First-Year Writing Seminar: Visual Texts

Semester and Year	FA 2011
Course Number	FIRST-UG367
Section	001
Instructor	Chinnie Ding
Days	Tue,Thu
Time	3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Notes/Restrictions

Open to Gallatin first-year students only.

Description

The force of the familiar claim that a picture is worth a thousand words is curiously undercut by the reliance on words to deliver that news. How might we apprehend an image without thinking it through language, or read a text without conjuring up our own visuals? Oriented by readings on politics and aesthetics---by Roland Barthes, Leo Bersani, Johanna Drucker, Allan Sekula, Susan Sontag, and others---we will focus on works of art and writing that mingle images and text in the form of documentary, film, fiction, or graphic novel. Students will write, revise, and workshop a series of analytical essays, culminating in a final, extended critical reading that considers texts and images as specific as well as collaborative operations.

Course Type

First-Year Program: Writing Seminars (FIRST-UG)