Visual anthropology looks at documentary film and photography, from rare historical classics to present-day media. Visual anthropology also explores how people do things by being seen, how people perceive and respond in various ways to pictures, and what changes about the seen through time and across the world. Technologies of representation affect us all in ways that are often surprising and frequently unconscious.
This course emphasizes not just reading but looking, and not just looking but also producing pictures and other imagery ourselves. Students with interests in a better critical understanding of, a better practical skill with, and/or a better grounding in what can and has been done with visual media are all welcome, and should find the material offers many rewarding layers to explore.