Am I the only person in the universe who finds the pepper spray meme/appropriations tedious? At their best, they construct smart visual analogies (the image here from Birmingham is the only one I’ve seen that does this well). But most are simply fun with Photoshop. If I were teaching my visual politics class this semester, this would be the essay question on the final exam: Using the example of the UC-Davis pepper spray meme, explain what kind of rhetorical work visual appropriations do. Is appropriation by itself a good strategy of confrontation or resistance? Why/why not? photo credit: via Joni Spigler on Facebook

Am I the only person in the universe who finds the pepper spray meme/appropriations tedious? At their best, they construct smart visual analogies (the image here from Birmingham is the only one I’ve seen that does this well). But most are simply fun with Photoshop. If I were teaching my visual politics class this semester, this would be the essay question on the final exam: Using the example of the UC-Davis pepper spray meme, explain what kind of rhetorical work visual appropriations do. Is appropriation by itself a good strategy of confrontation or resistance? Why/why not?

photo credit: via Joni Spigler on Facebook

6 months ago  5 notes View high resolution

Next BAGNews Salon on June 5: The Fall of Bin Laden

The BagNewsSalon brings together the eyes and voices of the world’s leading photojournalists, visual academics and other highly-informed observers to analyze select edits of news photographs in a 90 minute online discussion format. I’ll be moderating what looks to be a lively discussion. Join us! If you can’t participate in real time, all salons are archived for later watching/listening.

1 year ago  4 notes

A few good links to ongoing visual analysis/coverage of Egypt

Here are some especially good sources for visual analysis and coverage of recent events in Egypt:

BagNews has fantastic, ongoing reports from photographers on the scene, including Alan Chin, Chris Hondros, and David Degner.

NYT Lens Blog on how to get your camera where it needs to be and dangers to photographers in Cairo.

In wake of current events, Vietnam-era photojournalists reflect on photographing conflict.

1 year ago 

Grad student research alert! Nina Berman’s Homeland + Lisa Keranen’s forthcoming review essay on biocriticism in the Quarterly Journal of Speech (May 2011) would = a great research project on the visual politics of “homeland security.”

Grad student research alert! Nina Berman’s Homeland + Lisa Keranen’s forthcoming review essay on biocriticism in the Quarterly Journal of Speech (May 2011) would = a great research project on the visual politics of “homeland security.”

1 year ago 

Rhetoric scholars comment on rhetoric, violence, and national eulogy in wake of AZ shootings

Jennifer Mercieca of Texas A&M explains role of metaphor in political language.

Ed Schiappa of the University of Minnesota is asked whether violent talk leads to violence.

Tom Benson of Penn State and Richard Vatz of Towson emphasize the importance of civility.

Columbia Journalism Review asks Baylor’s Martin Medhurst whether political rhetoric is more extreme than it used to be.

[updated 1.12.11]: Minnesota’s Karlyn Campbell comments on the role of the national eulogy in presidential rhetoric.

[updated 1.13.11]: John Murphy of the University of Illinois (aka the Oratorical Animal) offers a complete reading of Obama’s memorial service speech at the Brittanica Blog

[updated 1.16.11]: Chris Lundberg of North Carolina tells NPR that he cringes at requests to “tone down the rhetoric.”

1 year ago  2 notes

Am I the only person in the universe who finds the pepper spray meme/appropriations tedious? At their best, they construct smart visual analogies (the image here from Birmingham is the only one I’ve seen that does this well). But most are simply fun with Photoshop. If I were teaching my visual politics class this semester, this would be the essay question on the final exam: Using the example of the UC-Davis pepper spray meme, explain what kind of rhetorical work visual appropriations do. Is appropriation by itself a good strategy of confrontation or resistance? Why/why not? photo credit: via Joni Spigler on Facebook

Am I the only person in the universe who finds the pepper spray meme/appropriations tedious? At their best, they construct smart visual analogies (the image here from Birmingham is the only one I’ve seen that does this well). But most are simply fun with Photoshop. If I were teaching my visual politics class this semester, this would be the essay question on the final exam: Using the example of the UC-Davis pepper spray meme, explain what kind of rhetorical work visual appropriations do. Is appropriation by itself a good strategy of confrontation or resistance? Why/why not?

photo credit: via Joni Spigler on Facebook

Next BAGNews Salon on June 5: The Fall of Bin Laden

The BagNewsSalon brings together the eyes and voices of the world’s leading photojournalists, visual academics and other highly-informed observers to analyze select edits of news photographs in a 90 minute online discussion format. I’ll be moderating what looks to be a lively discussion. Join us! If you can’t participate in real time, all salons are archived for later watching/listening.

A few good links to ongoing visual analysis/coverage of Egypt

Here are some especially good sources for visual analysis and coverage of recent events in Egypt:

BagNews has fantastic, ongoing reports from photographers on the scene, including Alan Chin, Chris Hondros, and David Degner.

NYT Lens Blog on how to get your camera where it needs to be and dangers to photographers in Cairo.

In wake of current events, Vietnam-era photojournalists reflect on photographing conflict.

Grad student research alert! Nina Berman’s Homeland + Lisa Keranen’s forthcoming review essay on biocriticism in the Quarterly Journal of Speech (May 2011) would = a great research project on the visual politics of “homeland security.”

Grad student research alert! Nina Berman’s Homeland + Lisa Keranen’s forthcoming review essay on biocriticism in the Quarterly Journal of Speech (May 2011) would = a great research project on the visual politics of “homeland security.”

Rhetoric scholars comment on rhetoric, violence, and national eulogy in wake of AZ shootings

Jennifer Mercieca of Texas A&M explains role of metaphor in political language.

Ed Schiappa of the University of Minnesota is asked whether violent talk leads to violence.

Tom Benson of Penn State and Richard Vatz of Towson emphasize the importance of civility.

Columbia Journalism Review asks Baylor’s Martin Medhurst whether political rhetoric is more extreme than it used to be.

[updated 1.12.11]: Minnesota’s Karlyn Campbell comments on the role of the national eulogy in presidential rhetoric.

[updated 1.13.11]: John Murphy of the University of Illinois (aka the Oratorical Animal) offers a complete reading of Obama’s memorial service speech at the Brittanica Blog

[updated 1.16.11]: Chris Lundberg of North Carolina tells NPR that he cringes at requests to “tone down the rhetoric.”

Next BAGNews Salon on June 5: The Fall of Bin Laden
A few good links to ongoing visual analysis/coverage of Egypt
Rhetoric scholars comment on rhetoric, violence, and national eulogy in wake of AZ shootings

About:

Visual Politics: All things visual in public life. Presented by Cara Finnegan, scholar, teacher, rhetoric geek. Lover of photography, art, print culture, politics, and troublemakers.

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