ARTH 222
Photography in/of the Middle East Fall 2024
Division I D Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed ARAB 222

Photography has been globally disseminated and locally inflected since its invention. In the Middle East, the powers and pleasures of the medium have been valued by colonial forces, indigenous populations, photojournalists and artists; the resulting images merit aesthetic and art historical appreciation even as they grant visual access to the social and political dynamics operative in diverse cultural contexts. We will explore photographic practices in various zones of the Middle East–e.g., the Holy Land, Turkey, Egypt and the Persian sphere–by attending to individual photographers and case studies. This tightly focused approach will support, in turn, a consideration of the agency and power of images more generally–what work do photographs do? Who resists and who benefits? The goal will be to appreciate diverse styles and perspectives that underlie renderings of the Middle East.