Posthuman figurations and hauntological graspings of historical consciousness/thinking through (re)photography

Abstract

This article draws on data collected from a secondary school in Florida to explore how temporally disjointed aesthetics (e.g. (re)photographs) impact constructions of historical knowledge. Using posthuman concepts (e.g. assemblage, rhizome, spacetimematter(ing), hauntology), this study relied on visual methodologies—specifically photo-elicitation—to attend to the question: How do engagements with (re)photographs contribute to the development secondary students’ historical consciousness/thinking? Data consisted of artifacts reflecting engagements with three collections of (re)photographs featuring ghosts/hauntings and semi-structured focus group interviews. Rhizomatic assemblages re-presenting entanglements with what was produced during this study suggest that (re)photographs not only fostered historical consciousness/thinking by exposing the in-between/ness of temporality and materiality, but that (re)photography extends the boundaries historical consciousness/thinking through students’ emerging relationships to the pastpresentfuture(ing).

Keywords:

• Posthumanism
• hauntology
• historical consciousness/thinking
• social studies
• (re)photography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Taking a cue from Hawkman and Shear (2020), white was not capitalized throughout this research. Despite the American Psychological Association recommending that signifiers of racialized identity markers be capitalized, I left White uncapitalized in an effort to confront white supremacy in educational and research-based contexts.

2 Although vague, Eastern European was used as a broad geospatial coordinate in an attempt to acknowledge that for some, genealogy/ies and family history/ies are nomadic, multiplicitous, and complicated.

3 Although data was collected from 21 participants, this table only represents information about the 14 participants referenced in the article.

4 Underscoring how rhizomatic processes are never finished, during the production phase of this article, images of each assemblage were taken and/inserted into the full body of text. This decision was agreed upon between the author and production team in order to best reflect the original layout of each assemblage. Being said, the text (unexpectedly) shifts in color and font—adding to the unhinged-ness and nomadecy of the manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bretton A. Varga

Bretton A. Varga, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of History-Social Science at California State University, Chico. His research works with(in) critical posthuman theories of race, materiality, and temporality to explore how visual methods and aesthetics can be used to unveil historically marginalized perspectives and layers (upon layers) of history that haunt the world around us.