In The Visual Culture Reader introduction, “What is visual culture?”(Routledge, London, 1998), Nicholas Mirzoeff argues that there is a Post-modern reflex that is used to interpret visual culture. In discussions with an undergraduate writing class, my students insisted that Romanticism prevails, and their inspiration comes from that ethos. When I ask them how that view has been shaped, they argue that their use of technology, and the pervasive imagery of the digital age is a smoke-screen that they can see through, but which constantly makes them question what I call “visual rhetorics,” or prevailing messages and meanings we are all exposed to, and are clearly influenced by. In response to the cacophonic imagery, I am consciously teaching for “conceptual change”, which requires that instructors open up a discourse where students can reject norms around every aspect of learning and beliefs. I want to use visual culture in the composition classroom to initiate that conversation. My presentation focuses primarily on a course on Visual Culture and Perception, and sharing research in the use of visual content in composition courses as the primary, rather than adjunctive approach.
About the presenterLisa Naomi Konigsberg
Lisa Naomi Konigsberg is an Assistant Professor of Composition and Rhetoric at West Chester University.