CULTURAL PEDAGOGIES OF CRITIQUE

HOW CORPOREAL VULNERABILITY IS USED AS A SYMBOLIC AND TACTICAL FUNCTION WITHIN THE #OCCUPY MOVEMENT

Hallie DeCatherine JonesIndiana University

UNDERSTANDING OCCUPY WALL STREET

Research Questions• What is the object of

critique?• What subjectivities are they

calling on?• What identity claims are

expressed?• What are the demands?• How does OWS harness and use

images, and how are images emerging as part of the movement?

Critical Analysis (Carspecken, 1995)

#OCCUPYWALLSTREET - IMAGES & RHETORIC• Web-Based Media as an Ethnographic Field

• Adbusters • Anonymous • Tumbler site – I am the 99% • Casually Pepper Spray

Everything Cop

CAN WE ON THE LEFT LEARN SOME NEW TRICKS?

Source: AdBusters Blog

Source: AdBusters Blog

DOES THE AMERICAN LEFT HAVE THE GUTS TO PULL THIS OFF?

Source: AdBusters Blog

WHAT WILL HAPPEN THIS SATURDAY WHEN THOUSANDS OF US DESCEND ON LOWER MANHATTAN AND START WALKING TOWARD WALL STREET?

Source: AdBusters Blog

SELF-PORTRAIT AND IMAGE AS NARRATIVESource: wearethe99percent.tumblr.com

My husband and I had to use 20K of student loans to pay for chemotherapy. We are the 99%!!

Blog caption: I am 31. My husband is 34 and has cancer. We were both in college when he was diagnosed and although we have insurance, we were forced to use over $20k of student loans to pay for LIFE SAVING chemotherapy. WE ARE THE 99%!!!!

I am 42 years old, with a graduate degree. I am one of the lucky ones. I work three jobs. I am a teacher, an interpreter, and a braille processor. I work as much as I can because I am the sole support of my household, and I am the only one with health insurance. We live paycheck to paycheck. I am lucky, but I too am part of the 99%

Source: wearethe99percent.tumblr.com

http://youtu.be/WO4406KJQMc

#OCCUPYWALLSTREET – PRELIMINARY FINDINGS• Major Theme - Corporeal Vulnerability.

• Fear for the safety of one’s own body, particularly the body is placed at-risk. • Healthcare & Insurance• Economic hardship• Police brutality and legal oppression – Against racial minorities, peaceful protesters

• Legal and legislative tactics for economic sanctions against political activists

• Military – Coercion into service because lack of equally desirable alternatives

• Food and environmental contaminants • Critique of the 1% - (Issue of fairness and equality)

• Privilege and wellbeing at the expense of others • Economic, spiritual and physical security - best healthcare, fitness and good food, gated communities with security guards, freedom to travel and purchasing power

• Structural supports for maintaining the status quo:• Legislation• Wall Street• Federal policy and lobbyists

• Media culture and news agenda setting / issue framing• Collusion of state, bank, legal, and corporate power

ENDURING QUESTIONS TO RESEARCH Bullying• How can teachers and parents stop

bullying in schools when violence dominates the world’s stage?

• Conceptions of bullying – Can we scaffold pre-service teachers and K-12 students in a manner that facilitates the development of complex connections between our social structures and its impact on children's’ daily lives?

Horizontal Organization• Are schools (teachers and children)

capable of challenging hierarchical schooling models?

• What would it look like if schools were practicing direct democratic processes that facilitate dialogue and build consensus amongst students?

• If we model direct democratic practices for pre-service teachers, can/will they implement these in their praxis and model them for their students?

RESOURCES• Adbusters, Occupy Wall Street Blog:

http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html• Barthes, Roland. (1977). Image, Music, Text. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.• Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation. University of Michigan Press.• Baudrillard, J. (2002). The Spirit of Terrorism. London: Verso.• Bordo, Susan (1998). Twilight Zones: The Hidden Life of Cultural Images from Plato to O.J. Berkeley:

University of California Press. • DeLuca, K. (1999). Image Politics. New York: Guilford Press.• DeLuca, K. and Peeples, J. (2002). From Public Sphere to Public Screen: Democracy,

Activism, and the "Violence" of Seattle. Critical Studies in Media Education, 19(2), pp. 125-151.

• Dery, M. (1993). Culture Jamming: Hacking, slashing and sniping in the empire of signs. Open Magazine Pamphlets Series.

• Downing, David and Bazargan, Susan., eds. (1991). Image and Ideology in Modern/Postmodern Discourse. Albany: SUNY Press.

• Eisner, E. (1994). The educational imagination: On the design and evaluation of school programs (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan College Publishing.

• Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture: Curriculum, Aesthetics, and the Social Life of Art. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

• Gauntlett, D. (2008). Media, Gender and Identity: An introduction. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Graeber, D. (2007). Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy, Rebellion, and Desire. Oakland, CA: AK Press.

• Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich. (1974). The German Ideology. In C.J. Arthur (Ed.), The German Ideology, Part One (pp. 39-69).

• Mitchell, W.J.T. (1986). Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology Chicago: University of Chicago Press. New York: International Publishers.

• Mitchell, W.J.T. (2004). What Do Pictures Want? The Lives and Loves of Images. (pp. 76-106, 188-96). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• Routledge, P. (2009). Toward a relational ethics of struggle: Embodiment, affinity, and affect. In Amster, R., DeLeon, A., Fernandez, L., Nocella, A., & Shannon, D. (Eds.), Contemporary Anarchist Studies: An introductory anthology of anarchy in the academy. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Trend, D. (1992). Cultural Pedagogy: Art/Education/Politics. New York: Bergin & Garvey.• Shantz, J. (2011). Active Anarchy: Political practice in contemporary movements. Lanham,

MD: The Rowan & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.• Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the Pain of Others. Picador, New York, NY.

Indiana University

Curriculum & Instruction, Art Education

halljone@indiana.edu

HALLIE DECATHERINE JONES

• Graeber• Rules for symbolic

warfare• Black Bloc• Anarchist Circus• Puppets and Effigies

• DeLuca• Image events• Mind Bombs

• Traumatic Images• Aesthetics of Atrocity• Reading the Meme of

Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop

SYMBOLIC WARFARE

• Police Violence in NYC• City Bank • US Marine • 84 Year Old Pepper Sprayed• UC Davis• Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop

ADDITIONAL WORK

• 99% - Unity, Solidarity•  Aesthetics - Pleasure - Beauty

- Anonymous - Atrocity•  Articulation of Power

Position, Reprimanding Hegemony•  Attitudes - Negative, Outrage•  Attitudes Positive - Ethos - Spirited -

Resolve•  Consensus•  Decentralized, Anti-

Hierarchical•  Diversity & Difference•  Ethics

•  Identity 1 - Semantic Text Frequency •  Identity 2 - Roles, Stereotypical

Images•  Image - Future - Political Imaginary•  Learn - Educate - Revise Self•  Model - Organization•  New, Fresh, Exciting,

Opportunity, Hope•  People, Mass, Assembly•  Popular Power•  Radical Democracy•  Self-Critique•  Simplicity, practical

UNDERSTANDING OCCUPY WALL STREETANARCHIST POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, RHETORIC  

• Community  • Food

 • Demand, What they Want,

Motivation for Action

• Global Resistance - Images of Middle Eastern Disruption

 • Change• Revolution

• Music - Audio -  • Negative Critique,

Dismissal, Nay-Saying, Political Realism

• Textual - Descriptive Images 

• Flood•  • Yellow Symbolism - Happy,

Summer, Warmth, Energy, Power, Light, Laughter, Alert  

UNDERSTANDING OCCUPY WALL STREETANARCHIST POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, RHETORIC  

• Attack, Destructive• Bodies• Contesting Public-Private

Space Boundaries• Direct Action, Call to Action• Discourse - Dialogical, Face-

to-Face• Discourse - Interactive,

Digital, Dialogical, Viral• Flood• Image, Culture, Representation

• Non-Violent• Opposition - Enemy• Political Pressure - Tension• Struggle - Resistance - Revolt

- Disobey• Symbolic - Articulation of

symbolic images, importance• Tactics, Strategy, Design, Plan• Takeover (2)• Tent City, Anarchist

Encampment, Make-Shift Community, Occupation Site

• Voice - Speak Up - Be Heard

UNDERSTANDING OCCUPY WALL STREETDIRECT ACTION  

FINANCIAL DISTRICTS ACROSS THE GLOBE ARE ON HIGH ALERT.

"WALL STREET, EXPECT US!" SAYS VIDEO COMMUNIQUE.

• Anonymous Logo Image - No head, Questionmark

• Anonymous Mask Image• Appropriation of National PUBLIC

GOOD Signs and Symbols• Appropriation of Obama's Image• Black & White Color Schemes• Black Bloc - Anonymous Resistant

Individual• Bull Horns - Megaphone• city• Corporate Logos• Globe• I am the 99% portrait with sign

• Middle Eastern Diseent• newspaper - newsprint• Public Assembly & Protest• Shoe Throwing• Socialist Style Design• Suit and tie, white collar• Tent Photos - Camping• US Flag• US Monuments• Visual Culture Appropriation of

Art & History• Workers - Laborers

UNDERSTANDING OCCUPY WALL STREETIMAGES ON ADBUSTERS BLOG “CALL TO ACTION”

•  1%•  Authority•  Collusion of Money and Politics•  Corporations•  Crisis - Urgency Dire

Situations•  Government•  Greed•  Hegemonic Power•  Hierarchy•  Illegitimacy of Government,

Facade of Democracy

• Obama• Object of Critique based on

Word Freq - Recode• Patriarchy• Political Economy• Silence, Repress, Oppress• Unjust, Inequality, Wrongs,

Corruption• Violence - Brutality• Wall Street

UNDERSTANDING OCCUPY WALL STREETOBJECT OF CRITIQUE - GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY  

• Identity

• Identity

I am 42 years old, with a graduate degree. I am one of the lucky ones. I work three jobs. I am a teacher, an interpreter, and a braille processor. I work as much as I can because I am the sole support of my household, and I am the only one with health insurance. We live paycheck to paycheck. I am lucky, but I too am part of the 99%

• Teacher•  Helper•  Servant•  Facilitator•  99%•  Educated•  Intelligent•  Competent •  Capable•  Hard working•  Professional•  Advocate for those

less fortunate or disabled

•  Fighter•  Leader•  Grateful

RECONSTRUCTIVE HORIZON ANALYSIS• Effective•  Community member•  Caring•  Loyal •  Trustworthy•  Supportive•  Dependable •  Dedicated •  Persistent •  Working class•  Generous•  Vulnerable •  American•  Collective•  Community Member•  Connected•  Empathetic

My husband and I had to use 20K of student loans to pay for chemotherapy. We are the 99%!!

Blog caption: I am 31. My husband is 34 and has cancer. We were both in college when he was diagnosed and although we have insurance, we were forced to use over $20k of student loans to pay for LIFE SAVING chemotherapy. WE ARE THE 99%!!!!

Some Normative Claims

• People should be given access to health care.

• People shouldn't have to break the rules and use the system in crafty ways just to stay alive.

• Education loans should be for helping people get educated.

• People should not be put in this kind of position in America, where we have excellent health care.

• People should hear my story.• People should care.• People should realize that what is

happening to us could easily happen to them.

• People should be empathetic.• People should be outraged.• People should voice their concerns.• People should be holding government

accountable. • Government should be listening to stories

like ours.• Elected officials should be upset by my

story and feel compelled to do something about it.

• Americans should have basic rights to life and education.

• Culture Jamming & Guerilla Semiotics

• Mark Dery (1993) termed the phrase “culture jamming”

• Reference to a type of “guerilla semiotics”

• Semiotics• Building on Roland Barthes’

semiotic theory (1977)• Analysis for verbal and non-verbal

communication• “Rhetoric of the Image”

• Laden with messages• Cultural codes• Significations of meaning

• Dependent on an individual’s cultural and aesthetic knowledge

VISUAL CULTURE, CULTURAL PEDAGOGIESAND THE ART OF SYMBOLIC POLITICS

• Theoretical Iconoclasm - Postmodern orientations (Trend, p. 13)

• Cultural pedagogy, OWS as “theoretical iconoclasm”

• Question master narratives and rhetoric of the “American Dream”

• Taken for granted assumptions called into question and revealed as illusions/fabricated mythologies

• Freedom• Democracy• Equal opportunity• Legitimacy of state power• Effectiveness of economic

policies

• Symbolic Politics (Dery, 1993; Graeber, 2007; Shantz, 2011).

• Image - 99% to 1% • Critiquing multiple problems of

political economy• Salient image

• Imbalance • Asymmetrical power

• Carrier of complex message in schizophrenic mental environment of postmodern culture

VISUAL CULTURE, CULTURAL PEDAGOGIESAND THE ART OF SYMBOLIC POLITICS

• Pike-meme • Using Photoshop to explicate the

relationship of power (i.e. the status quo) to its representations (i.e. Lt. Pike)

• Creating images to suggest the invincible narrative of American power (government, economics, police authority) are open to subversion

• Mockery • Deployed as a symbolic counter

image to the seriousness of power• Undermine• Ridicule• Shame police action as unethical

and inconsistent with American values

• Images have varied meanings and readings

• Rich source for inquiry, exploration and conversation within the high school art curriculum.

VISUAL CULTURE, CULTURAL PEDAGOGIESAND THE ART OF SYMBOLIC POLITICS

BULLYING & CORPOREAL VULNERABILITY

• How can teachers and parents stop bullying in schools when violence dominates the world’s stage?

Questions I’m asking: • What images have emerged?• How are the images produced, shared, and circulated?• How do the images function in public culture and

consciousness?• How do people engage the images? • How does #occupy and its images facilitate cultural and

system-level critique?

#occupywallstreet – Inquiry into Images & Rhetoric