This course will introduce students to the foundational theories of visual
culture, thinking through the development of visual culture theory from the
frankfurt school, including the early semiotic applications, then on to british
cultural studies attempts to bridge frankfurt school neo-marxism and
structuralist semiotics, and later foucauldian-inflected analyses of
modernity's urge to scopophilic violence. In keeping with the ambitions of a
foundational course, we will explore the context-specific
implications of these investments by considering two 'test cases' along the
way: the WPA coverage of poverty and labor, and the abu ghraib photos/videos.
All readings will be in a course packet. students are required to help animate
class discussions, write a final conference-length paper, complete with
abstract-proposal and cover letter.