Home / Photography Unit / Lesson 5: Regarding the Pain of Others

Lesson 5: Regarding the Pain of Others

Guiding Questions

  • Why do we look at images of suffering?
  • Do we have an ethical obligation to view photographs of war and violence?
  • What are common motives for documenting the pain of others?
  • Can a camera be used to stop violence?
  • Do photographs ever escalate acts of aggression?
  • How has digital photography mobilized action against injustice?
  • How can students use photography to inspire action in their own communities?

Learning Objectives

  • Identify Sontag’s key arguments about images of suffering
  • Investigate historical representations of war and violence
  • Explore the role of photography in modern conflicts
  • Compare photographic representations of atrocities to other forms of art and documentation
  • Recognize the use of photography as a social or political action
  • Consider the contemporary roles and responsibilities of photographers
  • Use photography and visual displays to represent complex ideas creatively

Time Required

1-8 Class Periods + written or visual assignment (optional)

Subject Areas

  • Art and Culture

Medium > Visual Arts
Subject Matter > Art History
Subject Matter > Philosophy

  • History and Social Studies

Place > Africa
Place > The Americas
Place > Asia
Place > Europe
Themes > Culture
Themes > Globalization
Themes > Immigration/Migration
Themes > Politics and Citizenship
Themes > War and Foreign Policy
U.S. History
U.S. > Civil War
U.S. > World War II
World > The Modern World

  • Literature and Language Arts

Genre > Essay
Place > American
Place > Europe
Place > Modern World

Student Skills

  • Analysis
  • Compare and contrast
  • Creative writing
  • Critical analysis
  • Critical thinking
  • Cultural analysis
  • Debate skills
  • Discussion
  • Evaluating arguments
  • Expository writing
  • Gathering, classifying and interpreting visual information
  • Historical analysis
  • Internet skills
  • Interpretation
  • Literary analysis
  • Media analysis
  • Logical reasoning
  • Making inferences and drawing conclusions
  • Online research
  • Oral analysis
  • Oral communication
  • Oral presentation skills
  • Persuasive writing and speaking
  • Photography
  • Representing ideas and information orally, graphically and in writing
  • Research
  • Summarizing
  • Synthesis
  • Technology
  • Textual analysis
  • Using archival documents
  • Using primary sources
  • Visual analysis
  • Visual art analysis
  • Visual presentation skills
  • Writing skills

Common Core Standards

  • ELA Reading: 1-4, 7, 10
  • ELA Writing: 1-7, 10
  • ELA Speaking & Listening: 1-2, 4-6
  • ELA Language: 4, 6
  • HSS Reading: 1-4, 6-10
  • HSS Writing: 1-2, 4-7, 9-10

About This Lesson

Susan Sontag divided her life into two parts: before and after the age of twelve, when she first saw photographs of the Nazi concentration camps. This experience defined her moral universe, and became an important touchstone for her work. “Let the atrocious images haunt us,” she wrote later in life. Sontag returned again and again to questions of suffering, especially images of suffering caused by war and violence. This lesson asks how photographs depict suffering, how we respond to such images, how they differ from other forms of representation, and what actions they can spur. It offers students opportunities to investigate historical and contemporary images in essays or debates, and to raise awareness of social justice issues with their own exhibits and photographs.

LESSON 5 HANDOUTS
LESSON 5 STUDENT ACTIVITY OPTIONS

How to Teach This Lesson

  1. Watch Regarding Susan Sontag and reflect on its relevance to your students and subject area. For extracurricular organizations, community groups, and book clubs, consult our guide on adapting the curriculum.
  2. Select the handout(s) and student activity you will use with this lesson.
    • Begin the lesson by watching and discussing the lesson video module with Handout 1
    • Continue the lesson with Handouts 2-4 to deepen learning (optional)
    • Complete the lesson with a student activity: options include writing, presentation, and creative assignments as well as class projects or debates
  3. Download or print all related resources for this lesson at our resource center (video module, handouts, worksheets, teaching plans), and prepare for classroom use. Preview the video module, familiarizing yourself with the content and any potential areas of sensitivity for your students (see Information for Teachers).

Extending The Lesson

    • Photographers featured by Sontag
    • Online photography resources
    • Photography reference texts (unit citations and recommendations)
  • Allow additional time for discussion, group work, peer-review, editing, revision, or student evaluations and critiques of finished work.
  • Coordinate presentations of student activities outside the classroom, such as a class blog, podcast or online gallery posts, school newspaper or literary/art journal publications, student radio or video broadcasts, or all-school exhibits, panel discussions, and screenings.
  • Teach this lesson with additional content from the curriculum guide. See our interdisciplinary diagram for help choosing related units and lessons.