Ontologies and Natures: Knowledge about Health in Visual Culture

Fernando Gonzalez Rodriguez's book "Ontologies and Natures: Knowledge about Health in Visual Culture" explores how visual culture provides insights into how societies perceive the role of nature in healing and care. It examines how visual culture operates as a vehicle for spreading health-related knowledge and imaginaries, how nature becomes a consumable object, and the situatedness of health within geographical and mental contexts. The book is informed by historical sources, visual-virtual ethnography, content analysis, and semiotic-linguistic analysis of objects from around the world, with a particular focus on Indigenous traditional knowledge.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 15 October 2022
Publisher: Lexington Books

In his book "In Ontologies and Natures: Knowledge about Health in Visual Culture," Fernando Gonzalez Rodriguez delves into the profound insights that visual culture provides into how societies perceive the significance of nature in their own and others' pursuits to cure and care for the human body. Through the use of a diverse range of visual surfaces and artifacts as entry points, such as vlogs, toys, cosmetics, psychotropics, stamps, posters, and animation, among others, the book sheds light on the evolution, circulation, and rootedness of ideas about nature as a healing source.

The first part of the book delves into the ways in which visual culture functions as a powerful vehicle for the diffusion, transmission, mediation, and communication of health-related knowledge and imaginaries concerning the role of nature in medicinal therapies. The author explores this through the lens of a dictionary, which serves as a valuable resource for understanding the various terms and concepts associated with natural remedies and their therapeutic applications.

The second part of the book takes a deeper dive into the process by which nature becomes a consumable, encapsulated in objects defined by their visual and material traits. The author focuses on items such as labels on packages of herbal cosmetics and infographics about superfoods, highlighting the ways in which these visual representations shape our understanding and consumption of nature as a source of health and well-being.

In the third part of the book, Gonzalez Rodriguez examines the situatedness of health within two physical contexts: geographical and mental. He employs a methodological approach informed by historical sources, visual-virtual ethnography, content analysis, and semiotic-linguistic analysis of objects from all corners of the globe, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous traditional knowledge(s). Through this comprehensive approach, the author seeks to unravel the complex relationships between visual culture, nature, and health, offering valuable insights into the ways in which these three realms intersect and influence one another.

Overall, "In Ontologies and Natures: Knowledge about Health in Visual Culture" is a thought-provoking and insightful book that sheds light on the multifaceted ways in which visual culture contributes to our understanding of nature, health, and the human body. By exploring the evolution, circulation, and rootedness of ideas about nature as a healing source, the book provides valuable insights into the complex interplay between culture, nature, and human well-being.

Weight: 476g
Dimension: 238 x 157 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781666909494