Seeing Power Quotes

Juelle Jackson

10/24/2018







Seeing Power: Chapter 5





Quote #1:"In a sense it could be said that the entire city of New Orleans had begun to see power in a different light. Citizens' eyes had become more focused to see past the promises of television and to see, instead, a visual machine for consumerism. The promises made were not all that different from those of snake oil salesmen from years past. And as we began to meet with the wide array of personalities in New Orleans, we too began to gain a sense of not only how the residents saw power operating in the landscape of the spectacle, but also how they saw power distributed amongst themselves" (112)
















Quote #2:"Ultimately, seeing power is a skill set that emerges as one adapts to the camouflaging effects and familiarizes oneself with the infrastructure of power that operates behind any cultural action. A theater production parachuted into New Orleans is simply different from one that places community organizing at its core and seeks to touch the lives of people suffering. A familiarity with the infrastructure of power provides the material context from which claims are made and gestures deployed. The capacity to see power matters." (116)