#visuality

Georges Didi-Huberman,

Persona (1966) dir. by Ingmar Bergman

'What Else is There' (2005) by Röyksopp

Jane Eyre (2006, theatrical adaptation) dir. Polly Teale

Hi!

For the first question, yes, definitely! Deaf people, especially those who communicate in sign language, are very drawn to visual media and art. There are lots of d/Deaf artists, filmmakers and we even have our specific architecture! We are even called “visual people” by some and some studies say that deaf people have better vision than hearing. :)

Deaf people are almost more physical and touch others often, since its one of the ways how to capture someone’s attention. Tapping a total stranger on the shoulder is okay.

But of course, this doesnt apply to everyone, there is also lot of deaf people with bad eyesight and who hate being touched. ;)

As for the second question, I really don’t know. I certainly never felt extremely aware in that sense. I think that this would be more a thing of blind and deafblind people, being sensitive to touch. But there could be deaf people out there who experience it.

Hope that helped,

White Paranoia & The Racial Hegemonic Framework in the Visual Field

During the month of March in 1991, a taxi driver, Rodney King, was pursued by police in what appeared to be high speed pursuit down the streets of Los Angeles. King, an African American male, was later stopped by LA police, and proceeded to be brutally beaten by four officers. In an attempt to protect himself from the savage beating, King raised his hands over his head to shield himself from the powerful blows. The police officers in question continued to beat King with their batons, kicking him, punching him, and yelling various racial jargons. The beating proceeded to go on for one minute and nineteen seconds. King was continuously beaten into the ground by a multitude of officers, despite being unarmed, and non-threatening.  

The reason why we know anything about this event, is because passerby, George Holiday, happened to see the events unfolding. He proceeded to take out his camcorder and film the events. His footage was later used in court as one of the primary sources of evidence during the trial of Rodney King. Despite the graphic nature of the still frames used in court, a primarily Caucasian jury voted in favor of acquitting the police for their actions.

(Image Source: https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/05/25/inenglish/1495709209_218886.html)

Judith Butler, an American-born philosopher, takes on the events of the Rodney King case to explain the schematics of white paranoia and how this effects the visual field. In her essay “Endangered/Endangering: Schematic Racism and White Paranoia” , Butler discusses why the jury would choose to acquit the officers of their violent actions. In her essay, Butler describes the events found within the footage. She proceeds to convey the meaning of gestures carried out in the scene, and how the jury is interpretation from a primarily white perspective, Butler discuses a great deal about how the visual field is a “racially contested terrain” (Butler 17), meaning there is a racist hegemony over the field of visuality. What we are necessarily seeing in the photo is King defending himself against his attackers. However, what the jury has seen is a man not acting in self-defense, but rather self-defiance. Butler believes the actions of the jury prove there is a contest within the visual filed. One which operates under a racist framework. A framework which puts to test the two sides of the visual spectrum the jury is witnessing. On one hand, this visual shows a brutal beating carried out with mal intent. On the other hand, the eyes which are seeing through the Lense of white paranoia, the police are in an act of vulnerability to save themselves from the constant threat of the black body. In this case, the hand King holds above his head is seen as a threat to the peace the police maintain, versus him acting in self-defense for his life.

(Image Source: http://www.lefotochehannosegnatounepoca.it/2017/04/04/pestaggio-rodney-king-parte-agenti-polizia-los-angeles/)

To better explain this concept, Butler uses key concepts from the works of Frantz Fanon. Fanon describes the black body being perceived by the white body as a dangerous actor. Any gesture carried out by the black body is a gesture of violence towards the white body. The police are seen as the barrier which protects the white body from the black body, and are therefore the automatic heroes of the situation. In her essay, Butler writes "this is not a simple seeing, an act of direct perception, but the racial production of the visible, the workings of racial constraints on what it means to "see"(Butler 16). Based on the racist framework which according to Butler exits in the visual field, any actions the black body takes, even in defense if oneself, will always be seen as a threat, and the actions taken by police are therefore justifiable regardless of the situation. The truth within the photos shown in the courtroom, were what the jurors intended it to be. The still frames captured the senseless beating of King, but the racist framework surrounding the act of seeing created a message which favored the police. In this case, the subconscious interpretation of the visual transcended the actual physical actions taking place in the footage. This conveys another contest within the spectrum of visual culture, making us question how we perceive images, and what the factual or relative truth is.

The Defended and Defenseless

Elsa Dorlin also offers her interpretation of how the black body is perceived in the visual filed. In her work, “What a Body Can Do,” Dorlin alludes to Butler’s work, and references the Rodeny King case as evidence that "the racial schematisation of perceptions defines both the production of the perceived and what it means to perceive" (Dorlin 2019). Basically, Dorling conveys two important concepts, “the defended” and “the defenseless”. The defended, is the dominant subject of the situation. The defended has the power to act in their own self-defense, but also chooses who can kill, care for, and conserve. They also have the power to choose who will be the defenseless of the situation. The defenseless, are those who are allowed to protect themselves, but the more they protect themselves the greater the risk of damage becomes. Overall, the defended hold the sovereignty of what, who, and how a situation is handled. The defenseless are therefore led on by the defended to exercise their right to defend, but then assume the consequences of defending themselves against a dangerous power.  

Different Body, Same Story

The Rodney King trial from 1991 has not been the only trial of its kind. There have been many instances of police brutality against black bodies, where police are still perceived as the righteous of the situation. For instance, in February 2018, Ronell Foster, an African American Male and father of two, was riding his bike home one night from work. A police officer, Ryan McMahon, saw Foster on his bike, swerving in and out of traffic. McMahon apprehended Foster to the side of the road, Foster, who was a convicted felon for carjacking proceeded to flee the scene. McMahon then proceeded to apprehend Foster by tackling and tasering him several times in the chest and stomach to cease Foster’s struggling. The struggling, due to immense pain from the electricity continued, McMahon proceeded to beat Foster with a police grade flashlight. Several shots were fired, and Foster was left dead in the dark bushes.

(Image Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/07/vallejo-police-shooting-bike-ronell-foster-willie-mccoy)

The police camcorder footage sent to McMahon's trial was used as a primary source of evidence. In footage, the audience can see the struggle taking place. McMahon tackles Foster to the ground, proceeds to tase and beat him. Foster then lifts his hand up to grasp at the flashlight McMahon is hitting him with, McMahon removes himself from atop foster’s body. Foster proceeds to drop the flashlight and appears to make a run for the bushes in an attempt to escape. Mcmahon then shoots Foster dead before he can escape.  

Solana County District Officials decided to not bring charges against McMahon, even though Foster was unarmed and being stopped for a minor traffic infraction. The jurors in question decided that the footage was evidence foster proposed immediate threat to the officer, and the cations carried out were appropriate.  

This case closely ties in with the Rodney King case, as it is another example of white paranoia taking control of the visual field through a racial hegemonic framework.  

Based on the content of the readings, Dorlin leaves her audience with an insightful quote:

"What must be interrogated is this process by which perceptions come to be socially constructed, produced by a corpus that continues to constrain any possible act of knowledge" (Dorlin 2019)

Can we continue to interpret images properly, knowing there is a racial undertone to the perception of the physical embodiment? If we continue to interpret images within a biased framework, how will we ever perceive the actual truth? What steps need to be taken concerning not only our right to look, but also our responsibility to view something within a non-biased framework.  

Sources:

Butler, J. (1993) ‘Endangered/Endangering: Schematic Racism and White Paranoia’, in Gooding-Williams, R., Reading Rodney King Reading Urban Uprising, New York and London: Routledge.