Disturbing Fine Memories? An empirical study of young people's camphone family pictures

Abstract

Being one of the most ritualised and coded images we have, the family photo has maintained its status and privilege as the visual, self-acclaimed collective family heirloom throughout the decades. In spite of the fact that new family forms have challenged the conventional nuclear family structure and function, the family picture has predominantly remained the same: smiling children, parents, uncles and aunts at unmistakably happy moments. Today, all Norwegian teenagers have their own camera telephone, which facilitates a multiplicity of ways that family narratives can be maintained, expanded and perpetuated. Parents are no longer the sole editors and custodians of the family's visual memories. As young people demand a place as historiographers and intervene in the mediation of family memories and ideologies, the practice of the presentation of the family, its social function and significance are undergoing changes. Based on analysis of in-depth interviews with twenty-three Norwegian teenagers and a sample of their camphone family pictures, this article examines how camphone family pictures make possible new articulations of the family, articulations that perhaps are more in accordance with the changes that already are underway in the functions of families. In terms of these phenomena the article discusses how new technologies of the self affect conventions and understandings of the family and how “new” and plural family pictures, filed in each individual's private digital archives, affect the coming family narratives.

Notes

1 “Techno-phenomenology” is a term that is borrowed from Aud Sissel Hoel's theoretical work on photography's performative capacity. The prefix “techno” in “techno-phenomenology” is, as Hoel stresses, used in order to underline that material symbols and technologies are seen as vital aspects in constituting meaning and knowledge.

2 This study is based upon fieldwork that was conducted over a period of four years. Nine informants were recruited in 2001 with assistance from a study inspector at an upper secondary school in Oslo. The others were subsequently recruited using the snowball method, and comprise informants from three major cities in south, central and northern Norway, respectively. Interviews were conducted in the autumn and winter of 2001, and during the spring and summer of 2004 and in the autumn of 2005. All informants, as well as other persons concerned (possible third parties involved, i.e. if the informant had submitted pictures of persons other than themselves) have consented in writing to publication of the pictures used in this article. The empirical methods have been reported to, and are registered by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services AS in 2003 and 2009. For more details on methods used, see Prøitz.

3 In total, I collected 300 camera phone images of various motifs and genres. Yet in this article, I solely discuss family images. Other image genres, mobile phone practices in general and theoretical discussion on emerging media genres in particular are thoroughly discussed elsewhere (see Lüders et al.; Prøitz). The collection of images was made possible in two ways: Six of the seven interviewees transferred all the pictures stored on their mobile phones directly to my computer during the interview. In these cases, I received the whole camphone album, unedited, on the spot. The last interviewee sent a selection of pictures via MMS and supplied them with comments by e-mail following the interview.

4 For simplicity, all images are distinguished with lower case letters. The kinship expressed, for example the way I use the various terms “uncle”, “father” etc. indicates the relationships from the informants' points of view.

5 The prefix “techno” in Hoel's term “techno-phenomenology” is used in order to underline that material symbols and technologies are seen as vital aspects in constituting meaning and knowledge.

6 The following carte de visite photographs, NF09192-001 and NF09192-005 (Figures 1 and 2), are borrowed from Norsk Folkemuseum and reprinted with permission. See Appendix.

7 During the early twentieth century, following strict etiquette, the visit was a form of social interaction. The main purpose was to strengthen and expand the emerging bourgeoisie's social circles. According to the art historian Kristin Halaas (36), the photographic portrait in carte de visite form was mainly developed and adapted to its “pre-existing socio-cultural function — the visit”. The etiquette served as a buffer zone between the private and the public spheres, and the carte de visite photograph functioned as an admission ticket between these spheres.

8 All eight camphone pictures are displayed in the separate attachment following this article.

9 All informants' names are pseudonyms.