David Wharton

David Wharton has a B.A. from Colgate University, an M.F.A. in photography from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in American Studies, also from UT-Austin. He is the author of three books of photographs: The Soul of a Small Texas Town: Photographs, Memories, and History from McDade (2000), Small Town South (2012), and The Power of Belief: Spiritual Landscapes from the Rural South (2016).  The latter two were awarded first prize in photography by the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters in 2013 and 2017. A fourth book, Roadside South: A Photographic Journey, is scheduled for publication soon. He has also published several peer-reviewed photo-essays on-line and in scholarly journals.  His photographs have been exhibited throughout the United States and in group exhibitions in Europe and Latin America. His research interests include the rural and small-town South (especially the social and cultural landscapes of such places), the region’s many approaches to spirituality, and tourism in the South. A member of the Southern Studies faculty since 1999, he has taught introductory courses to undergraduates as well as graduate courses in fieldwork, documentary photography, and visual approaches to studying “place” in the American South. Students in these courses have explored various aspects of life in the region through recorded interviews, photography, firsthand experience, and common sense.