STUDY PROGRAMME
Visual arts and Curatorial studies

AFAM CODE
ABST47

DISCIPLINARY AREA
Style, history of art and culture

DISCIPLINARY FIELD
Visual anthropology

CREDITS
6

APPROACH
Theoretical

The course in Visual Anthropology analyses the mutual influence of men and images, starting from the issue of the status of images in the contemporary system, to investigate its role and function in the everyday reality.

The programme consists of one single module, which grants 6 CFA credits.

Successful students will be able to:

• Relate the theories about the semiotic status of images with the physiological, psychological and cultural dimensions that characterize the visual processes

• Critically assess the history of ethnographic photography, as well as the main authors and the most significant productions of ethnographic cinema.

• Acquire visual methods that can be applied to ethnographic research.

• Understand the epistemological and ethical implications of the creation of visual representations in ethnographic contexts.

• Visual anthropology: methods and research scope

• Visual processes: physiology, psychology and anthropology of images

• Ethnographic photography

• Documentaries

• Indigenous cinema and self-portrayal

• Post-colonialism and its potential in museums

• Art, anthropology and the representation of others

This is a theoretical course. Didactic activities may include:

• Classroom lectures

• Use of tutorials, videos or other media tools for detailed study

• Debates and presentations during classes

• Individual study and research

• Field trips

Assessment is based on the overall competence of the students and may include:

• Oral exam

• Written exam

• Submission of papers, projects or research work

Further details on specific tests can be provided by the professor during the course. Assessment criteria include commitment, active participation and personal growth of the students during the course.

• Freedberg, D. (1991), The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response, MIT Press.

• Clifford, J. (1988),The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethngraphy, Lierature, and Art, Harvard University Press.

• Curated by M.Scotini (2020) Utopian Display. Geopolitical Curating: Quodlibet.

• Ingold, T. (2013) Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecuture, Routledge.

Further bibliographic recommendations may be provided by the professor during the course. A lot of the referenced material, together with other in-depth study material, can be consulted online in MyNaba, in the Library section.