Instructing Hugs for the Photograph: The Local Achievement of Haptic Compositions and Their Public Visibility

Mondada L., Tekin B. S., Monteiro D.

Discourse Processes, vol.61, no.3, pp.117-141, 2024 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 61 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/0163853x.2023.2293445
  • Journal Name: Discourse Processes
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Periodicals Index Online, ComAbstracts, Communication & Mass Media Index, Communication Abstracts, EBSCO Education Source, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Linguistic Bibliography, Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Psycinfo
  • Page Numbers: pp.117-141
  • Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Hugs are a pervasive practice characterizing human sociality. They involve the persons engaged in hugging as well as other persons who might witness it for various purposes. This article examines the social organization of hugging in family photography sessions. This organization integrates instructions to hug, orchestrated by photographers and sometimes by third parties, and their responses; it also relies on constitutive details of local contexts as well as global projects of the photographing activity. By concentrating on the organization of hugs in photography sessions, this study highlights the movement trajectories of hugging parties and their projectability and visibility. Relying on their professional vision, photographers identify, arrange, and shoot photographable haptic compositions. The ways in which hugs are produced index different familial relationships among hugging parties, shedding light on issues such as agency, participation and entitlement.