HIST 303
From Analog to Digital: Historical Photography in Africa Fall 2012
Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed ARTH 229
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

As a technology and practice, photography evolved alongside Europe’s colonization of Africa. Nevertheless, the image and its archiving were critical facets of the continent’s histories of liberation and post-independence. This survey course introduces students to the historical development of photography in Africa and the historical usages of photographs in the late-nineteenth century to recent times. The course begins by considering the photography of the royal courts in North Africa and Christian missionaries in West Africa, before shifting to the role of photography in the making of independent African nations and their liberation struggles after World War II. The course concludes by considering the commoditization of African photography at international biennales and its function for single-party regimes that continue to rule across Sub-Saharan Africa. Key themes include photography’s role in shaping historical knowledge and representation of Africa and its people, the appropriation of image making into African creative practices and daily life, the politics of exhibition and archiving, and the ethics of seeing war and social injustice. Students will cultivate their skills in visual analysis through historical contextualization and by frequently engaging with the photographic collections available at the WCMA and Clark Art Museum.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 25
Expected: 25
Class#: 1358
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on reading responses, a mid-term exam, and a final paper
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: Art History, History, and Africana Studies majors
Distributions: Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Notes: meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under ARTH; meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under HIST
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ARTH 229 Division I HIST 303 Division II

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