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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "CMS/PL 348"
COURSE NAME: "War, Terrorism, and Violence in Visual Culture"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2018
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Donatella Della Ratta
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: MW 4:30-5:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: Junior Standing or permission of the instructor
OFFICE HOURS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course examines violence and terror as inherent structural components of contemporary politics and media. Students will study how the performance of violence in the contemporary media landscape has shaped new visual cultures, such as emergent modes of producing evidence, bearing witness and archiving personal and collective memories of traumatic events. Conversely, the course examines how visual culture has dramatically impacted on the way in which we understand and consume violence and terror. Subsequently, students will examine the relationship between violence and visibility, the performance of terror and its representational regimes, through a variety of global visual media from around the world. Example include Hollywood movies; art documentaries; amateur films; photographs; art projects and performances; user-generated videos (including audiovisual material produced by armed groups and terrorist organizations); and state produced media.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

This course will explore relevant questions related to the politics of violence, such as: how do visually compelling representations of violence inform and transform our understanding of it? What are the ethics of looking at and participating to the pain of distant others through networked communications technology? How does participatory media shape our understanding of violence and the performance of the latter in contemporary conflicts and terrorism acts? And how does this change our understanding of concepts such as citizenship or humanitarianism? These questions will be addressed through a deep discussion of examples from the current media landscape, and exploration of foundational theories, and research projects.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

  • Identify the major debates, controversies and concerns in the study of visual communication, visual culture, media, technology, and human rights.

  • Acquire conceptual and empirical understanding of key concepts and critical vocabularies related to terrorism and political violence, war on terror, radicalization, religious extremism, surveillance cultures, politics of humanitarianism and intervention.

  • Be able to account for and critically discuss representations of violence and terror in different visual media, and analyze their historical, philosophical and aesthetic dimension.

  • Apply multidisciplinary critical theoretical perspectives to the analysis of visual representations of war, terror, violence.

  • Develop ability to identify and address relevant research and critical questions, and demonstrate competency in communicating it in a variety of formats (oral, written and multimedia)

  • Develop a critical approach to be able to make relevant, historically and theoretically grounded assessments of the representation and performance of violence in different visual media informed by a multidisciplinary perspective

 



 
TEXTBOOK:
NONE
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
Midterm classroom testClassroom test with short answers + essay.25%
Visual Media Project Each student will create a presentation that deploys visuals (slides, videos, etc.) to illustrate an argument developed using the theoretical perspectives analyzed in class.20%
Final research paper and presentation Paper (20%) + Presentation (10%). Students are required to write a research paper that is appropriate to the course material. Each student will make an oral presentation based on the paper at the end of the semester. Detailed guidelines will be provided.30%
Attendance and participationAttendance includes a mandatory workshop with the Library (calendar will be provided). For attendance policy see details below. Participation includes doing the assigned readings and actively contributing to class discussions. Each student (alone or in team with another, depending on total number of students) has to lead at least a group discussion based on the readings during the semester. 15%
"Bring your own example": weekly reflectionsEvery week students are required to provide a short paragraph connecting the weekly readings to a relevant example from contemporary visual culture (e.g. an Instagram/Facebook/etc post; a YouTube video; an advertising campaign; a selfie, etc.). The paragraph (including weblinks to the selected digital objects) should be sent via email the night before the first class of the week.10%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS 

Please note that the library session on citing (calendar will be provided) is mandatory and absences will automatically lower your participation grade. 

Also please consider that more than 4 absences will automatically result in lowering your participation grade by one letter grade for each absence.
Anything above 8 absences will result in failing the course.

If you have a serious health problem which causes you to miss more classes than allowed here, please contact the Dean's Office.

Lateness: If unexcused, students more than 10 minutes late are marked as absent. Late arrival (less than 10 minutes) is marked as such, and 3 late arrivals are counted as one absence. 

Class procedure:  Use of cell phones and laptops affects your participation grade and is strictly forbidden during class. Please make sure that your cell phone is turned off (and not just muted) when class starts. Kindly note that any infringement of such policy shall automatically result in a F grade in participation. 
ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.
SCHEDULE

Course Schedule

Week 1: Introduction to the class. What is visual culture and why do we use it to understand war, terrorism and violence?

Reading:

Mirzoeff, Nicholas. “Introduction: Global Visual Cultures.” In An Introduction to Visual Culture. 2nd Edition. New York: Routledge, 2009: 1-20.

 

Week 2: Looking at images of violence: Some theoretical orientations

Selected readings from:

Mirzoeff, Nicholas.“Invisible Empire: Visual Culture, Embodied Spectacle, and Abu Ghraib.” In Radical History Review, vol. 95 (spring 2006), 21-44.

Feldman, Allen. “On the actuarial gaze: from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.” In Cultural Studies, vol. 19 issue 2 (2005) 203-226.
Visual media: visual media from 9/11, Abu Ghraib; Errol Morris' “Standard Operating Procedure” (documentary, 2008)

 

Week 3: Technology and Warfare

Selected Readings from:

Junger, Ernst. “On Danger.” In New German Critique, vol 59 (spring/summer 1993).

Kracauer, Siegfried. The Mass Ornament. Weimar Essays. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1995.
Visual media: videos from the series “Dangerous Games” by Harun Faroucki; art performance “Virtual Jihadi” by Wafaa Bilal'; “Videodrome” (1983).

 

Week 4: Surveillance cultures

Selected Readings from:

Zimmer, Catherine. Surveillance cinema. New York and London: New York University Press, 2015.

ten Brink, Joram and Joshua Oppenheimer (eds). Killer images: documentary film, memory and the performance of violence. London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2012.

Visual media: movies “Saw” (2004), “Benny's video” (1992).

 

Week 5: Visual economy of war and surveillance

Reading:

Parks, Lisa. “Zeroing in: overheard imagery, infrastructure ruins, and a datalands in Afghanistan and Iraq.” In Nicholas Mirzoeff (ed), The Visual Culture Reader. London: Routledge, 2013: 196-206.

Gregory, Derek. “American Military Imaginaries and Iraqi Cities: the Visual Economies of Globalizing War.” In Lindner, C. (ed), Globalization, Violence and the Visual Culture of Cities. New York: Routledge, 2010.

Visual media: art installations and performances in US military bases from the series “Incendiary traces” by Hillary Muskin; drone films; selected works by Richard U Wheeler; Forensic Architecture collective.

 

Week 6: The spectacle of terror
*Midterm 

Selected Readings from:

Devji, Faisal. “Media and Martyrdom.” In Nicholas Mirzoeff (ed), The Visual Culture Reader. London: Routledge, 2013: 220-232.

Ignatieff, David. “The terrorist as auteur”. The New York Times, 14 November 2004.

Visual media: Gillo Pontecorvo's “The Battle of Algiers” (1966), Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing” (2012) and “The Look of Silence” (2014).

 

Week 7: Digital jihadism from Al Qaeda to Isis

Reading:

Atran, Scott. “Isis is a revolution”. AEON, 15 December 2015.

Burke, Jason. “The age of selfie jihad: how evolving media technology is changing terrorism.” Combating Terrorism Center, 30 November 2016.

Winter, Charlie. “Media Jihad: the Islamic State 's Doctrine for Information Warfare.” ICSR Report, 13 February 2017.

Visual media: Isis & Al Qaeda produced videos, user-generated propaganda videos, Zain phone company Ramadan commercial 2017, anti-Isis graphic novels.

 

Week 8: Regarding the pain of the others in the networked age

Selected Readings from:

Sontag, Susan. Regarding the pain of others. New York: Picador, 2013.

Butler, Judith. Frames of War. London: Verso, 2009.

Chouliaraki, Lilie. “Distant suffering in the media”. In Professor Lilie Chouliaraki Inaugual Public Lecture, 27 February 2008, London School of Economics.
Visual media: art performances “Domestic Tension” by Wafaa B’ilal & “Rhythm 0” by Marina Abramovich.

 

Week 9: Meaningful life, bare life, and the politics of humanitarian intervention

Selected Readings from:

Agamben, Giorgio. Homo sacer: sovereign power and bare life. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.

Chouliaraki, Lilie. “Post-humanitarianism: humanitarian communication beyond a politics of pity.” In International Journal of Cultural Studies, vol 13 issue 2: 2010: 107-126.

Visual media: Syria and the refugee crisis, images of Aylan Kurdi, Omar Daqneesh, etc.


Week 10: From the Holocaust to contemporary Syria: Witnessing, archiving and memorizing war and violence through visual media

Selected Readings from:

Zelizer, Barbie. About to die: How News Images Move the Public. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Didi-Huberman, Georges. Images in spite of all: four photographs from Auschwitz. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Chouliaraki, Lilie. “Digital witnessing in conflict zones: the politics of remediation.” In Information, Communication & Science, vol 18 issue 11: 2015: 1362-1377.

Visual media: photographs from the Holocaust, Syria; video performance by Rabih Mroue “The pixelated revolution”.

 

Week 11: Visual culture project presentations

TBA


Week 12: Syria, torturing with images: Cinema of the murderer and cinema of the murdered

Reading:

Tarnowski, Stefan. “What have we been watching?What have we been watching?”. In Bidayyat, 5 May 2017.

Della Ratta, Donatella. “The unbearable lightness of the image. Unfinished thoughts on filming in contemporary Syria.” In Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, vol. 10 issue 2-3: 2017: 109-132.

Visual media: “Silvered Water. Syria's Self Portrait” (2014).

 

Week 13: The banality of the (digital) evil: The participatory culture of violence 2.0

Stein, Rebecca and Adi Kunstman. Digital Militarism: Israel's Occupation in the Social Media Age. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015.

Della Ratta, Donatella. “Violence and visibility in Contemporary Syria: An Ethnography of the 'Expanded Places.'” In CyberOrient, vol 9, issue 1: 2015.

Visual media: Instagram campaign “Kill the Arabs”; video ethnography of the Damascene Village (Syria).

 

Week 14
*Final paper due   
Wrap up 

Final exam: paper oral presentation