Universität Wien

240536 SE MM3 De/constructing the "other" - Exploring visual representations (2025S)

Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung

Participation at first session is obligatory!

The lecturer can invite students to a grade-relevant discussion about partial achievements. Partial achievements that are obtained by fraud or plagiarized result in the non-evaluation of the course (entry 'X' in certificate). The plagiarism software 'Turnitin' will be used.
The use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) for the attainment of partial achievements is only allowed if explicitly requested by the course instructor.
Mi 30.04. 13:15-16:30 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock

An/Abmeldung

Hinweis: Ihr Anmeldezeitpunkt innerhalb der Frist hat keine Auswirkungen auf die Platzvergabe (kein "first come, first served").

Details

max. 25 Teilnehmer*innen
Sprache: Englisch

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

UPDATE 07.02.2025: Anstatt der Einheit am 11.6. findet die LV am 9.4.2025 von 9:45-13:00 Uhr statt.
UPDATE 10.04.2025: changed dates

  • Mittwoch 05.03. 15:00 - 18:15 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
  • Mittwoch 19.03. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Mittwoch 02.04. 15:00 - 18:15 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
  • Mittwoch 09.04. 09:45 - 13:00 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Mittwoch 14.05. 15:00 - 18:15 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
  • Mittwoch 28.05. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

This course critically examines the role of visual representations in shaping and perpetuating constructions of "the Other." Throughout history, photography, film, and art have played a pivotal role in shaping perceptions of cultural difference, often reinforcing power imbalances rooted in colonialism, such as exoticism and ethnocentrism. Postcolonial and feminist theories discuss how gender, race, and intersectionality intersect in these portrayals, offering pathways for decolonizing the gaze. Contemporary practices, including Indigenous media and participatory filmmaking, challenge traditional hierarchies, fostering new ways of seeing and storytelling.
This course invites a critical exploration of such visual narratives, analysing their ethical dimensions and socio-political impacts: Drawing on key anthropological theories, students will explore how visual representations from ethnographic films and photography to contemporary media create, reinforce, and challenge cultural stereotypes, identities, and power dynamics. The course engages with questions of representation, ethics, colonial legacies, and the politics of seeing.

By the end of this course, students will:
1. Understand the historical and theoretical foundations of visual representation in anthropology.
2. Critically analyse visual media as a site of cultural production and power negotiation.
3. Deconstruct representations of "the Other" in various media formats.
4. Apply ethical frameworks to the production and consumption of visual content.
5. Develop independent research projects that integrate visual analysis with anthropological inquiry.

The course is organized into block seminars, each focusing on a specific theme and case study. Students are encouraged to deepen their knowledge of the course topic through lectures, and discussions of texts and visual media. To this end, students are expected to prepare readings and assignments before the sessions. A field trip to sites of contestation and othering in Vienna will be organized in the second half of the course offering students hands-on experience in deconstructing visual representations.

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

1) Active participation in class activities, workshops, and discussions of case studies (10 points to the grade)
2) Assignments throughout the semester short written reflections on the readings and case studies (20 points to the grade)
3) Students undertake a visual analysis project on a case-study of their choosing The project results in a final presentation at the end of the course (30 points to the grade)
4) Final paper based on the visual analysis project implementing key ideas from the course literature, and classes (40 points of the grade)
The use of AI is not permitted, unless it is stated otherwise by the lecturer.
Each of the above requirements have to be fulfilled in order to pass the class.

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

The grading of the course is based on the separate assessment of different tasks:
1) Active participation: 10 points
2) Assignments throughout the semester: 20 points
3) Final presentation: 30 points
4) Final paper: 40 points

Grading Key:
100-91 - very good (1)
90-81 - good (2)
80-71 - satisfactory (3)
70-61 - sufficient (4)
60-0 - failed (5)
In order to complete the course, students need to obtain at least 61 points.

Prüfungsstoff

See above

Literatur

Recommended readings:
Lila Abu-Lughod (1991) Writing Against Culture
Appadurai, Arjun. Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.
Chrisman, Laura and Patrick Williams (eds.) (2013) discourse and post-colonial theory : a reader. Abingdon: Routledge.
Clifford, James (2021) The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. 1st ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ginsburg, Faye D., Lila Abu-Lughod and Brian Larkin (eds.) (2002). Media Worlds : Anthropology on New Terrain. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Grimshaw, Anna (2001) The Ethnographer’s Eye: Ways of Seeing in Anthropology. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
hooks, bell. The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators.
Mirzoeff, Nicholas (ed.) (2006) The visual culture reader. 2. ed. London: Routledge.
Nakamura, Lisa (2008) Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press.
Miller, Daniel, and Heather Horst (2013) Digital Anthropology. London, New York: Bloomsbury.
Ruby, Jay and Fadwa El Guindi (2001) Picturing culture: explorations of film and anthropology. In: American anthropologist, Vol.103(2), p.522-527
Said, Edward. Orientalism
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies
Vargas Cetina, Gabriela (ed.) (2013) Anthropology and the politics of representation. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

Letzte Änderung: Do 10.04.2025 16:26