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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "COM 111-4"
COURSE NAME: "Introduction to Visual Culture"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2025
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Valentina Tanni
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: MW 11:30 AM 12:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
From photojournalism to Instagram, 21st century communication is primarily image-based. Whether its mass media, individual expression, social media or alternative media, images are used for promoting ideas, products, information and political discourses. In this course students investigate the role of visual culture in daily life, exploring fine art, popular culture, film, television, advertising, business communications, propaganda, viral social media and information graphics. As a critical introduction to visual communication, this course mixes theory, analysis and practical activities for an applied understanding of key issues, including the relationship between images, power and politics; the historical practice of looking; visual media analysis; spectatorship; historic evolution of visual codes; impact of visual technologies; media literacy; information graphics literacy; and global visual culture.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
From photojournalism to Instagram, 21st century communication is primarily image-based. Whether its mass media, individual expression, social media or alternative media, images are used for promoting ideas, products, information and political discourses. In this course students investigate the role of visual culture in daily life, exploring fine art, popular culture, film, television, advertising, business communications, propaganda, viral social media and information graphics. As a critical introduction to visual communication, this course mixes theory, analysis and practical activities for an applied understanding of key issues, including the relationship between images, power and politics; the historical practice of looking; visual media analysis; spectatorship; historic evolution of visual codes; impact of visual technologies; media literacy; information graphics literacy; and global visual culture.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

The course’s content and activities are meant to prepare students for future studies in communications and media studies. By the end of the course, students should be able to:

·       Describe key theories and concepts of visual studies

·       Identify and clearly communicate (verbally and in writing) how visual texts are constructed

·       Perform image analyses on a variety of visual texts, including advertising, social media posts, and information graphics

·       Distinguish communication strategies in visual media

·       Assess and critique the role of visual media in shaping political & cultural discourse
TEXTBOOK:
NONE
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
Attendance & ParticipationParticipation includes doing the assigned readings and actively contributing to class discussions. 10%
Midterm examDetailed guidelines will be provided.35%
Final research paper & Oral presentationStudents are required to write a research paper related to the course material. Detailed guidelines to be provided.40%
Visual Diary Students are expected to keep a visual diary throughout the semester and post it during the final exams week. Possible forms for the visual diary will be discussed in class. 15%

-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 AND EXAMINATION POLICY
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until ____________
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


PART I – UNDERSTANDING VISUAL CULTURE
terminology, theories, tools



WEEK 1: 
What is visual culture 
Vision and visuality

Reading: 
Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, Practices of Looking, Introduction, p. 1-8
Nicholas Mirzoeff, How we think about seeing, in How to see the world, 2015

Watching: 
The Story Behind Earth’s Most Famous Photo, YouTube video


WEEK 2: 
Visual Culture as a field of study
Systems of representation

Reading: 
Valentina Tanni, Memesthetics, Chapter 3: New Ways of Seeing, p. 87-93

Watching: 
John Berger, Ways of Seeing, ep. 1

WEEK 3: 
Perspective as a symbolic form
A genealogy of the screen

Reading: 
Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media, Chapter 2: The Screen and the User, p. 94-115
E. H. Gombrich, The Visual Image, 1972

WEEK 4: 
Iconography and Iconology 
Gestalt Theory

Reading: 
Richard Howells, Joaquim Negreiros, Visual Culture, Chapter 1: Iconology

Watching: 
Helvetica: Typography, Graphic Design and Global Visual Culture, Documentary, 2007

WEEK 5:
Semiotics
Roland Barthes’ Mythologies

Reading: 
Roland Barthes, Rhetoric of the lmage, 1977, p. 152-159
Ellen Seiter, Semiotics, Structuralism and Television, 1992
Aidan Walker, Italian Brainrot and AI semiotics, 2025

Watching: 
Martha Rosler, Semiotics of the Kitchen, 1975

PART II – SPECTATORSHIP, GAZE AND POWER
watching and being watched 


WEEK 6: 
Visuality and Power
Gaze and Gender

Reading: 
Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, Practices of Looking, p. 103-131
Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, 1975

WEEK 7: 
Midterm Recap and Exam

WEEK 8:
Countervisuality and Visual Activism 

Reading: 
Nicholas Mirzoeff, The Right to Look, 2011
Yener Bayramoğlu, Border countervisuality: smartphone videos of border crossing and migration, 2022
Tessa Lewin, Queer Visual Activism in South Africa, 2019

Watching: 
Assam Khalid & Ali Rez, Changing How We Protest, 2015
Zanele Muholi, Visual Activist, 2013



PART III – CONTEMPORARY VISUAL CULTURE
visual literacy today


WEEK 9:
Photography in the digital age

Reading: 
Fred Ritchin, Of Pixels and Paradox, in After Photography, 2009
Valentina Tanni, The Unstable Image, in Memesthetics. The Eternal September of Art, 2020


WEEK 10:
The Poor image

Reading: 
Hito Steyerl, In Defense of the Poor Image, 2009
Nick Douglas, It’s Supposed to Look Like Shit: The Internet Ugly Aesthetic, 2014
Dean Kissick, The Vulgar Image, 2025
 
WEEK 11: 
Digital culture, glitches, memes and selfies

Reading: 
Jakko Kemper, Glitch, the post-digital aesthetic of failure and 21st-century media, 2022
Nicholas Mirzoeff, How to See Yourself, in How to see the world, 2015
Anna Peraica, Culture of the Selfie, 2017, excerpt

WEEK 12: 
AI images and Deepfakes

Reading: 
Joshua Habgood-Coote, Deepfakes and the epistemic apocalypse, 2023
Eryk Salvaggio, How to Read an AI image, 2022
Lesia Kulchynska, Gray Zone of Images, 2024
Fabian Mosele, Italian Brainrot: when AI Slop Becomes Culture, 2025

Watching: Jacob Adler, Total Pixel Space, 2024


WEEK 13: 
Case studies analysis (chosen by the students and performed in groups)


WEEK 14: Final Week

Visual Diary Delivery 
Oral presentations

 
* The contents of this outline are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.