Studies in Visual Communication

Studies in Visual Communication (SVC) grew out of the pioneer Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication (SAVICOMM) that was launched in 1974 under the auspices of the American Anthropological Association and edited by Sol Worth of the Annenberg School at Penn. The journal signaled a revival of scholarly work in visual media and communication, following on the earlier work of Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson and others in the 1930s, and stimulated by Sol Worth and John Adair’s groundbreaking Navaho Film Project of the late 1960s. 

The first issues of SAVICOM included work by eminent scholars Howard Becker and George Gerbner, and the first translations of the work of filmmaker Jean Rouch. Becker’s article “Photography and Sociology” is commonly accepted as one of the foundational works in visual sociology. In Vol. 2, no. 2 Jay Ruby wrote “Is an Ethnographic Film a Filmic Ethnography?”– one of the foundational works in visual anthropology. 

To browse Studies in Visual Communication by volume and issue, visit the journal's archives here on ScholarlyCommons.