Title: Visualizing the Triad's Immigrant Community: A Visual Content Analysis

Submission Type: Paper

Authors: Sills, Stephen J. (University of North Carolina Greensboro) Horton, Jennifer E. (University of
North Carolina Greensboro)
Abstract: The debate over immigration and immigration reform has been shaped by the media's portal of immigrants.
This portrayal has often reified popular stereotypes leading to misconceptions of who migrants are and why they are here. This
presentation will focus on preliminary findings from an ongoing visual content analysis of images of immigrants found in the Greensboro
News and Records. Using the methods of Visual Sociology, the researchers hope to gain a better understanding of how the local media
both shapes and reflects the dominant discourses on immigration. The project has developed an online database of images by
systematically reviewing daily newspapers for images of immigrants. These images are then analyzed, using a combination of inductive
coding strategies (akin to Grounded Theory Method). Patterns, trends, and associations emerge from the constant comparison between
images. Images are also tied to the major social and political happenings of the times to see how they are used to illustrate current
events. Comparisons are then made between these intended messages of the images (their connotation) and the unintended or hiding
messages contained within them (denotation).
Keywords: Visual Sociology
Schedule Requests:
1 of 1 12/14/2007 5:05 PM