FYS 25 Social Documentary Photography: A New Civil Contract
In this course, we will examine historical and contemporary approaches to social documentary photography—visual anthropology, citizen journalism, and agitprop, among other forms. We will consider the efficacy of photographic images in garnering awareness and persuading actors to enact sociopolitical change. We will draw consensus on our understandings of “the real," both in tandem to and opposition with staged, scripted, and/or verisimilar depiction modes, while examining the ethics of capturing another's likeness. Over the course of the semester, we will delve into critical writings and works by documentarians/collectives that either bring the liberal humanist documentary model into complex new territories or refute its criteria entirely. Together, we will confront our role as image-makers, our ethical relationship to our subjects, and ruminate on the civic value of the social documentary form today. Open only to first-year frosh.