H82.1120 Lecture 4 Credits
Advanced History Seminar: Human Rights and Photography4 Credits
H82.1120 section 1 #71342 Lucas Monday 2-5 pm 719 Broadway, 313
Prerequisites: Upper level Critical Studies course, Social and Aesthetic History of Photography and one
intermediate level course.
This class will focus on photography, representation, and human rights. Specifically, we will examine the
crucial role that photography plays in the global human rights movement. Many photographers who
once considered themselves to be working within a documentary tradition now conceive of themselves
as also working within a human rights framework. In order to understand this change, we need to view
the many historical and contemporary movements related to documentary photography. We will also
explore critical issues surrounding the ethics and politics of photographic representation and the
different mediums (such as traditional print media versus new media) used to express human rights
issues. We will also carefully place photography and visual representation within the wider field of
human rights. And finally, we will study the impact photography has had on social change and the many
possibilities photographs may have in the future struggle for universal human rights.
