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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "CMS/PL 348"
COURSE NAME: "War, Terrorism, and Violence in Visual Culture"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2024
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Donatella Della Ratta
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: TTH 1:30 PM 2:45 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 Detailed guidelines will be provided15%
Final projectPaper proposal (5%), paper presentation during finals (10%), final research paper (30%). Detailed guidelines will be provided.45%
Attendance & ParticipationAttendance is mandatory. Participation includes doing the assigned readings and actively contributing to class discussions. Each student has to lead at least a group discussion based on the assigned readings during the semester. 10%
Online projectAt the beginning of the semester, students are required to choose a digital platform (Wordpress, etc.) where to build their own space to post reflections on the assigned readings on a weekly basis. Students are encouraged to connect the weekly readings to relevant examples from contemporary visual culture. Project will be assessed and graded in two phases, midterm and finals. Detailed guidelines will be provided.30%

-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:

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. 

4 absences are tolerated and do not need to be excused. 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 problem which causes you to miss classes more 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. 
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 study of visual culture

Introduction to the class topic and general overview of the syllabus

Understanding visual culture: a shared vocabulary

 

Week 2: Visuality and the Right to Look

Reading

Mirzoeff, N. (2016). 'The War of Images' from How to see the world : An introduction to images, from self-portraits to selfies, maps to movies, and more. New York: Basic Books, pp 110-117.

Mirzoeff, N. (2009) “Introduction: Global Visual Cultures.” In An Introduction to Visual Culture. 2nd Edition. New York: Routledge, pp 1-16.

 

 

 

Week 3: Looking at images of violence: Abu Ghraib and the ‘aesthetics’ of torture

* 20 September make up day for Thanksgiving

Reading

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

Sontag, S. (2004) “Regarding the Torture of Others”, The New York Times, May 23

Watching

selected images from Abu Ghraib/Guantanamo/Sde Teiman;videos from the series “Dangerous Games” by Harun Faroucki; art performance “Virtual Jihadi” by Wafaa Bilal'; Ronak Kapadia on Wafaa Bilal; Monira al Qadiri's work.

Standard Operating Procedure’ (Errol Morris,2008)

 

Week 4: Looking at images of violence: violence on black bodies from Rodney King to George Floyd

Reading

Dorlin, E. (2020). Self Defense: A Philosophy of Violence, Verso Books.

Butler, J. (1993) ‘Endangered/Endangering: Schematic Racism and White Paranoia’, in Gooding-Williams, R., Reading Rodney King Reading Urban Uprising, New York and London: Routledge.

Watching

a selection of visual media on Emmett Till, Rodney King, George Floyd, Tyre Nichols, etc.

 

Week 5: Deracializing the field of vision and reclaiming the 'space of appearance': Black Lives Matter

Reading

Mirzoeff, N. (2017) The Appearance of Black Lives Matter, [Name]

Watching

a selection of visual media on Black Lives Matter

 

Week 6: Seeing White: The Infrastructure of Whiteness

*Midterm

Reading

Excerpts from:

Mirzoeff, N. (2023) White Sight: Visual Politics and Practices of Whiteness, MIT Press.

Watching

a selection of 'white' media

 

Week 7:Biopolitics and Necropolitics: Who Deserves to Live and Who Ought to Die

Reading

Mbembe, A. (2003) ‘Necropolitics’, in Public Culture 15(1)

Excerpts from:

Mamdani, Mahmood (2020) Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.

Watching

videos from Forensic Architecture and Forensic Oceanography, footage from refugee camps, etc.

 

Week 8: The Right to Maim, Ecocide, Domicide, and Other Ways of 'Killing Softly'

Reading

Excerpts from:

Puar, J. (2017), The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Stamatopoulou-Robbins, S. (2020), Waste Siege: The Life of Infrastructure in Palestine. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Watching

visual media from Palestine; videos from Susan Schuppli, Forensic Architecture, etc.

 

Week 9

Distant Suffering/Regarding the pain of others in the networked age

Reading

Excerpts from:

Sontag, S. (2013) Regarding the pain of others New York: Picador.

Butler, J. (2015) 'Precariousness and Grievability: When is Life Grievable?', Verso Blog.

Watching: art performances “Domestic Tension” by Wafaa B’ilal & “Rhythm 0” by Marina Abramovich, etc.

 

Week 10

Digital Humanitarianism and Live-Streaming Death

Reading

Excerpts from:

Johns, F. (2023) #Help : Digital Humanitarianism and the Remaking of International Order. Oxford University Press, Inc..

Dawes, J. (2007). That the World May Know: Bearing Witness to Atrocities, Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.

 

Week 11: Watching and Believing: Digital Forensics and the Politics of 'Trust' in the Age of Networks

Reading

Stein, R. (2021) 'The Boy Who Wasn't Really Killed: Israeli State Violence in the Age of Smartphone Witness', International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1-19.

Chouliaraki, L., and al-Ghazzi, O. (2022) 'Beyond Verification: Flesh Witnessing and the Significance of Embodiment in Conflict News', in Journalism, 23 (3), 649-667.

Weizman, E. (2017) Forensic Architecture: Violence at the Threshold of Detectability. New York: Zone Books.

Watching

visual media from Syria, Palestine, Ukraine, etc. , Eyal Weizman's lecture & podcast

 

Week 12: Killer Images, Unwatchable Violence

Reading

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

De Angelis, E. (2019) 'The Controversial Archive: Negotiating Horror Images in Syria' in Della Ratta, Dickinson, Haugbolle (eds.) The Arab Archive, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures.

Watching

Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing” (2012), visual media from AbouNaddara film collective, activists' videos from Syria.

Excerpts from Claude Lanzmann 'Shoah' (1985)

Haron Farocki Images of the World and the Inscription of War (1989)

JL Godard Notre Musique (2004)

 

Week 13

Algorithmic Wars: Future Wars and the War on Future

Reading

Excerpts from

Bijering, J., Engberg-Pedersen, A., Gade, S. And Strandmose Toft, C. (2024) War and Aesthetics: Art, Technology, and the Futures of Warfare, Cambridge and London: MIT Press.

Aizeki, M., Mahmoudi, M. And Schupfer, C. (2023) Resisting Borders & Technologies of Violence, Chicago: Haymarket Books.

Week 4

Drone Warfare and Automated Apartheid

Reading

Downey, A. (2023) Algorithmic predictions and pre-emptive violence: artificial intelligence and the future of unmanned aerial systems. Digital War.

Amnesty International (2023), Automated Apartheid.