Beobachtete Begeisterung

ZusammenfassungDieser Beitrag untersucht die Beziehung zwischen dem Geniediskurs und der Faszination für ungelehrte Autorschaft im 18. Jahrhundert. Literaturgeschichtlich erschließt er Konstellationen, in denen die Hallische Aufklärung am Beispiel der Dichterinnen Anna Dorothea Lange und Anna Louisa Karsch das Schreiben von Ungelehrten studierte und so Konzepte des Naturgenies vorbereitete. Systematisch hinterfragt er das Modell einer autonomen Rede, indem er diese Versuche auf Sprechmodelle der religiösen Inspiration zurückführt, in denen der inspirierte Status stets durch eine externe Instanz zugeschrieben werden musste.

Dorothea Lange

Purpose Dorothea Lange was one of the first US documentary photographers, and she was empowered by the belief that seeing the effects of injustice, in photographs, could elicit social and political reform. She famously documented the plight of Dust Bowl migrants during the US. Great Depression and harsh difficulties endured by incarcerated Japanese Americans during the Second World War. Lange’s photographs brought suppressed issues of class and race to the surface, depicting those impacted by national tragedies into recognizable, honorable, determined individuals. By showing Americans how suffering and injustice look in real life, she stimulated empathy and compassion. This inquiry is not particularly about the Great Depression or Japanese Internment, though disciplinary concept lessons would certainly support students’ prior knowledge. This lesson focuses students’ attention on broader ideas regarding social justice and how social and political documentary photography transform people’s views about distressing problems, even today. Supporting questions are: How can deep analysis of photographs affect our thoughts and emotions about social issues? What is empathy? How can social documentary photography affect people’s emotions? Supporting questions guide students to answer the greater compelling question, How can visuals, such as photographs, impact social change? The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This is an inquiry lesson plan based on a National Council for the Social Studies Notable Trade book for Young People award winner, Dorothea’s Eyes, written by Barb Rosenstock. Findings The paper is a lesson plan, which incorporates students’ analyses of primary sources and other research methods to engage the learner in understanding how Dorothea Lange helped change perspectives regarding the need for social and political reform. Though the story is historic, similar social justice topics still persist, worldwide, today. Originality/value Through inquiry and research, students begin to learn how social and political documentary photography began in the USA, and students create their own social documentaries. Though the US Great Depression and Japanese Internment are highly relevant within this lesson, the overall, greater message is about class, race, suffering and how to inspire empathy.

Review of Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing

A review of the exhibition Dorothea Lange: The Politics of Seeing, 22 June- 2 September 2018, held at the Barbican Art Gallery, London. The exhibition is the first survey of Lange’s work to be displayed in the UK, and includes works from The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California.

The Border Crossing Narrative and the Disruption of Southern Borders

With the view that crossing a border is a transformative experience, this chapter provides groundwork for the rest of the study and focuses on collective narratives of movement, specifically at ways they create new communities, break down borders, and upset Southern identities. This chapter is the most expansive in examining various types of texts. Looking at personal narratives, visual arts including work by Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglas, and Dorothea Lange, literary texts by writers including Frances E.W. Harper, Wilma Mankiller, William Attaway, and Harriette Arnow, and articles and advertising from newspapers such as the Chicago Defender, the chapter focuses on the hybrid identities created in and by Southern Border Crossing Narratives and examines the Border Crossing Narrative as a site of confrontation and struggle, as not only a narrative that can be created and maintained, but also one that others can attempt to control.

The Photo League (1936–1951)

The Photo League was a cooperative of photographers in New York united by shared social and creative motivations. The group’s members included Morris Engel, Sid Grossman, Helen Levitt, Walter Rosenblum, Aaron Siskind, Paul Strand, and Weegee. Other figures who supported the group but were not members included Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, Lisette Model, and Beaumont Newhall. The League was active from 1936 to 1951, and held regular meetings throughout its duration, as well as events, lectures, and symposia to promote education in photography skills and techniques. The group maintained darkroom facilities and an exhibition space in New York, initially on 21st Street and later on 10th Street. Combining social and political efficacy with a dedication to aesthetic standards in an environment that stressed creative collaboration, members of the Photo League produced imagery that contributed to the development of documentary practice within the greater creative and cultural ferment of the 1930s. On December 4, 1942, the Photo League was included on the list of "subversive" organizations submitted by U.S. Attorney General Tom C. Clark to President Harry S. Truman. The League denied the charges in a press release, and further challenged their blacklisting in a telegram sent directly to Attorney General Clark. Under this pressure, they ceased activity in 1951.