VISUAL TURN AS A MANIFESTATION OF EPISTEMOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE CONTEMPORARY HUMANITIES AND CULTURAL STUDIES SPACE

Abstract

The article examines the phenomenon of the ‘visual turn,’ which caused significant transformations in the contemporary humanities and cultural studies space during the second half of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st century. The aim of the work is to systematise the key epistemological aspects of the visual turn in the contemporary humanities and cultural space. This aim includes bringing these issues out of the periphery of academic attention and outlining the prospects for their further consideration in the context of the humanities. The research is based on a systematic analysis of scientific sources using historical-comparative and hermeneutic methods. Results: The main issues of contemporary research on the visual turn are systematised into four key problems. First, the semantic instability of the visual image, caused by its hypermedia mobility, fragmentation, intertextuality, and multiplicity of communication contexts, which reduces the effectiveness of traditional methods of analysis. Second, a methodological crisis manifested in the fragmentary nature of research strategies, the absence of a unified theoretical basis, and the instability of the conceptual apparatus. Third, onto-gnoseological challenges related to defining the status of the image as an autonomous communicative actor and knowledge carrier in the digital environment. Fourth, the disciplinary hybridity of visual studies, which complicates the clear definition of their subject area, as the field integrates art, media, psychology, philosophy, and technology. Conclusions: Despite the relevance of the phenomenon, studies of the visual turn face challenges of conceptual uncertainty, methodological fragmentation, and difficulties in developing a coherent analytical toolkit. Overcoming these problems requires the formation of a flexible but conceptually coherent methodology that will contribute to the further development of visual studies as an interdisciplinary field of humanities knowledge.