The Rhetoric of the Photographic Image

M 2:00-5:00pm, 7415 Dwinelle

For what, where, when, how, and why is photography a matter of critical interest? This seminar offers an introduction to the study of the photographic image in a wide variety of its discursive settings, past, present and future. We will read and discuss classic and exemplary academic investigations of photography in general and in particular, under such rubrics as ontology, semiology, objectification, identification, truth, phenomenology, ethics, aesthetics, politics, technics, optics, and informatics, aspiring to comprehend the forms and functions of photography as a new and old medium.

Open to graduate students from all departments.

Requirements: one or two in-class presentations (depending on the class size); a final research paper geared toward the participants’ own fields.