Visual culture
This course is an introduction to visual culture with a focus on representation. There are several lenses through which to approach the visual world, and this course draws strongly on Visual Anthropology as its analytical approach. This course aims to provide a critical framework for “reading” visual representations starting with images of “othering” and moving to the practice of self representation. The goals of this course are to 1. develop a visual literacy that can be applied to any visual media; 2. introduce students to arguments and debates over the politics and ethics of representation within the field of visual anthropology; 3. provide a space for the practice of visual representation through a digital storytelling project.
Visual Methods for Social Change
This course will explore the use of visual media for the purposes of social change, particularly as it is used within international and community-based development projects. We will focus on the different forms and styles of visual production such as the use of participatory video, photo elicitation, and community mapping. Each method gathers different types of data, uses different analytical frameworks, and requires with different ethical considerations. We will explore the consequences of these approaches and evaluate their role in larger projects for social change. Additionally, we will look at the process of visualization in general, and how visual representations, design, and media affect the process and the agenda of projects for social change. Students in this course will not only learn about the theoretical foundations of visual research, but will also spend the semester creating a research-based media project for a community partner.
Visual methods have become increasingly popular tools for research, yet despite the increasing ease of technological usability, visual methods pose complex epistemological and ethical dilemmas that deserve careful consideration. This course will explore the use of visual media for research, particularly as it is used within ethnographic and community-based projects. We will focus on the different forms and styles of visual production such as the use of film, participatory video, photo elicitation, and mapping. Each visual tool can be used for different types of methods, and each method gathers different types of data, uses different analytical frameworks, and requires different ethical considerations. We will explore the consequences of these approaches and evaluate their role in larger projects.
Visual Research Methods
How do the artistic approaches help researchers better understand social arrangements? How do social interactions inform artistic production? This course explores the cross over between art and research and how these seemingly disparate approaches to the world can contribute to each other. We will unravel what happens when these two disciplines are put into conversation with each other, and learn about practitioners and collaborations that create works that define and transgress these boundaries. This is a practicum course which will involve the construction of an artistic/visual research project along with several practice assignments.