996007 Writing Histories Through Images (Methods Class) (S) (WiSe 2021/2022)

The visual dimensions of perception, communication, knowledge, memory, of social and power relations are inviting historians and sociologists to formulate new research questions, and to encounter images in a way different from understanding them simply as products of ideologies, as social functions, or as mere illustrations. In this course we will discuss the epistemic value of images and of the visual for historical research by studying approaches and methods from various (inter-)disciplinary backgrounds (visual culture studies and art history informed by semiotics, discourse and media theory, anthropology, phenomenology). Besides reading and discussing relevant literature, all participants will prepare a short presentation of one specific methodological approach. In addition, participants will reflect on their own dissertation projects through the lens of visual methodologies.

The course language is English. The programme will be introduced in a first meeting on Monday, 10 January 2022, 2-4 p.m. held via Zoom. The thematic sessions where participants discuss literature and give a short presentation (15 minutes) will take place as a two-days-workshop on 24 and 25 January 2022 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The two-days-workshop will take place via Zoom. Please contact Ms. Anke Schwengelbeck for Zoom access (anke.schwengelbeck@uni-bielefeld.de).

Bibliography

Elkins, James/Maja Naef (Hg.), What is an Image? (The Stone Art Theory Institutes, Bd. 2), University Park, PA, 2011 (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780271072319/html).
Grant, Florence/Jordanova, Ludmilla (eds.): Writing Visual Histories, London 2020.
Rose, Gillian, Visual Methodologies. An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials, London 2001.
Sturken, Marita/Lisa Cartwright, Practices of Looking. An Introduction to Visual Culture, Oxford University Press 2005.