Photography as Social Advocacy
This course examines the history of documentary photography and its use as a tool for social advocacy. It expands upon Pacific Seminar I themes related to labor, civil society, environmental sustainability, and the media.
In the first part of the course, we learn about the history of war photography through an in-depth study of photographs from the US Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War, conflicts in which all sides employed documentary photographs for propaganda. The second part of the course traces the influence of social documentary photography from its beginnings in the 1880s to the present day. We examine the social impact of early Progressive Era (1890s-1920s) documentary photographers, such as Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine, as well as the contributions of later photographers who documented the lives of tenant farmers during the Great Depression (1930s). These photographers all sought to improve society by exposing the difficult living and working conditions endured by the poor. The course concludes with a look at the history of landscape photography advocating for conservation and environmental sustainability.
Readings include excerpts from Jacob Riis's muckraking Progressive Era book, How the Other Half Lives (1890), James Agee's groundbreaking Depression Era book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1936), and Dale Maharidge's Pulitzer Prize winning book, And Their Children After Them: The Legacy of Let us Now Praise Famous Men (1989). Each of these books combines documentary photography with sociological studies of the lives of poor families. Writing assignments include an essay comparing and contrasting the depictions of the poor in each of these books, as well as two in class essay exams. For the research project, you will compare and contrast the work of two photographers documenting similar subject matter during different time periods. You will write a paper and assemble presentation investigating how prevailing artistic movements and the two photographers' personal biases have impacted their depiction of that subject matter.
This course is designed to help students refine their ability to critically analyze the messages that governments, mass media, and advocacy groups convey through photographs, as well as to teach students about the impact that socially conscious photography has had on our culture and history.
