Visual Assemblages: From Causality to Conditions of Possibility

Abstract

To explore how we can take assemblage thinking seriously, this chapter engages the study of images in world politics. Images need to be understood in their own multiplicities, with each requiring fundamentally different methodological tools. Yet numerous obstacles hamper the establishing of this type of heterogeneous methodological framework. Key among them is the antagonistic dualism between qualitative and quantitative methods. They are divided not only by different methodological trainings, but also by a range of linguistic and epistemological assumptions that seem to make genuine cross-method collaboration all but impossible. Assemblage thinking can provide a conceptual path beyond this impasse. Drawing on the notion of ‘rhizome’, I explore potential and limits of understanding the political dimension of images through a heterogeneous combination of seemingly incompatible methods.