This is a brief summary of the visual communication

1. Introduction
 Communicationisaprocessof exchanginginformation
 Communicationconveysfacts,conceptsandemotions
 There are twotypesof communication:1- The verbal :includingthe visual (writtenlge) andthe
oral (spokenlge) 2-Non-verbalcom: includingthe visual(Postures,symbols,sensory,bodylge..)
and the oral (words)
 Verbal communication:The processof communicationthroughsendingandreceivingmessages
withthe use of words
 Non-verbal communication:The processof communicationthroughsendingandreceiving
wordlessmessages(Gestures,postures,facial expressions,eye contact,appearance,hand
writing..)
 Visual communication:the conveyance of ideasandinformationwithvisuals
 Visual media:1- print: articles,brochures,fine arts2 – Motion : films- animation–preformation
3- Website,CD,ram
 The powerof visual communication :
 “A picture iswortha thousandwords”
 It makeseveryone understandwhatitis
 It clearlydefinesus
 Showscomplete ideasinsimple figures
 What yousee,the brainretains
 Use of visual communication:itisusedinvariousformsin a day to daylife :
 Advertising
 Productplacement
 Endorsement
 Salespresumption
 Publicrelations
 Advantages:
 Transcentlge barriers
 Attentiongrabbing
 Abilitytopickup informationwhile inapassive state of listening
 Easy to manage
 Translatable
 What makesgoodvisual communication?:Clear –Readable – Saysonlyone thing – Stayson the
subject– important– interesting–simple –accurate
 The scapes :
 Ethnoscapes: the movementof people acrossculturesandborders
 Mediascapes:the movementof mediaaroundthe worldandhow it allowsdistant
culturestovieweachother
 Technoscapes:Flowof technologyina borderlessenvironment
 Finanscapes:The flux of capital across borders
 Ideoscapes:The global flow of ideologies
Visual power, visual pleasure :

2.  Platobelievedthatthe objectsencounteredineverydaylife,includingpeople,are simplybad
copiesof the perfectideal of those objects
 “Everythingwe see inthe ‘real’worldisalreadyacopy”
 For an artiststo make a representationof whatisseenwouldbe tomake a copyof a copy,
increasingthe chance of distortion
 We’ve come to displace ourfeelingof love/hatetowardsreal thingswithotherreactions
towardscopies
 A visually-dominatedculturemustbe impoverished orevenschizophrenic.Althoughtelevision,
for example,haswona place inthe academic establishment,thereisstill astrongsuspicionof
visual pleasure inintellectual circles.Televisionisoftendescribed,inDavidMorley’sphrase,as
‘radiowithpictures’,aspictureswere mere decoration..
 The visual isessentiallypornographic,whichistosay that ithas itsendin rapt, mindless
fascination;thinkingaboutitsattributesbecomesanadjunctto that, if itis unwillingtobetrayits
object;while the mostaustere filmsnecessarilydraw theirenergyfromthe attempttorepress
theirownexcess(ratherthanfromthe more thanklessefforttodisciplinethe viewer
 Computertechnologynowallowsavisitortoa website tobe presentatthe same time as
perhapshundredsorthousandof othersand,in the case of chat rooms or bulletinboards,to
interactwiththem.Further,the inherentmultiplicityof possible viewpointsavailable tointerpret
any visual image make itpotentiallyfarmore democraticmediumthanthe writtentext.
 Cinemawasviewedasanapparatusfor the disseminationof ideology,inwhichthe spectator
was reducedtoa whollypassive consumer
 The generalizedantipathyof intellectualsto popularvisual representationsmaybe adisplaced
hostilitytothose whoparticipate inandenjoymassculture.Inthe eighteenthcentury,this
hostilitywasdirectedattheater.Itisnow focusedonfilm, televisionandincreasinglythe
Internet.Ineach case,the source of hostilityisthe mass,popularaudience,notthe mediumin
itself.Fromthisperspective,the mediumisnotthe message.
 Social classdeterminedhowanindividualmightrespondtocultural production.Ratherthan
taste beinghighlyindividual attribute,Bourdieusaw itasa by-productof educationandaccess,
generatinga“cultural capital”that reinforcedandenhancedthe economicdistinctionsof class
 Museum-goingwasexclusivelythe provinceof the middle andupperclasses(inthe European
sense of these classdistinctions) whilethe workingclasseswere almostunanimousindisdaining
boththe value of art ingeneral andmodernart inparticular
 Visual culture seekstoblendthe historical perspectiveof arthistoryand filmstudieswiththe
case-specific,intellectuallyengagedapproachcharacteristicof cultural studies.Asthisvery
integrationispreciselywhatmanyscholarsinthese fieldshave soughttopreventbydefining
theirfieldsasopposites,visual culture hastoproceedbydefiningboththe genealogyof the
visual thatit seekstouse and itsinterpretationof the loadedterm“culture”.
Military Drones
 A drone,or unmannedaerial vehicle(UAV) andunmannedaerial system(UAS),isanunmanned
flyingmachine thatisequippedwithacamera,intelligence software tozerointargets, and are
able to holdandrelease missiles

3.  Social problemsassociatedwithdrone strikes :killingof civilians–Increase of terroristattacks
worldwide –some dronesare usedtospy andinflictdamage ontargetsand humans
 But theyare muchmore than justtoolsfor militaryuse :theyare usedtocapture amazingviews
+ theyare widelyusedtotransportmedicines,foodandhealthcare toaffectedareasincase of
floodsand tsunamis
The French colonial postcard industry in Morocco
 Imageryactedas the vehicle of colonial ideologyinreproducingandreinforcingFrenchcolonial
ideals
 Imagessuchas these of mysterious,exoticroads,andof primitive butcheringtechniques,are
usedto supportthe analysisof colonial postcardsasa mere extensionof anideologyjustifying
the continuedFrenchpresence inthe Maghreb
 Indeed,certainpostcardcaptionsechoimperialistdiscourse inarguingfora primitive‘other’in
desperate needof Frenchcultural andtechnological guidance
 Some photographspresentedMoroccoas a timeless,unchangingentity
 From the inceptionof photographyandthe initialpresentationof itstechnologytothe French
government,France quicklyrecognizedthe potential forwhattheydeemedamore objective
visual studyof itscolonies
 The greatestartisticinventionof the nineteenthcenturycouldonlytake off withthe helpof
freshlandsandpeoplespoisedforthe exposure of thisEuropeantechnology
 The French governmentusedphotographyinmilitaryandscientificandscientificmissionsin
orderto gather informationaboutMoroccopriorto theirinvasion,andFrenchmilitaryaction
was prominentlydisplayedinpostcardsandnewspaperillustrations
 FrenchphotographersestablishedstudiosthroughoutMoroccoafterthe establishementof the
Protectorate in1912, and a new colonial enterprise emerged
 Throughthe massproductionof these images,an increasingnumberof Frenchcame into
contact withrepresentationsof the empire..these representationsallowedthose whohadno
priorexperiencewiththe coloniestovisualizedistantlandsandcultures
 Withthe creationof the Frenchprotectorate inMorocco in 1912 came an increase in
photographystudiosandthe establishmentof anew colonial industrt.The Frenchgovernment
supportedandencouragedthe growthof photographystudiosinMorocco,believingthatthe
contentand formof mass-producedimagesactedasan essential endorsementforthe colonial
civilizingproject
 The French studiedthe Middle eastandIslamandconcludedthatArabswere irrational,
tyrannical andbarbaric .. Morocco couldnot advance on itsown,inthis interpretation,andthe
Frenchthusneededtointerveneinorder tointroduce modernityandprogress
 …. These photographiccommemorationsof Europeandeathsatthe handsof Moroccans
remindedFrenchviewersof the needfora more prominentFrenchinvolvementinMorocco
 “France isonlyhere as a protective power”Supposedlyprotectingthe Frenchfromthe brutal
waysof Moroccans, and the Moroccans fromthemselves

4.  The circulationof imagesdemonstratingthe violence of the French,aswell asthose
sympatheticallydepictingAbdal-Krim,contributedto the growingof anti-colonial movement
 The growth of an anti-imperial movementinFrance andabroad,includinganArabc anti-colonial
movementcenteredonthe Rif war,wouldhave createda marketforthese goods
 In case of the Frenchpostcard industryinMorocco, postcardsproduced,sold,andcirculateddid
not adhere tothe dominantnarrative of the colonial projectasestablishedbythe French
government.Instead,postcardsfunctionedascommoditiesintendedtoappeal toa large range
of consumers- notjusttothose whosupportedcolonialism –whenpostcardproducerscreated
picture postcardswithambiguousandanti-colonial messages
The Colonial Harem
The Colonial Harem is a book by Algerian writer MalekAlloula. It is mainly concerned
with how the colonial postcards represented women of colonized places( in this case : Algeria,Tunisia and
Morocco). The book also reveals the intense preoccupation of the colonial postcardswith the veiled
female body. So in a certain way, since the book analyzes the Colonial postcard, it can be considered as a
literary-historical answer to the French colonialism.Some might ask the question: What is the point from
studying and analyzing postcards that date back
to the beginning of the 20th century (1900-1930)? The answer is that even if colonialism is long gone, its
traces still influence the Algerian (and also Tunisian and Moroccan) identities. Therefore to understand
identity problems from which these countries still suffer, we need to understand the colonial distorted
representation of our ancestors,and its effects on our modern time societies. Here are a few points that are
discussed in the intro and the first two chapters of the book :
• In the Colonial Harem,MalekAlloula -an Algerian- is examining French observations of
Algeria, through 30 years of postcards (from 1900 to 1930).
• The postcards in Colonial Harem don't represent Algeria and the Algerian woman but rather the French
man's phantasm of the Oriental female and her inaccessibility behind the veil in the forbidden harem.
• MalekAlloula illustrates the necessary connection between phantasm and political
agenda. There is a strong analogy between the imperialist project of colonizing other people and lands
with the phantasm of appropriation of the veiled, exotic female.
Chapter 1: The orient as stereotype and phantasm
• The postcard is the poor man's phantasm. It's immediately available to tourists, soldiers and colonists. It
is their pseudo-knowledge of the colony, it is the producer of stereotypes and the fertilizer of the colonial
vision.
• According to Alloula, analyzing the postcard forces them to revealwhat they hold
back (the ideology ofcolonialism) and the expose what is repressed in it (the sexual
phantasm).
Chapter 2: Women from the outside, Obstacle and transparency
• When the French-colonial photographer goes in the street to take pictures of Algerian
women, he undergoes an initial experience ofdisappointment and rejection. Algerian women (during
early colonial times) used to wear All-white, and nothing appears from them except of their eyes, and this
discourages the voyeurism of the photographer (Scopic desire) .

5. • These women wearing all white, walking in the streets all the time remind the photographer of his
disappointment and also of the existence of a private space where the veil is removed. A space into which,
the photographer has no access. Women in white veil revive the colonial frustration, they are an
embarrassing enigma to the photographer, even more they are an outright attack upon him.
• Because of his inability to unveil women or to have access to their private space,the
photographer uses paid women inside his own studio, he makes them wear traditional
clothes, and unveil themselves, thus creating a distorted image of Oriental women. In reality he is only
creating the colonial imagined phantasm,rather than giving accurate
representation of Oriental women.
 Alloula’s bookservesasa goodreminderthatwomenwere,andstill are,specificallybeing
targetedby the liberating/civilizing/rescuingrhetoricthatjustifiesviolentimperialism
 Fatmah(Standsforall the womeninthe postcards) isa phantasm, a Frenchcolonial projectionof
a worldthat nevertrulyexisted,anoriental mysterywhose secretliesnotsomuchinwhat her
exoticcostume hidesasinthe imperialisticdesiresthatevokedherimage
 For Thirty yearsat the beginningof thiscentury,the FrenchphotographedFatmahandother
Algerianwomen,displayingtheirimageson postcardsthat were sentbackto France withcasual
or incidental messages.The real messageof the cards,accordingto Mr, Alloula,the messages
were neithercasual norincidental,butwere insteadasignof conquest,of Westerndesignson
the Orient,of violence.Wantingtopossessthe Algerianland,Frenchcolonistsfirstclaimedthe
bodiesof itswomen,usingsex asa surrogate foran extensionof anotherusurpationof culture
 “The ordinarilyhiddenismade brutallyvisible,the private ispervertedandmade pubic”
 Theyusedpostcardsto brag about the strengthandbraveryof theircolonial subjectsbyshowing
theminheroicscenesandposes
 The nude postcardsallowedmale colonialiststo gaze anderoticize “native”females.Buteven
whentheyweren’tportrayednaked,womenfromthe colonieswere stillfrequentlyeroticized
for theirexoticbeauty.
 Theyopenlysuggestthatthese womenwereeasy,flirtatiousandreadytoserve anycolonial
man’sneeds
 Alloulaanalyseshowthe phantasyof Haremremainscentral definingthe colonial desire.The
colonizer’sobsessionof the eroticisembodiedwithAlgerian women.Once forbidden,the
women’sworldisnowconqueredandthose photographsare considered the evidence of the
victoryoverthe colonized.Besides,the veiled,andthusinaccessible womenare describedas
imprisonedbehindthe grillsof theirhouses‘windows.Algerianwomenare mostlydepictedasif
theyare waitingforthe colonizerstobe rescuedfrommisery
 The Algerianpoetsproteststhe coloniallegacyof France byexaminingthe stagedpostcards
Frenchphotographerstookof AlgerianMuslimwomen.These postcardswerequite clearly
staged,notreal,and usuallydepictedAlgerianwomenininvasive andhighlysexualizedways
 “Wantingto possessthe Algerianland,Frenchcolonistsfirstclaimedthe bodiesof itswomen
usingsex as a surrogate foran extensionof anotherlargerusurpationof culture”
 “In sellingthe image of herbodysalesatthe same time the image bodyof Algerianwomenasa
whole”
 “These raidedbodiesare the spoilsof victorythe warriorsrewardstheyare a surrogate fora
political andmilitaryconquest”

6.  “She is the concrete negationof thisdesire andthusbringstothe photographerconfirmationof
a triple rejection:the rejectionof hisdesire,of the practice of his‘art’,and of hisplace in a
milieuthatisnothisown”