Fotografia rodzinna w pracy genealoga – perspektywa badacza zaangażowanego i niezaangażowanego
Family photography in the work of a genealogist – perspectives of engaged and unengaged researchers

Summary/Abstract: The paper is written by two researchers, each representing a different perspective and a different level of emotional engagement in the research material consisting of family photos collected in Księga Rodziny Ziemlińskich z Krobi 1867–1967 [Chronicle of the Ziemliński Family of Krobia 1867–1967]. The paper constitutes an analysis of the functions of family photography. The catalogue of functions is found in reference books and papers: the publications of Piotr Sztompka, Christopher Musselo, and Pierre Bourdieu. It includes: (1) strengthening the feeling of community, (2) initiating and preserving interactions between family members, (3) self-presentation, (4) documentation of family life, (5) prestige, and (6) entertainment. These functions were the starting point of independent analyses of the family photos found in the Chronicle. They were carried out by an engaged researcher: a genealogist, the chronicler of the family, a descendant of the author of the Chronicle and an unengaged researcher, who looks at the analysis of the visual materials from a methodological perspective. What is more, the reflections of both the researchers are illustrated with photos from the Chronicle, and the photos made because of the book: during family reunions and interviews conducted in relation to it. In the final part of the paper the researchers propose that despite the mutual permeation of interpretations, perceiving the photos as illustrations of different investigated functions, and different levels of emotional engagement of both the authors, it is feasible to create a coherent image of the importance of family photography in genealogy. That is why both interpretation and autointerpretation are justified in qualitative research based on analysis of visual materials.

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