Lightening Talk
Carrie Lanza, Ph.C., M.S.W.
University of Washington School of Social Work
Biography
Carrie Lanza, Ph.C., M.S.W. is a doctoral candidate in Social Welfare at University of Washington. Her epistemological and methodological approach integrates critical pedagogies, community-based research practices, participatory digital culture, and media production.
Abstract
A review of social work journals reveals a dearth of content critically engaging the visual, particularly in regards to the implications of participatory digital media for CBPR. In a first step towards developing a robust “visual praxis for social work,” I have sought to critically historicize media-based practice in social work history. I will present on genealogical roots of community based media practices in social work. A century ago, during a parallel period of fundamental changes in media technology and the rapid transformation of progressive reform into the profession of social work, another innovative “hybrid practitioner” of journalism, activism, and scholarship harnessed the most advanced visual technologies of his time in service to social action, education, research, and intervention. His name was Paul U. Kellogg. Kellogg argued that graphic representations were at the core not only of data collection regarding social justice issues, but of relaying research findings back to both local stake holders and the general public alike in order to inform social change work and policy advocacy. Kellogg worked closely with Lewis Hine, a documentary photographer, sociologist, and former schoolteacher to integrate documentary photography into the research approach of the Pittsburgh Survey as well as to develop educational materials regarding their findings in a variety of graphic formats.
However, while the Pittsburgh Survey and the social survey movement were profoundly influential for Kellogg and Hine, the methodologies they developed for using visual data for research, education and advocacy were largely abandoned by both sociology and social work. This presentation will explore what can we learn from the legacies of Kellogg and Hine for current practitioners of media-based activist scholarship.