photos and photos of personal experiences, and in the collapse of this distinction, expressed in the transgressive mode of shooting the personal experience photos rather than the protest ones.
Additional questions arising from this research and relating to what has been recently described as "the democratization of news production" will be dealt with in the conclusion.
'Democratization' usually refers to the growing participation of amateur photographers in the production of news reports. I would like to suggest, that opening the media gates to visual materials that come from the "below" does not necessarily indicate the infiltration of the transgressive mode into the institutionalized media. This occurrence may rather lead to changes in the manner images are distributed which would lead to the exposure of private albums to the general public on their various modes of photography: banal, aesthetic and transgressive.
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Edited Books by Regev Nathansohn
collection of essays that both advances the study of the
visual and secures it a central place at the sociological
table. It achieves the goal of eloquently giving
prominence to diverse theoretical and methodological
approaches to the visual sphere. The editors’ choice to
draw on contributors from across the globe lends the
text a distinct polyvocality. This slim, but intellectually
rich, volume would be a provocative addition to a
graduate-level visual sociology and/or qualitative
research methods curriculum."
Papers by Regev Nathansohn
"Regev Nathansohn considers a different visual dimension of the occupation in the territories: photographs by photojournalists. Actually, he deals with attempts by photographers to tame, organize and distill the chaotic reality of the occupation by
means of photography. Having analyzed hundreds of photographs, he distinguishes between three types and attempts to identify the photographers of what he calls “transgressive photography.” One of the surprising results of the analysis is that
photojournalists rarely create transgressive photographs. Rather, soldiers who are not professional photographers are the ones who, surprisingly — or perhaps not— create most of the photographs that are not banal."
Shenhav, Yehouda. 2007. "Why not “The Occupation”". Theory and Criticism 31, Winter 2007. Pp. 322-332.
Edited Collections by Regev Nathansohn
Theses (M.A, Ph.D.) by Regev Nathansohn
The main finding of this research is that the institutionalization mechanisms of the professional photography diminish the production of photographs that allow criticism of the occupation, while these such photos are in fact taken by the same soldiers who take part in the occupation apparatus and document their personal experiences as amateur photographers.
The thesis opens with a review of the literature on press photography and war photos in the global arena as well as on the Zionist-Palestinian conflict. This review gives rise to the research question attempting to fill a gap within the general study of the modes of production of visual materials and in the specific study of the photographic documentation of the local conflict.
The endeavor to decipher the collective action of the national discourse mechanisms, the professional discourse, the identity, the space and the communication market (both global and local), lies at the heart of the research question.
On the one hand, this collective action results in an “obvious” practice of presenting reality by use of the camera at times of a national conflict, and on the other hand might bring about its eradication.
In order to answer the research question, this essay shifts the emphasis from the photographer to the actual practice of taking photos. It divides the practice of shooting photos of the local conflict into three modes of photographic production: the banal, the transgressive and the aesthetic. While the banal mode participates in the reproduction of the existing social order, in the fixation of identities and power structures and in the intensification of control mechanisms, the transgressive mode dismantles the banal and the conventional patterns of representation by breaching its boundaries. This move of "breaking the rules" provides a different type of standpoint that allows criticism on the social order and existing power structures. Conversely, the aesthetic mode of photography shifts the emphasis from the content of the photograph to the visual experience that the photograph invokes by appealing to the senses and emotions of the observers.
This classification is presented in the theoretical chapter and is basically founded on the writing of philosophers belonging to the Frankfurt School and the Post-Structuralism thought.
The research claim relies on the proposed classification and suggests that there are informal institutionalization mechanisms in the professional field of press photography that limit and mold it into the banal and aesthetic modes of representing the Israeli occupation in Palestine, while reducing the mode of transgressive photography, the kind that allows denunciation of the occupation. Two derivative claims stem from this assertion. The first one is that the professional institutionalization processes cross the borders of national identity, so that its products are visual representations possessing reduced diversity even when the photographers belong to different nationalities (be it Israelis, Palestinians or "foreigners").
The second claim is that the potential for generating representations that criticize the occupation actually exists among the amateur and non-professional photographers who are not influenced by institutionalization mechanisms.
The three empirical chapters of the thesis aim to reinforce this claim on its various components.
The first empirical chapter presents analyses and classifications of about 800 photographs that document the Separation Project (popularly known as the “Separation Fence”). Professional photographers took these during the Intifada. The analysis focuses on the question “how does one represent” and confers secondary importance to the question “what does one represent” which is a predominant question in media researches. This analysis shows that the vast majority of the photographs – regardless of the national identity of the photographers – affiliate with the banal mode of photography.
The second empirical chapter offers an explanation to these findings by analyzing the practice of professional press photographers. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with six photographers. This chapter reveals the professional practice of taking photos as an artifact of social construct and formulates the structural constraints and the informal institutional framework in which photographers operate. This institutional framework sets up the Doxa, in the words of Bourdieu, which is the chief and self explanatory version of the field of press photography, as well as the professional Habitus of the photographers – that same scheme of acquired predispositions that functions as a set of productive schemes. The dynamics of powers applied on the photographers lies at the center of this analysis and the logic behind it which is narrowing down the transgressive mode of photography is being exposed, along with the formation of the photographer's moral indifference as he serves as an agent of the colonial project.
The valor of the professional institutionalization mechanism is examined in the last empirical chapter where the soldiers' amateur practice of taking photos is being analyzed.
This practice displays a double usage of the camera: as a conscience cleansing device, for example, when the soldiers express their desire to make photos protesting against the occupation; and as a device that makes transgression feasible, for example when the soldiers express their desire to document their personal military service experiences and in this way they actually show that the control mechanism is an unstable and undermined form of authority. The comparison between the soldiers' practice of photography and that of the press photographers reveals that the professional photographers practically turn into servile agents who carry out their jobs obediently and so their practice is much more hermetical than that of the soldiers – the formal agents of the occupation mechanism. Thus, while they portray themselves as autonomous, the professional institutionalization mechanisms actually serve the colonial and national discourse.
An additional conclusion cropping up from the different practices of photography has to do with the connection between the banal mode of photography and the transgressive one. That connection points to the fact that the banal form actually generates transgression and is associated with it, just as the existence of order depends on the existence of chaos and even contributes to its production. This phenomenon was noticeable among professional photographers in the creation of transgressive situations that threatened the hegemony by the very penetration of the camera into the military region – situations that were banally documented, or, as a result of the purifying practice of the banal mode of representation, were not thought of as worthy to be documented. However, this phenomenon was striking among soldiers in the distinction they made between two modes of photography: protest photos and photos of personal experiences, and in the collapse of this distinction, expressed in the transgressive mode of shooting the personal experience photos rather than the protest ones.
Additional questions arising from this research and relating to what has been recently described as "the democratization of news production" will be dealt with in the conclusion.
'Democratization' usually refers to the growing participation of amateur photographers in the production of news reports. I would like to suggest, that opening the media gates to visual materials that come from the "below" does not necessarily indicate the infiltration of the transgressive mode into the institutionalized media. This occurrence may rather lead to changes in the manner images are distributed which would lead to the exposure of private albums to the general public on their various modes of photography: banal, aesthetic and transgressive.
collection of essays that both advances the study of the
visual and secures it a central place at the sociological
table. It achieves the goal of eloquently giving
prominence to diverse theoretical and methodological
approaches to the visual sphere. The editors’ choice to
draw on contributors from across the globe lends the
text a distinct polyvocality. This slim, but intellectually
rich, volume would be a provocative addition to a
graduate-level visual sociology and/or qualitative
research methods curriculum."
"Regev Nathansohn considers a different visual dimension of the occupation in the territories: photographs by photojournalists. Actually, he deals with attempts by photographers to tame, organize and distill the chaotic reality of the occupation by
means of photography. Having analyzed hundreds of photographs, he distinguishes between three types and attempts to identify the photographers of what he calls “transgressive photography.” One of the surprising results of the analysis is that
photojournalists rarely create transgressive photographs. Rather, soldiers who are not professional photographers are the ones who, surprisingly — or perhaps not— create most of the photographs that are not banal."
Shenhav, Yehouda. 2007. "Why not “The Occupation”". Theory and Criticism 31, Winter 2007. Pp. 322-332.
The main finding of this research is that the institutionalization mechanisms of the professional photography diminish the production of photographs that allow criticism of the occupation, while these such photos are in fact taken by the same soldiers who take part in the occupation apparatus and document their personal experiences as amateur photographers.
The thesis opens with a review of the literature on press photography and war photos in the global arena as well as on the Zionist-Palestinian conflict. This review gives rise to the research question attempting to fill a gap within the general study of the modes of production of visual materials and in the specific study of the photographic documentation of the local conflict.
The endeavor to decipher the collective action of the national discourse mechanisms, the professional discourse, the identity, the space and the communication market (both global and local), lies at the heart of the research question.
On the one hand, this collective action results in an “obvious” practice of presenting reality by use of the camera at times of a national conflict, and on the other hand might bring about its eradication.
In order to answer the research question, this essay shifts the emphasis from the photographer to the actual practice of taking photos. It divides the practice of shooting photos of the local conflict into three modes of photographic production: the banal, the transgressive and the aesthetic. While the banal mode participates in the reproduction of the existing social order, in the fixation of identities and power structures and in the intensification of control mechanisms, the transgressive mode dismantles the banal and the conventional patterns of representation by breaching its boundaries. This move of "breaking the rules" provides a different type of standpoint that allows criticism on the social order and existing power structures. Conversely, the aesthetic mode of photography shifts the emphasis from the content of the photograph to the visual experience that the photograph invokes by appealing to the senses and emotions of the observers.
This classification is presented in the theoretical chapter and is basically founded on the writing of philosophers belonging to the Frankfurt School and the Post-Structuralism thought.
The research claim relies on the proposed classification and suggests that there are informal institutionalization mechanisms in the professional field of press photography that limit and mold it into the banal and aesthetic modes of representing the Israeli occupation in Palestine, while reducing the mode of transgressive photography, the kind that allows denunciation of the occupation. Two derivative claims stem from this assertion. The first one is that the professional institutionalization processes cross the borders of national identity, so that its products are visual representations possessing reduced diversity even when the photographers belong to different nationalities (be it Israelis, Palestinians or "foreigners").
The second claim is that the potential for generating representations that criticize the occupation actually exists among the amateur and non-professional photographers who are not influenced by institutionalization mechanisms.
The three empirical chapters of the thesis aim to reinforce this claim on its various components.
The first empirical chapter presents analyses and classifications of about 800 photographs that document the Separation Project (popularly known as the “Separation Fence”). Professional photographers took these during the Intifada. The analysis focuses on the question “how does one represent” and confers secondary importance to the question “what does one represent” which is a predominant question in media researches. This analysis shows that the vast majority of the photographs – regardless of the national identity of the photographers – affiliate with the banal mode of photography.
The second empirical chapter offers an explanation to these findings by analyzing the practice of professional press photographers. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with six photographers. This chapter reveals the professional practice of taking photos as an artifact of social construct and formulates the structural constraints and the informal institutional framework in which photographers operate. This institutional framework sets up the Doxa, in the words of Bourdieu, which is the chief and self explanatory version of the field of press photography, as well as the professional Habitus of the photographers – that same scheme of acquired predispositions that functions as a set of productive schemes. The dynamics of powers applied on the photographers lies at the center of this analysis and the logic behind it which is narrowing down the transgressive mode of photography is being exposed, along with the formation of the photographer's moral indifference as he serves as an agent of the colonial project.
The valor of the professional institutionalization mechanism is examined in the last empirical chapter where the soldiers' amateur practice of taking photos is being analyzed.
This practice displays a double usage of the camera: as a conscience cleansing device, for example, when the soldiers express their desire to make photos protesting against the occupation; and as a device that makes transgression feasible, for example when the soldiers express their desire to document their personal military service experiences and in this way they actually show that the control mechanism is an unstable and undermined form of authority. The comparison between the soldiers' practice of photography and that of the press photographers reveals that the professional photographers practically turn into servile agents who carry out their jobs obediently and so their practice is much more hermetical than that of the soldiers – the formal agents of the occupation mechanism. Thus, while they portray themselves as autonomous, the professional institutionalization mechanisms actually serve the colonial and national discourse.
An additional conclusion cropping up from the different practices of photography has to do with the connection between the banal mode of photography and the transgressive one. That connection points to the fact that the banal form actually generates transgression and is associated with it, just as the existence of order depends on the existence of chaos and even contributes to its production. This phenomenon was noticeable among professional photographers in the creation of transgressive situations that threatened the hegemony by the very penetration of the camera into the military region – situations that were banally documented, or, as a result of the purifying practice of the banal mode of representation, were not thought of as worthy to be documented. However, this phenomenon was striking among soldiers in the distinction they made between two modes of photography: protest photos and photos of personal experiences, and in the collapse of this distinction, expressed in the transgressive mode of shooting the personal experience photos rather than the protest ones.
Additional questions arising from this research and relating to what has been recently described as "the democratization of news production" will be dealt with in the conclusion.
'Democratization' usually refers to the growing participation of amateur photographers in the production of news reports. I would like to suggest, that opening the media gates to visual materials that come from the "below" does not necessarily indicate the infiltration of the transgressive mode into the institutionalized media. This occurrence may rather lead to changes in the manner images are distributed which would lead to the exposure of private albums to the general public on their various modes of photography: banal, aesthetic and transgressive.