ZUR333 Photography, sociology and popular culture

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2011
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Michal Šimůnek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jiří Pavelka, CSc.
Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Bc. Pavlína Brabcová
Timetable
each even Friday 12:00–15:40 AVC
Prerequisites (in Czech)
SMER(MED)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course comes out of the principles of visual sociology and in this respect acquaints students with several forms of everyday photographic practices and the role of photography in popular culture. Visual sociologists use photography in two main ways: 1) by using several techniques and methods they analyze "found" photographs "naturally" produced by and circulating within cultures; 2) they use photography as the recording technology of visual aspects of social life and as the means of data collection. Considering this double-use of photography in visual sociology students will be acquaint with (1) the principal theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of visual culture: content analysis, semiotics and discourse analysis; and (2) with several photography-based visual research methods and techniques. The particular emphasis is put on the epistemology and methodology of Pierre Bourdieu's "visual" sociology. Students receive the basic background knowledge for further study of visual pictures, improve their critical understanding of visual culture and master basic skills for doing photography-based research. Laying no claim to exhaustive encompassment of theoretical frameworks through which photography is considered, the aim of the course is to teach students to understand every single photograph in the complex way, which means to consider not even the grammer and content of photographs but also the reality that is represented and the context in which is photograph produced, distributed, used and read. The course is concluded by individual photography project.
Syllabus
  • Partial content changes reserved
  • 1. Introduction to the relations between photography and sociology
  • 2. The "nature" of technical pictures: grammer, content, reality and context
  • 3. Some general notes on photo analysis (what is difficult about analyzing photographs)
  • 4. Content analysis
  • 5. Content analysis
  • 6. Semiotic analysis
  • 7. Semiotic analysis
  • 8. Discoursive analysis
  • 9. Discoursive analysis
  • 10.-14. Photography-based visual research methods and techniques
Literature
  • Picturing the Social Landscape: Visual Methods and the Sociological Imagination. Edited by Caroline Knowles, Paul Sweetman. New York, London: Routledge, 2004, 204 s., ISBN 0-415-30639-6
  • FILIPOVÁ, Marta and Matthew RAMPLEY. Možnosti vizuálních studií : obrazy, texty, interpretace. 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, Filozofická fakulta, Seminář dějin umění, 2007, 254 s. ISBN 9788087029268. info
  • RIFFE, Daniel, Stephen LACY and Frederick FICO. Analyzing media messages : using quantitative content analysis in research. 2nd ed. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005, x, 242. ISBN 0805852980. info
  • VAN LEEUWEN, Theo. Introducing social semiotics. New York: Routledge, 2005, xii, 301. ISBN 0415249449. info
  • BLAŽEK, Bohuslav. Venkovy: anamnéza, diagnóza, terapie. 1. vydání. Šlapanice: ERA, 2004, 184 pp. ISBN 80-86517-90-X. info
  • A handbook of media and communication research : qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Edited by Klaus Jensen. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 2002, x, 332. ISBN 0415225884. info
  • Methods of critical discourse analysis. Edited by Ruth Wodak - Michael Meyer. 1st pub. London: SAGE Publications, 2001, viii, 200. ISBN 0761961542. info
  • Photography : a critical introduction. Edited by Liz Wells. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2000, xx, 384. ISBN 0415190584. info
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. Photography, a middle-brow art. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990, ix, 218. ISBN 0745617158. info
Assessment methods
photography project, credit
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Spring 2009, Autumn 2009.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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