C445 Media, Culture, and Politics explores the relationship
between photojournalism and liberal-democratic public culture as it
is manifested in the United States, both historically and at the
present time.  As a form of political life, liberal-democracy
articulates a tension between the privatized demands of individuals
and the public or civic needs of communal or collective life – a
tension that is almost invisible during “normal” times, but which
becomes especially pronounced and fractious during times of “crisis.”
One of the primary, twentieth-century resources for expressing and
negotiating this tension in American democratic public culture has
been photojournalism.

The focus of this course is to examine the ways in which
photojournalism contributes to the production and (re)production of
political norms through its capacity to shape beliefs, motivate
action, and constitute identity during both periods of normalcy and
crisis in the United Stated.  We will explore these rhetorical and
performative dimensions of photojournalism both topically and
historically by identifying a number of recurring problems in 20th
century public life that underscore key tensions in liberal-
democratic public culture (e.g., individualism vs. collective
identity, the good war vs. the bad war, national identity v. dissent,
progress v. public risk) and considering the ways in which photo-
journalistic practices have provided resources for representing and
negotiating them.  Our emphasis will be on photographs in newspapers
and magazines.  This emphasis reflects the assumption that such media
continue to function as a significant component of the infrastructure
of American public culture and that photography in particular is
playing an increasingly important role within these media in the
development of political norms and models of civic identity.  Of
course, such photojournalistic practices cannot be divorced from the
larger visual culture in which they appear, including the conventions
and resources of television newscasts, commercial advertising, film,
and popular photography.  The course will thus include study of the
use of photography in everyday life in general as it underscores the
relationship between rhetoric, media, and political theory, as well
as a variety of critical theories and perspectives that should be
useful in interpreting a wide range of images.

	Course assignments will include 50-75 pp. of reading per
week, a number individual and group reports, and a final individual
project on “Photojournalism and American Public Culture.”