Photography in Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures

As part of the recent turn towards visual culture in French studies, photography has begun to receive increased attention from scholars in the field. This volume of eight orignial essays and an interview with the Director of one of France's leading photographic institutions (the Maison européenne de la photographie) provides a broad and inclusive account of the multiple manifestations of photography in contemporary French and francophone societies and cultures. Broad topics such as the cultural institutionalisation of photography, its connections to post-conceptual art, the tradtion of tableau, city photography, photography and cultural identity, and photobiography are considered. Reflecting a diverse array of  scholarly approaches and methodologies, the volume will appeal to visual culture specialists in French studies and cognate disciplines. It brings together art historical, socio-cultural, political, postcolonial and literary perspectives on the medium, spanning trends and developments from the 1970s to the present day. Key Features A wide-ranging treatment of the multi-faceted reality of photography in French and francophone contextsAddresses individual photographers and writers (including Bruno Boudjelal, Stéphane Couturier, Raymond Depardon, Valerie Jouve and Roland Barthes, Sophie Calle, J.M.G. Le Clézio, Annie Ernaux, Hervé Guibert, Denis Roche)Includes an original interview iwht Jean-Luc Monterosso, Director of the Maison européenne de la photographie, ParisIncludes 15 colour and black/white illustrations

Kathrin Yacavone researches and teaches in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Marburg, Germany. She is a media studies scholar and photography theorist with a particular interest in cross-media phenomena, including in photography and literature. She is the author of Benjamin, Barthes and the Singularity of Photography (Continuum, 2012), co-editor of Die Fotografie und ihre Institutionen (Photography’s Institutionalization) (Reimer, 2024), and editor of five special journal issues on topics such as collaborative authorship, the history and aesthetics of photoalbums, contemporary photography in France, and nineteenth-century portraiture. Her current research project concerns the cultural impact of generative AI in relation to the aesthetic category of style.