Mount Allison University Campus

Academic Calendar 2019-2020

Table of Contents

Visual and Material Culture

VISUAL AND MATERIAL CULTURE

Note:  The listing of a course in the Calendar is not a guarantee that the course is offered every year.

Note:  Students must obtain a grade of at least C- in all courses used to fulfill prerequisite requirements. Otherwise, written permission of the appropriate Department Head or Program Co-ordinator must be obtained.

Introduction to Visual Culture: the Power of Images and Viewers

This course provides a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary introduction to visual culture from ancient civilizations to our contemporary global world. It presents key terms, concepts, and issues that are central to the study of images, visuality, practices of looking, as well as visual media, technology, and culture. It deconstructs the mechanism and impact of visual communication by illuminating how images exert power in specific geographic and cultural contexts, manufacture desire in viewers and consumers, and construct meaning and experience through time. Lectures target the acquisition of visual literacy and the understanding of visual culture around the world. (Format: Lecture 3 hours) (Distribution: Arts-a)

Introduction to Material Culture: Knowledge and Its Textures

This course provides a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary introduction to material culture from ancient civilizations to our contemporary global world. It presents key terms, concepts, and issues that are central to the study of materiality, including maker and creation practices, modes of objectification and commodification, and material ways of knowing often set aside by textually-expressed knowledge. By decentring the text and focusing on the material world, this course will allow a better understanding of otherwise overlooked knowledge and experiences. This course offers a range of approaches to material culture drawing from anthropology, archeology, art history, archival and curatorial studies, the history of the book, ethno-history, Indigenous studies, marketing, museology, race studies, sound studies, and women's and gender studies. (Format: Lecture 3 hours) (Distribution: Humanities-b)

Special Topic in Visual and Material Cultures

This course either focuses on topics not covered by the current course offerings in a department or program or offers the opportunity to pilot a course that is being considered for inclusion in the regular program. [Note 1: Prerequisite set by Department/Program when the topic and level are announced. Note 2: When a Department or Program intends to offer a course under this designation, it must submit course information, normally at least three months in advance, to the Dean. Note 3: Students may register for VMCS 1991 more than once, provided the subject matter differs.] (Format: Variable)

Special Topic in Visual and Material Cultures

Prereq: VMCS 1201 or 1301; or permission of the Department
This course either focuses on topics not covered by the current course offerings in a department or program or offers the opportunity to pilot a course that is being considered for inclusion in the regular program. [Note 1: Prerequisite set by Department/Program when the topic and level are announced. Note 2: When a Department or Program intends to offer a course under this designation, it must submit course information, normally at least three months in advance, to the Dean. Note 3: Students may register for VMCS 2991 more than once, provided the subject matter differs.] (Format: Variable)

The Innovative Gaze: Snapshots of Visual Culture in the City

Prereq: VMCS 1201 or VMCS 1301
This course examines the multifarious relationship between the city and visual culture through the prism of creativity, innovation, and design. Using cultural snapshots of a selection of cities at defining moments in their history, it sheds light on the impact of images and visual expression on urban spaces and the communities inhabiting them. It focuses on culturally important and globally significant cities that foster innovation and embody a unique creative vision in their visual language, in order to reflect on how metropolitan culture and visuality in the public sphere display artistic principles, ideological preoccupations, societal values, and political views through architecture, fashion, food, open-air sculpture, street art, and interior and urban design. It considers the representation of cities in advertising, digital media, illustration, film, music videos, painting, photography, and other visual media. (Format: Integrated Lecture/Laboratory 3 hours)

Special Topic in Visual and Material Cultures

Prereq: VMCS 1201or 1301; or permission of the Department
This course either focuses on topics not covered by the current course offerings in a department or program or offers the opportunity to pilot a course that is being considered for inclusion in the regular program. [Note 1: Prerequisite set by Department/Program when the topic and level are announced. Note 2: When a Department or Program intends to offer a course under this designation, it must submit course information, normally at least three months in advance, to the Dean. Note 3: Students may register for VMCS 3991 more than once, provided the subject matter differs.] (Format: Variable)

Special Topic in Visual and Material Cultures

Prereq: VMCS 1201 or 1301; or permission of the Department
This course either focuses on topics not covered by the current course offerings in a department or program or offers the opportunity to pilot a course that is being considered for inclusion in the regular program. [Note 1: Prerequisite set by Department/Program when the topic and level are announced. Note 2: When a Department or Program intends to offer a course under this designation, it must submit course information, normally at least three months in advance, to the Dean. Note 3: Students may register for VMCS 4991 more than once, provided the subject matter differs.] (Format: Variable)