VCM3000 Visual Culture in a Global Society

Course Overview

Educational Level: Upper undergraduate, Bachelor
Credit Hours: 3 Credits
Instructor: Dr. Karen Nava

Course Description:

The fundamental premise of visual culture in global society is reciprocal, in that it creates meaning through global flows and that the very foundations of global capital, global culture, and global media are based on the dynamics of visuality, and in the power systems it both affirms and challenges. In this course we use a visual perspective to analyze major historical themes: nationalism, colonialism, cultural imperialism, racial and cultural difference and similarities in, society and religion. Students will focus on the inter-relationship of visual culture with the development and process of globalization, which forces similarity, and students will examine the role and impact of global cultural flows.

How This Course Benefits Students:

Students will analyze how visual studies intersect with the notion of “mediasphere:” in mediology is the study of media systems as systems in the age of integration, where social media, images, signs and symbols, used in television, film and video, as well as web and web-based devices, and for advertising, fine art and architecture, are all elements of cultural programming, using the impact of visualization. The challenges of programming the path to salvation in an overwhelmingly secular environment will be considered.

Why This Course Is Important:

Visual culture is basic to human existence. As we advance we develop ways to submerge visualization in the elevation of printed material since the print evolution. The expansion of education elevated the use of language, though most often we still need a visual to clarify the meaning in text and in language. Photographs, and films reflect our lives back to us. The power to enable us to see ourselves is not in language. It is in visual communication.