That Glossy Yellow Border: Reflections on using National Geographic to Examine Media Representations of East Asia in a College General Education Course
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Amy Mungur is an Assistant Professor of Secondary Education at Green Mountain College. She teaches social studies methods and educational foundations courses, as well as courses in the general education program, such as Diversity & Inclusion in Educational Contexts, East Asia in National Geographic Perspective, Contemporary Social Issues, and A Delicate Balance. Her research focuses on representation in both popular and educational media, and explores historical foundations into our ways of knowing and encountering the world outside of the United States. Her research has been published in Journal of Research in Curriculum and Instruction, The Georgia Council of the Social Studies, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, and History Compass.
Type of Presentation
Individual presentation
Brief Description of Presentation
The power point presentation will begin with a brief context of the general education course, East Asia in National Geographic Perspective. However, the presentation will focus primarily on how students confronted deeply held assumptions about East Asia, presumed objectivity of photography, and the long-standing power and legitimacy of a journal like National Geographic. The presentation will conclude by reflecting on the challenges of "translating" a dissertation study (my own) to a semester-long college course.
Abstract of Proposal
This work explores college students' encounters with “Western” images and (hi)stories of “East Asia” as re/presented in National Geographic magazine. Situated within the context of a general education course, students learned and applied visual methodologies, theory, and content in order to analyze the politics of representation. Importantly, students confronted and oftentimes debunked their own deeply held assumptions not only about East Asia, but also about National Geographic, whose photographs still arguably stand “as one of the most culturally valued and potent media vehicles shaping American understandings of, and responses to, the world outside the United States” (Lutz and Collins, 1992, p. xii).
Start Date
2-24-2018 2:50 PM
End Date
2-24-2018 4:20 PM
Recommended Citation
Mungur, Amy, "That Glossy Yellow Border: Reflections on using National Geographic to Examine Media Representations of East Asia in a College General Education Course" (2018). International Critical Media Literacy Conference. 16.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/criticalmedialiteracy/2018/2018/16
That Glossy Yellow Border: Reflections on using National Geographic to Examine Media Representations of East Asia in a College General Education Course
This work explores college students' encounters with “Western” images and (hi)stories of “East Asia” as re/presented in National Geographic magazine. Situated within the context of a general education course, students learned and applied visual methodologies, theory, and content in order to analyze the politics of representation. Importantly, students confronted and oftentimes debunked their own deeply held assumptions not only about East Asia, but also about National Geographic, whose photographs still arguably stand “as one of the most culturally valued and potent media vehicles shaping American understandings of, and responses to, the world outside the United States” (Lutz and Collins, 1992, p. xii).
