The aim of this study day is to move away from official memorial narratives and focus on the individual level, using often private photographs (family albums,
(Images preserved in private collections), sometimes originating from public sources. Vernacular photography, a "minor art" according to Pierre Bourdieu (a term translated into German as "illegitimate Kunst"), is nevertheless considered a historical source.

It allows us to write a history "from below," that of individuals rescued from anonymity, giving them back a name, a face, attempting to trace their trajectories to tell a richer and more vibrant story of society than that of mere structures. What is the role of photography in writing biographies, beyond simple illustration? How can it reveal the agency of individuals? In what ways can the discovery of new photographic collections enrich or inspire biographical research?

Furthermore, how do private photographs shed new light on major historical processes? What kinds of discourses (historical investigations, personal narratives, literary texts, etc.) do they then give rise to?

From an interdisciplinary perspective, the study day will present individual destinies revealed by photography.

The work of historians, sociologists, ethnologists, art historians, as well as literary approaches to these issues, will allow us to examine the place of the individual in history in a new way and to shed light on the mechanisms of transmission, appropriation, and sometimes even concealment.
national and international events.

Tuesday November 18 at 08:30 a.m. – Polényk Amphitheater – Moufia Campus

Consult the program