Picturing Inequality: Using Photography Assignments to Teach Social Equity

• In Event: Teaching for Equity and Inclusion

Abstract

Public policy often creates or perpetuates inequality. Too often, though, these injustices go unseen – and thus unaddressed. In this paper, we explain how to use participatory photography assignments to teach students to see, with intentionality, the ways that public policy choices shape and constrain social equity across levels of government. Photography as a pedagogical tool places the student in an active learning role. Rather than passively absorbing information from readings in class, students enter the community and create knowledge through their own actions. This paper provides practical advice for how faculty can incorporate student-generated photography assignments to help students learn to see the impacts of political and policy decisions in their communities.

Authors

• Edward F. Kammerer, Idaho State University

• Kellee Kirkpatrick, Idaho State University