The Global Visual Memory A Study of the Recognition and Interpretation of Iconic and Historical Photographs Het Mondiaal Visueel Geheugen Een studie naar de herkenning en interpretatie van iconische en historische foto’s (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. H.R.B.M. Kummeling, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 19 juni 2019 des middags te 2.30 uur door Rutger van der Hoeven geboren op 4 juni 1974 te Amsterdam Promotor: Prof. dr. J. Van Eijnatten Table of Contents Abstract 2 Preface 3 Introduction 5 Objectives 8 Visual History 9 Collective Memory 13 Photographs as vehicles of cultural memory 18 Dissertation structure 19 Chapter 1. History, Memory and Photography 21 1.1 Starting Points: Problems in Academic Literature on History, Memory and Photography 21 1.2 The Memory Function of Historical Photographs 28 1.3 Iconic Photographs 35 Chapter 2. The Global Visual Memory: An International Survey 50 2.1 Research Objectives 50 2.2 Selection 53 2.3 Survey Questions 57 2.4 The Photographs 59 Chapter 3. The Global Visual Memory Survey: A Quantitative Analysis 101 3.1 The Dataset 101 3.2 The Global Visual Memory: A Proven Reality 105 3.3 The Recognition of Iconic and Historical Photographs: General Conclusions 110 3.4 Conclusions About Age, Nationality, and Other Demographic Factors 119 3.5 Emotional Impact of Iconic and Historical Photographs 131 3.6 Rating the Importance of Iconic and Historical Photographs 140 3.7 Combined statistics 145 Chapter 4. The Global Visual Memory Survey: A Qualitative Analysis 156 4.1 Qualitative Analyses by Country 156 4.2 The Global Visual Memory Survey: A Comprehensive Qualitative Analysis 193 Conclusion 206 Bibliography 211 Appendix: The Global Visual Memory Survey 226 Curriculum Vitae 229 Summary in Dutch / Samenvatting in het Nederlands 230 ISBN: 9789 0393 71497 Abstract Photographs of historical events can function as visual icons and as agents of cultural memory if they are widely circulated and recognized. Since the 1930s, such photographs have circulated across the world, which creates the possibility that photographs of historical events exist that are recognized by audiences in countries across the world. In this study, I define such photographs – if they exist – as being part of a global visual memory: images that are recognized by people worldwide. In academic literature, it is often assumed that such iconic photographs with a worldwide reach exist. Very little research, however, has been devoted to establish facts about their recognition and interpretation. In this study, I have tried to find evidence of the worldwide recognition of 25 photographs that feature prominently in academic debates on iconic and historical photographs. I have included these photographs in an online survey, that was distributed by a survey sampling company to a controlled group of close to three thousand respondents, representative of their countries’ population with regards to gender, age, and education level, in twelve countries: Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey and the United States. Respondents were asked which photographs they recognized, and were asked additional questions about their interpretation and assessment of six selected photographs. The survey results indicate that there are indeed photographs of historical events that are recognized by audiences worldwide. A majority of survey respondents recognized four photographs: Carmen Taylor’s photograph of a hijacked airplane flying into the World Trade Center (2001), Neil Armstrong photograph of Buzz Aldrin on the moon (1969), Alberto Korda’s portrait of Che Guevara (1960), and Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of US marines raising a flag on Iwo Jima (1945). Nick Ut’s ‘Napalm Girl’ photograph (1972) and Jeff Widener’s ‘Tank Man’ photograph (1989) are recognized by close to fifty percent of respondents. By proving the worldwide recognition of these photographs, I have also proven the existence of a global visual memory that has photographs of events in history as one of its component parts. Other findings of this study include the conclusion that images that feature prominently in academic debates on iconic photographs are not always recognized widely among general, international audiences; that the interpretation of iconic and historical photographs varies strongly among different people and is less conclusive and less singular than is often assumed in academic articles; and that not only the exact interpretation but also the way people ‘read’ photographs is more varied than academic literature on iconic and historical photographs suggests. I identify five different ways in which respondents worldwide ‘read’ the photographs shown to them. This survey also underlines that online sampling can enhance our understanding of iconic and historical photographs and their relation to historical memory. 2 Preface This study started with my fascination with the idea that I carry in my mind the visual memory of certain events in history that I have never witnessed firsthand, that I know from photographs that were taken to record a certain event at a certain place and time; and that other people in the Netherlands, in Italy, Russia, the United States, Argentina, China, and elsewhere can conjure up the same images – thousands, millions, perhaps billions of people across the globe with entirely different lives, priorities, habits, who nonetheless share amongst each other identical images of history. I did not know if this idea was true. I could envision it to be true, and literature on photography and history describes such photographs, but as my fascination with that concept grew, I was surprised to learn that this idea – however convincing or intuitive – is not only unproven, but that there has never been a serious attempt to prove it. Therefore, I decided to think of ways how such a global visual memory might be proven to exist, and if I could provide a start, or at least an attempt, to prove its existence and to research it. My fascination with photography started long before, when my sister Hester organized my eighteenth birthday present to be a 1970s Pentax camera with Zeiss zoom lens, which led to several photographic endeavours, including an exhibition of Bhutan photographs in a Amsterdam city center café and the conversion of my bathroom into darkroom with awkwardly marked bottles containing chemicals. But my interest in photography dwindled. It was nuclear strategy that led me back to it, or more exactly: my disappointment with it. I was initially excited with rational choice theory and nuclear matters, only to become disillusioned with what I saw as very shallow intellectual foundings of the concepts that govern nuclear strategy and, by extension, the safety of all mankind. I started looking for a new subject to engage with, and found it in photography. I have to thank Rob Kroes for leading me back in that direction. More or less by chance, I became co-instructor of his course Photography in American History, and was inspired by his teaching, knowledge, and enthusiasm about the subject of photography; he also advised me before and during this project. But I have many more people to thank for contributing to this study. Joris van Eijnatten, who mentored this study, helped me make my self-imposed deadlines during his sabbatical year, and who arranged the funds, along with Maarten Prak, for the global internet survey that is at the heart of it. I had much more help for this study. First of all, from Survey Sampling International (SSI), that sponsored this study by distributing and monitoring my photography survey among controlled respondent groups in twelve countries for a sharply reduced price. From Julie Crawford, who meticulously reviewed the first two chapters. From Grigore Pop-Eleches and Keena Lipsitz, who advised me on the survey questions and methodology. From Johan Schokker, Pieter van den Eeden, Hedda van ‘t Land, and my brother Gertjan, who advised me on statistical analysis. From Thomas Poell, Devin Vartija and Melvin Wevers, who helped me to prepare for the defense of my 3 dissertation. And from many people who helped with the translation of my survey questions and answers: Peter Riesbeck, Yo Miura, Han Qijun, Stijntje Blankendaal, José Carlos Silveira Jr., Egemen Başar Bezci, Menno Hurenkamp, Aurora Rosales, and Francesco Mazzuchelli. And I have learned that those sentences in which authors thank their family and/or bosses for supporting them, which always seemed bland and obligatory to me, are in reality an accurate reflection of the essential help of others in finishing a project like this one. So: my thanks also go out to Xandra Schutte, my editor-in-chief at De Groene Amsterdammer. And to my family, for providing time, support and patience: my mother Roelie, my children Lucas, Noah and Rosa, and most of all, Suzanne. 4 Introduction Let’s take three slices of time. In the first one, in June 1963, the world came to Netherlands, where this study is written, by courier, airplane, bus, bicycle and then sometimes train – in that order. Astronauts had already been sent into space and all kinds of technological marvels had spread across the world, but every day a package was made in the London office of The Associated Press, the world’s largest distrubutor of news photographs, then wrapped and labelled ‘Holland’.1 The package was taken by a courier to Heathrow airport, and entrusted with a stewardess of the Netherlands’ Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KLM). After landing at Schiphol, the stewardess would exit the airport’s main hall, proceed to the bus stop for local transport, and hand the package to a bus driver destined for Amsterdam. The stewardess would then re-enter Schiphol, call the Associated Press office on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and report the line and Schiphol departure time of the bus now carrying the package.