Visual Representations of the Middle East in the US and Middle East

Catalog description

This course is an introduction to the visual culture, the visual experience and sociological/historical context of images of the Middle East in the US mass media. The focus of the course will be on reading and interpreting visual images (painting, photography, film, illustration, digital media) and analyzing the larger social and cultural forces that shape the production, distribution and consumption of these media forms. We will explore these issues by focusing on a series of images/case studies located in a specific historical context, allowing us to introduce some of the major movements in visual culture, explore the social contexts of these images, and the ways in which the visual experience shapes our social lives and personal identities. Course evaluations will include exams, writing assignments, a class blog, and a final art project. The course examines visual representations of cultures over time, providing students with the artistic, historical, political and sociological context of their production. This integrative framework will enable students to understand how the creation of visual media and its interpretations both influence and are influenced by social context. It will introduce students to integrative thinking by providing them with interpretive techniques of the social sciences and the arts to increase their powers of visual analysis so that they can discuss an image's medium, composition, style and iconography. The course will examine the ways that the arts can be an expression of cultural values, helping students to comprehend the hegemonic aspects of image composition, production, exhibition and distribution. The course will explore the social milieus in which media is created, often depicting stereotypical images that poorly represent the complexity of the myriad cultural groups in the Middle East.