CC 205: Word and Image

CC 205: Word and Image

3 Credits
Section A: MWF 1:30-2:20 p.m. – Professor Buggeln

Fulfills humanities: fine arts requirement.

What is representation and how do words and images communicate?

What makes a representation “true”?

Can words claim legitimacy that images may not, or vice-versa?

What do makers of representations owe their viewers/readers?

Word & Image introduces students to problems and questions associated with the nature, form, and circulation of images from Plato to the present. The course is divided into four sections. The first questions the ability of images and text to convey truth and justice, with a special focus on what we call “documentary” images. The second considers historical and contemporary problems in the representation of the sacred and the use of images and objects in worship and devotion. The third section explores the rise of modern ways of subjective seeing and representing, with a particular emphasis on the traveler. Finally, we will turn our attention to comics and film, considering contemporary representation in light of course questions about truth telling and subjectivity.