HNR-210 - Picturing Atrocity: Images of War & Its Aftermath

3 credits

Everyone living today has experienced a world with war and photography. This course will investigate how images of war have changed the social and political narrative since the birth of photography in 1839. Students will gain a deep understanding of the visual impact that images of war have had on society through the ages, and will analyze the moral and ethical dilemmas associated with this kind of representation as it has moved from the still photograph to the moving image. We will probe the historical and cultural meanings found in images of atrocity, and the important role curators, scholars, journalists and photographers play in helping form our global worldview. Students will read the work of Susan Sontag, Ariella Azoulay, James Young, Georges Didi-Huberman, Marita Sturken, Tom Junod, among others, and will be expected to engage in philosophical and theoretical discussions during weekly seminars. Assignments will include written response papers to weekly readings, a midterm paper, and final research project with a public presentation component. Course activities will include guest speakers who are presently working in the field, trips to 9/11 Museum and Memorial in NYC and area photography exhibits, where students will explore and investigate how they see experience representations of tragedy.

Mass Transfer Gen Ed Foundation: Credits earned in this course are counted towards the Mass Transfer Gen Ed Foundation’s Humanities and Fine Arts requirements.