Module Code - Title:
CU4027
-
VISUAL CULTURAL STUDIES
Year Last Offered:
2026/7
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
The aim of this module is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the transdisciplinary formations of visual culture and visual cultural studies. Students will develop an understanding of;
* the ways in which visual texts have emerged as a dominant mode of cultural communication
* how visuality has emerged as a primary concern within a range of disciplinary formations such as cultural studies, film studies, media studies, sociology and technology.
Syllabus:
The course will survey the field of visual cultural studies from the transition between the painting and the mechanical reproduction of images. It will deal with the problem of photography as a reflection of reality, as gaze and as surveillance The gendering of the image in painting ,advertising and cinema will be covered The module will deal with the notion of virtuality and the critiquing of the internet. Race and globalisation as they are theorised and represented will form the basis of the last part of the module.
Readings will form the basis or lectures and tutorials as well as the screening of films and television productions. Analytic tools of image analysis will be presented and applied and will form a significant part of student assessment.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- identify the the different stages of the development of the field of visual cultural studies.
- articulate the theories associated with the field
- apply theoretical models to visual artefacts
- analyse images images in a systematic way
- critically compare different approaches to image analysis and consumption
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
Not applicable
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
Not applicable
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
There will be two lectures and one tutorial. The students will be exposed to various visual media in the classroom and will have to use media resources to undertake 2-3 written applying theoretical approaches to visual artefacts.
Prime Texts:
Evans, J. and Hall, S. eds. (1999)
Visual Culture: The Reader
, Sage
Berger, J., Blomberg, S., Fox, C., Dibb, M. and Hollis, R. (1972)
Ways of Seeing
, British Broadcasting Corporation
Jones, A. ed. (2003)
The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader
, Routledge
Other Relevant Texts:
Sontag, S. (1978)
On Photography
, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Stabile, C. A. (1994)
Feminism and the Technological Fix
, UP
Treichler, P. A., L. Cartwright and C. Penley, eds. (1998)
The Visible Woman: Imaging Technologies, Gender and Science
, UP
Banks, M. (2001)
Visual Methods in Social Research
, Sage
Fusco, C. and Wallis, B. eds ()
Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self
, International Center of Photography
Jenks, C. ed. (1995)
Visual Culture
, Routlege
Pink, S. (2001)
Doing Visual Ethnography: Images, Media and Representation
, Sage
Rose, G. (2001)
Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of
, Sage
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
BACHELOR OF ARTS
BACHELOR OF ARTS (PROFESSIONAL PATHWAYS)
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN EUROPEAN STUDIES
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN IRISH AND NEW MEDIA
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN NEW MEDIA AND ENGLISH
BACHELOR OF ARTS INTERNATIONAL ADVANCED ACCESS
BACHELOR OF LAWS (LAW PLUS)
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Module Leader:
Gustavo.Herrera@ul.ie