Envisioning Land Seizure

Abstract

Although land seizure is designed to be an evocative and provocative tactic for social movement organizations, how are groups' members, goals, and claims portrayed in subsequent media coverage? Focusing on the Indians of All Tribes' occupation of Alcatraz Island, this article qualitatively analyzes photographic representations of protest in three national newspapers. Images published during the occupation (1969 to 1971) represent Indian activists as lazing or inactive, politically ineffectual, and invisible. When foregrounding contention, photographs showed negatively affected non-Natives or Indians being arrested. By contrast, images published after the occupation (1972 to 2000) generally concentrate on the physical space of the island as a tourist destination rather than a site of conflict. Social scientists should critically assess the media's role in shaping collective perceptions about social movements through visual images, particularly when tactics are designed to garner media attention.