Ways of seeing, ways of making seen: Visual representations in urban landscapes

Abstract

The articles in this volume have emerged in an interdisciplinary space in-between sociology, sociolinguistics, visual anthropology, political science and cultural studies. The contributors took part in one of the panels within the 2nd International Symposium of the International Association of Discourse and Society Studies, jointly organised by the Centre for Social Studies and the School of Humanities of the University of Coimbra in June 2015 (EDiSo, June 18-20). They all share a common interest in viewing urban landscapes as public spaces that are socially produced. Being situated in power relations, as well as based on inequalities, discourse and identities coexist and compete for representation. In this sense, each and every instance of visual communication – be it a piece of graffiti on a wall, a banner in an urban protest or political campaign, or even a shop or a street sign – performs ideologies as people and collectives who produce them make choices.