Visual Rhetoric
In her article on postmodern memory practices, consumption, and national identity, Ekaterina Haskins focuses on how the "Celebrate the Century" program commemorated the 20th Century of U.S. history in ways that seem both positive and negative. As the reading guide will note, Haskins uses a lot of the vocabulary of postmodernism/debates about postmodernism.
Don't worry too much if you don't understand simulacra, Lyotard, or hegemony right off the bat. Just be willing to look things up and try and trace the larger argument about how the stamps (and their selection) commemorate. In this response paper, try and focus in on that argument about commemoration and the vision of the 20th Century Haskins lays out for us.
In your response, I'd like you to do three things.
First, explain/piece together Haskins' major argument. It spreads throughout a few paragraphs on page 296. What does she seem to be arguing about memory, history, and the potential problems of the "Celebrate the Century" program.
Second, describe the concepts of anchoring and relaying (anchoring tends to be used more here) as they are discussed in the article. What sorts of relationships/impacts can text or captions have on images?
Finally, provide your own image that is either A) one of the stamps from the Celebrate the Century Program (available online) or B) another image from some commemorative item (e.g. postcards, souvenirs, etc.) and explain how it commemorates history.
How does it depict the event in question? Are any critical edges blunted?
Does the consumer sublime dominate or is there a different narrative? If there is a caption/text, apply the concept of anchoring and relaying.
Please paste your image into the body of the response paper and upload it to
The paper will be evaluated based on five criteria: responsiveness to the prompt, engagement with the reading and textual evidence, clarity of expression, depth of answer, and punctuality and formatting.
For responsiveness, excellent work fully answers all parts of the prompt with clear and complete responses, while lower scores reflect missing or weak sections. Engagement with the reading is measured by how well the paper uses and integrates evidence from the text, either through paraphrasing or direct quotation with proper citation.
Clarity of expression evaluates how understandable and organized the writing is, with higher scores awarded to clear and well-structured responses. Depth of answer focuses on the level of thought and effort, with stronger papers showing careful interpretation and meaningful application of concepts, while weaker ones show only surface-level understanding.
Finally, punctuality and formatting assess whether the paper is submitted on time and follows proper citation guidelines.
Each category is scored out of 15 points for a total of 75 points, with overall performance levels ranging from Excellent (67.5+ points) to Not There Yet (0 points).