CAST 229 - How We Look: Visualizing US Identities

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
This course examines how visual media–like paintings, magazines, television, and Instagram feeds– teach us to look at one another. We will pay special attention to the processes by which certain bodies, activities, and forms of life become visually coded as “normal” in the US mainstream, while others are marked as “different.” We will also explore techniques developed by artists and intellectuals working from the margins to subvert these conventions. During the semester, students will learn to conduct visual analysis, as well as to creatively experiment with modes of resisting the visual constructions that shape their own lives.
This course is appropriate for new students.