"The Visual Voice: ""Armchair Tourism,"" Cultural Authority, and the Depiction of the United States in Early Twentieth-Century Stereographs"

"My research draws upon the academic literature of visual culture and cultural geography. In analyzing the meanings, functions, and modes of communication of the stereograph sets, I take a symbolic interactionist perspective and use interpretative interactionist methods. By comparing and contrasting the two sets, I show how visual stereotyping facilitated a powerful mode of communication. I argue that the heightened realism of stereoscopic photography in combination with the authority of verbal descriptions and maps created a powerful, complex, and dynamic iconography. I show how the stereograph sets aided in the construction of social realities through the depiction of cultural geography and landscape. The results carry implications for collective memory, visual stereotyping, and the ""sight-bite"" culture of today's mass media and popular culture."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geography

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Batzli, Samuel A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jakle, John A.

• American Studies

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI9812528

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/85159