Exposing the Truth about Exposés

By Felan Parker

Everyone loves a good exposé, an article, movie or book that makes us aware of social or political problems and encourages us to take action for social change. But does that change often actually occur? Barbara Leckie, an English professor at Carleton University, doesn't think so. She is working on a book, titled Open Houses, which examines 19th Century British writings about the housing conditions of the poor.

Leckie is interested in the relationship between these exposés and social reform. According to her research, which deals with journalistic articles, government documents and fiction, although many writers took it upon themselves to reveal the terrible state of homes for the poor, very little was actually done to solve the problem. This would happen repeatedly, once old writings were forgotten, new writings would again expose the continuing problems.

"The same process can be seen today", says Leckie. Although films, news reports and books make us aware of social problems, this awareness does not necessarily lead to practical solutions. However, we continue to believe that they do cause change. Another project Leckie has almost completed, Censorship Archives, is an edited collection that investigates the often-ignored culture of censorship that developed in 19th Century England. Leckie sees both these projects as very pertinent to our modern society, in which the same phenomena take place.