Storiography is the story of geography told through photography and stories.
Or perhaps expressed more simply: Geography x Photography + Stories = Storiography
And just because math alone doesn’t excite me, I did a little etymological research into the root words of Storiography and their meanings.
The suffix -graphy (the lowest common denominator of geography and photography) is defined as “a combining form denoting a process or form of drawing, writing, representing, recording, describing, etc., or an art or science concerned with such a process: biography; choreography; geography; orthography; photography.”
Physicists will tell you that when we look at an object, what we see is not necessarily the object itself but simply the light reflected/emanated from it (unless, of course, you are looking at a light source, in which case you have the opportunity to see both). With this is mind, photography can be described as the process of recording light. Although, I’d also describe it as a process of recording (something) with light.
Nerdy side note from Etymology Online: The word side photograph was “coined by Sir John Herschel from photo- + -graph “instrument for recording.” It won out over other suggestions, such as photogene and heliograph. Neo-Anglo-Saxonists prefer sunprint.”
Neo-Anglo-Saxonists? Where do you suppose they meet for beer on Friday nights?
This dictionary.com entry describes geography as:
the science dealing with the areal differentiation of the earth’s surface, as shown in the character, arrangement, and interrelations over the world of such elements as climate, elevation, soil, vegetation, population, land use, industries, or states, and of the unit areas formed by the complex of these individual elements.
What’s interesting to me, is that geography as a subject isn’t taught in schools anymore (at least at the elementary, middle or high school levels) – social studies and history are. I think the core subject matter has largely remained the same but the perspective and emphasis has shifted. In geography, the earth is the main focus and it is studied through its manifestations: “climate, elevation, soil, vegetation, population, land use, industries, or states.” In social studies and history, people are the main focus and the earth is, at most, merely a stage.
Small wonder that most people have no idea how to grow a tomato or where most of the ingredients in their shampoo, the materials for their clothes, or the components of their houses come from. From the time we enter school, we’ve been trained to evaluate our life on earth from a narrower (and I dare say, more selfish) people-based perspective and not from an broader, earth-based perspective.
I may have finally stumbled onto my life’s work here. I can’t promise you a smooth, timely or coherent ride, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
Copyright: “The Opinga boy”, Library of Congress, Carpenter Collection call number: LOT 11461-1
No comments yet: comments are still open.