American studies

The Look of America

Module code: T7002E
Level 4
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Computer based exam

Ever since the explosion of mass media and mass society in the industrial age, the United States has taken an increasingly dominant place in the global visual imagination. On this module, you’ll:

• analyse some of the products of American visual culture, along with the ideologies that sustain them
• study visual theory to develop the necessary critical tools for the module
• trace the movements that defined American visual culture from the 1860s to the 2000s.

From Civil War photography to aesthetic renderings of the aftermath of 9/11, you’ll take a fresh look at American iconography.

Module learning outcomes

• Demonstrate a knowledge of the ways in which a national identity is visually constructed and contested.
• Make interdisciplinary links between the visual arts generally and literary, scientific, and historical discourses
• Synthesize material from lectures and seminars in order to present coherent and structured arguments in essays.