220118 Environmental History and Photography. The Roles of Images in Movements for Conservation, Environmental Justice and the More-than-Human World (S) (WiSe 2025/2026)

The United States have seen the emergence and evolution of various environmental movements: the conservation, the eco-centrist, the environmental justice, the climate justice and the animal rights movements.
They differ vastly in fundamental questions such as: Who are the activists? What are their objectives? What strategies do they use? And, last but not least: What does “nature” or “environment” actually mean for them?
Photography has been a constant companion in communicating environmental philosophies and policies across all these groups. Without doubt, photos tie in with a long tradition of “images” in environmentalism. Literary texts by the many American “nature-writers” (Thoreau, John Muir, Barry Lopez, Rebecca Sosnit…) have enriched Americans` imagination and fired up protest.

This class, however, will focus on the role of photography for environmental protest.
First of all, we will work with seminal texts by Susan Sontag etc. in order to reflect on the unique properties of photos that have made them so attractive for environmentalists.

Secondly, we will dive into more specific approaches on environmentalism: Following Finis Dunaway`s work, for instance, we study how photos can contain whole philosophies about nature – such as Ansel Adams representation of the sublime National Parks. We will also critically examine how such photos have not only shown, but also purposefully hidden important aspects in environmental discourses – especially in terms of race, gender and class.

Thirdly, Kevin Michael DeLuca`s model of “image events” explains how environmentalists make use of photos of their protest. Radical conservationists such as Earth First! (“Cracking the Dam”) or Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds (Challenging whalers or oil rigs on the oceans) have used images as a “new form of rhetoric” in order to break into public debates.

Finally, we will borrow from the vocabulary of Animal Studies and focus on photos of “non-human animals”. We try to answer John Berger`s question: Why look at animals? In this session, wildlife and street photographer Dima Gesehengorin (https://www.dima-photos.de/), who has won many international awards, will provide us insight into the practical side as well as the (inter-)national scene of wildlife photography.

Bibliography

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Environmental Justice in Postwar America. A Documentary Reader. Ed.by Christopher W. Wells. University of Washington Press: 2018.
Robert Gottlieb. Forcing the Spring. The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement. Island Press: 2005.

Daniel J. Philippon. Conserving Words. How American Nature Writers Shaped the Environmental Movement. University of Georiga Press: 2004.
Michelle Nijhuis. Beloved Beasts. Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction. W.W. Norton & Company: 2021.

Confronting Environmental Racism. Voices from the Grassroots. Ed. By Robert D. Bullard. South End Press: 1993.

Rik Scarce. Eco-Warriors. Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement. Updated edition. Left Coast Press: 2006.

Dave Foreman. Confessions of an Eco-Warrior. Crown Trade Paperbacks: 1991.

Captain Paul Watson. Earth Force! An Earth Warrior`s Guide to Strategy. Chaco Press 1993.

American Earth. Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Edited by Bill McKibben. Library of America: 2008.

Scott Slovic. Seeking Awareness in American Nature Writing. Henry Thoreau. Annie Dillard. Edward Abbey. Wendell Berry. Barry Lopez. University of Utah Press: 1992.

Finis Dunaway. Natural Visions: The Power of Images in American Environmental Reform. University of Chicago Press:2008.

Finis Dunaway. Seeing Green. The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images. University of Chicago Press: 2015.

Picture Ecology. Art and Ecocriticism in Planetary Perspective. Ed. By Karl Kusserow. Princeton University Press: 2021.

Rex Weyler. Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World. Rodale: 2004.

Frank Zelko. Make it a Green Peace. The Rise of Countercultural Environmentalism. Oxford University Press: 2013.

Visual History: Ein Studienbuch. Ed. By Paul Gerhard. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: 2006.