Using an interdisciplinary approach and the guiding principles of new historicism, this study explores the discursive and visual representational history of lynching to understand how the practice has persisted as part of the fabric of American culture. Focusing on the Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America exhibition at three United States cultural venues I argue that audiences employ discernible meaning making strategies to interpret these lynching photographs and postcards. This examination also features analysis of distinct institutional characteristics of the Andy Warhol Museum, Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, alongside visual rhetorical analysis of each sites exhibition contents. Through phenomenological categorization and analysis of audience comment books maintained by each institution, I maintain that museum visitors employ various types of cultural knowledge about past and present black-white race relations. Audiences undertake comparative analyses of the distant past with the contemporary historical moment to make sense of lynching imagery and history as simultaneously both a discrete historical epoch and part of a constellation of racist and violent activities characterizing American history which continue to influence race relations today. From analysis of museum audiences responses to lynching photography exhibitions, this study concludes that an overwhelming portion of Without Sanctuary audiences locate racism, discrimination, and prejudice at the individual level of society, not the collective or systemic level, highlighting an important barrier beleaguering the task of racial reconciliation and national healing around the phenomenon and practice of lynching.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-08042008-170316 |
| Date | 30 October 2008 |
| Creators | Molloseau, Erika Damita'jo |
| Contributors | Lester Olson, Cecil Blake, Scott Kiesling, Ronald Zboray |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-08042008-170316/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0035 seconds