Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ANT2013: Visual Anthropology: Methods and Perspectives

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Module Aims

To provide an overview of current perspectives and methods in visual anthropology
To introduce you to diverse materials in anthropology of art and photography, ethnographic film and cinema studies
To encourage a direct and sustained engagement with visual forms of communication as tools for understanding anthropological concepts
To develop an anthropological grasp of the politics and practices of representation

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. display an understanding of the visual media and cultures 2. demonstrate an understanding of the methodological and substantive issues associated with visual anthropology
Discipline-Specific Skills	3. display an understanding of the disciplines approach to visual culture in relation to other approaches and explanations offered in the humanities and social sciences; 4. appreciate key issues relevant to the visual methods, and develop critical, comparative and cross-cultural insight;
Personal and Key Skills	5. demonstrate transferable skills in formulating, researching and addressing focused questions; 6. prepare focused and comprehensive written presentations; 7. work independently and in collaboration with others; 8. prepare and deliver considered oral arguments.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

1. Vision

2. History of visual anthropology

3. Media Spheres

4. Documentary

5. Art

6. Interrogating images

7. Visual research

8. Anthropology and/as art

9. Sensory ethnography

10. Wrapping up images

Three screenings will take place as a part of this course in addition to weekly seminars.

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
26	124	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning & Teaching	20	Ten 2-hour seminars, involving presentations, and group discussion.
Scheduled Learning & Teaching	6	Three 2 hour film screenings
Guided independent study	20	Preparing seminar-presentation individually and as a group
Guided independent study	77	Reading and research
Guided independent study	27	Web-based activities

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Indicative reading list:

This is a list of some useful readings for this module that offer important background. Please feel free to select the texts that interest you, or find explanations of concepts, ideas and history of the discipline when you are preparing your presentations or writing essays.

Banks, M. and Morphy, H. E. (eds.), Rethinking visual anthropology. New Haven; London: Yale University Press
Banks. M. and Ruby, J. (eds.) 2011. Made to be seen: Perspectives on the History of Visual Anthropology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Freedberg, D. 1989. The power of images: studies in the history and theory of response. Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press.
Evans, J. and Hall, S. (eds). 1999. Visual Culture: the Reader. Open University.
Gaines, J. M. and Renov, M. E. 1999. Collecting visible evidence. Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press.
Gray, G. 2010. Cinema: a visual anthropology (Vol. 1). Oxford: Berg.
Grimshaw, A. 2001. The Ethnographer's Eye: Ways of Seeing in Anthropology. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.
Heider, K. G. 2006 (1976). Ethnographic Film. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Mirzoeff, N. (ed.) 1988. The Visual Culture Reader. London: Routledge.
Mitchell, W. J. T. 1986. Iconology: image, text, ideology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Pink, S. 2001. Doing visual ethnography: images, media and representation in research. London: SAGE.
Pinney, C. 2011. Photography and anthropology. Reaktion.
Poole, D. 1997. Vision, race, and modernity: a visual economy of the Andean image world. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.