MEAP in the Classroom: Imagining and Investigating

Activity: Ask students to look at objects with textual and visual elements and to analyze the message and meaning of the object (even when they cannot read the language!)

Objectives: To promote student inquiry; to develop skills in visual analysis

Instructions:

• Select an object (or group of objects) that combine visual and textual elements.
• Ask students to interpret the object based on what they see and how they understand the message behind visual elements (images, fonts, colors, etc.)
• Encourage students to draw on what they know from course readings and discussions to interpret the object
• Invite students to speculate about the object's creator, the creator's message, and the creator's intended audience

Genres to consider:

• Newsletters
• Pamphlets and other ephemera
• Posters
• Advertisements

Many MEAP collections have been created and curated by community organizations. In most cases, these organizations put considerable time, effort, and energy into choosing, selecting, and describing the individual objects that are published as part of their collections.

Understanding the labor and decision-making involved in creating, curating, and describing collections like these provides an opportunity to analyze objects individually (as the three exercises outlined above do) or in relation to larger collections—and the social, political, and cultural motivations behind those collections.

Explore Project Pages to find additional context.

If you'd like to use MEAP collections for your current or future courses but aren't sure what to do next, please write to us. We're always happy to discuss possibilities and to share information with prospective users. The MEAP team is available at meap@library.ucla.edu.