Critical Readings in Visual Anthropology: Ethnography, Theory, and Experimentation

General knowledge

• Understand the relevance of visual anthropology for anthropological theory
• Critically assess the status of moving images, stills, and other visual media products in a global world

Skills

• Analyse and evaluate ethnographic films and other products of visual anthropology
• Explore the potential of visual anthropology for the ethnography of media productions
• Explore the potential of insights from visual anthropology for your own MA projects

General competence

• Deepen the capacity visual thought and analysis and appreciate its relevance in anthropology and beyond
• Enhance the ability to talk about one’s written and visual work (including powerpoint) and presentation skills

Students must be admitted to the Master`s programme in Social Anthropology, or to the Master specialisation in didactics for social science in the Teacher Education Programme (Lektorprogrammet).

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled in the Master's Programme in Social Anthropology, please see our admission requirements and apply, and see the information on application and admission to master's degree programmes at UiO.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Lectures (including film screenings), discussions based on readings, and student presentations. In the presentations students will discuss the literature in relation to their projects, and can also present their own photos or film-clips (or, alternatively, other examples from film/video and photography), and discuss them in light of the literature.

Compulsory activities:

• A visual presentation to a satisfactory visual standard (Powerpoint, Prezi or similar with fully edited slides, film/video clip, photographic, or multimedia essay), to be viewed in class.
• A written essay of minimum 1200 words based on the visual presentation. The essay must be prefaced by a bullet point/abstract and is to be circulated in class on the day of the presentation.

The compulsory activities will be assessed as Approved/Not approved.

Both the visual presentation and the essay must be approved the same semester in order to take the exam.

In the event of illness or other valid reasons, you can apply for a valid absence or postponement of compulsory activity. Apply for valid absence from or need for postponement of compulsory activity

Access to teaching:

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

• Revised written essay of minimum 1200 words.

The compulsory activities must be approved, and the exam passed in the same semester.

Previous exams and assessment guidelines

• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Resitting an examination

Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.

Also see Grading guidelines in social anthropology.