Silhouettes analysis: a posthuman method for visualizing and examining the material world

Abstract

In recent decades, postmodern, poststructuralist, and social constructivist theories, and the methodologies and methods they have informed, have been criticized for focusing primarily on human actors, discourses, and actions. Simultaneously, so-called posthuman theories have been developed that decentralize the human, reject an unquestioned use of the dualism of human/nonhuman, and emphasize the importance of the material world in the production of the social. A key concern for current qualitative inquiry is to develop methods that contribute to the critique of human-centered analysis. In this article, I explore what we learn about the material world when we do not use verbal methods or written data but image details of moveable formations, which are made into silhouettes using Karen Barad’s agential realism. After introducing posthuman methodology I perform a silhouettes analysis focusing on old age. The intention is to demonstrate that silhouettes analysis makes it possible to gain new insights into the features of materialities of old age in a way that classical image analysis would not allow. In addition, silhouettes analysis produces an alienation effect that disturbs practiced viewing habits and assumptions, and can thus serve as a research tool promoting reflection. I conclude with a discussion of the advantages and limitations of silhouettes analysis for gerontological and posthuman research.