Abstract

Donna Haraway has formulated the concept of “situated knowledges” to argue that the perception of any situation is always a matter of an embodied, located subject and their geographically and historically specific perspective, a perspective constantly being structured and restructured by the current conditions. The aim of this paper is to examine different ways of seeing the refugees of the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan through the lens of situated knowledges. It will present high- resolution aerial photos of their settlements as if they could be “anywhere” and it will look at a Virtual Reality short film which provides the viewers with a 360-degree view of the camp, promising an immersive experience, to argue that high-resolution images create distance and generic visions that scarcely foster engagement and situatedness.

How to Cite:

Antonopoulou, A., (2017) “Situated Knowledges and Shifting Grounds: Questioning the Reality Effect of High-resolution Imagery”, field: 7(1), 53–64. doi: https://doi.org/10.62471/field.75