Special Topics in the Arts of Africa (386-0-1)

Topic

Photography and Africa

Instructors

Antawan I Byrd

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-410: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

This course examines how photography has shaped and transformed ideas of Africa—its peoples, cultures, and geographies—from the late nineteenth century to the present. Across colonial and postcolonial contexts, we will consider how artists, amateur and professional photographers, exhibitions, and publications register and respond to social, cultural, and political change on the continent. We will probe the ethics and politics of photography—authorship and consent; how ethnicity, race, gender, and class shape the making and reading of images; and how forms of conflict influence how images are used, what they signify, and where they circulate. Through readings, lectures, and study-room visits, we will engage a range of forms—including colonial ethnography, studio portraiture, film, advertising, photojournalism, and contemporary art. We will pay close attention to the global circulation and reception of photographic images, and to their material shifts over time and across space. Case studies will track images as they move between archives, albums, magazines, commercial galleries, and museum walls, asking how format, captioning, sequencing, and display shape interpretation and value.

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity