51ƷCenter for Global Humanities presents “Social Media and Social Justice”
Social media is often referred to as the “new public square,” as practically everyone is on it. But how is this new visually-saturated media landscape affecting the struggle for social justice? And, more specifically, what role do the photographs we see on social media play in advancing the causes we believe in?
This is the topic scholar Ellen Armour will take up when she visits the 51Ʒ Center for Global Humanities (CGH) to present a lecture titled “Social Media and Social Justice” on Monday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. at the Westbrook College for Health Professions Lecture Hall in Parker Pavilion on the 51ƷPortland Campus for the Health Sciences.
Armour is professor and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair of Feminist Theology at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School, where she directs the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. She is the author of several books, including “Seeing and Believing: Religion, Digital Visual Culture, and Social Justice,” upon which her lecture at 51Ʒwill be based.
In her talk, Armour will outline the challenges and opportunities presented by social media, offering strategies drawn from religious ways of seeing for navigating these new platforms to advance social justice. She will focus on how photography affects how we see the causes important to us and the roles we might play in advancing them.
“In this era of constant connectedness, all of us have witnessed the power of photos and videos to galvanize disparate communities and catapult social movements,” said CGH Director Josh Pahigian. “I think gaining a deeper understanding of the power of images like the George Floyd video and Trayvon Martin photo will benefit our students and the wider community.”
This will be the third of five events this spring at the Center for Global Humanities, where lectures are always free, open to the public, and streamed live online.