Do you think whether "affect" in the provided context refers to "cultural, social, and political contexts" or to "technologies of representation or imaging"?
Context:
He examines how the technologies of representation or imaging, such as video or the combined hardware/software of the computer/ camera, are tied in a complex way to cultural, social, and political contexts that in turn affect the nature of vision itself (source).
To "cultural, social and political contexts", of course.
Edit following comment from OP: I’ve never come across ‘as a result’ as a meaning. “In turn” can be used with a number of transitive verbs. X (verb) Y and Y (same verb) Z. Examples “I told Mary, who in turn told Beth”, “Jack gave Pete a book, who in turn gave it to Martha” etc.
In the sentence you provided as context, the issue is that the author is saying that technology affects...contexts which in turn affect the nature of the vision...
However, the author does not use the word “affects” directly in the first instance, saying it in a different way instead (“tied in a complex way”).
