Unit information: Using Visual Culture in 2017/18

Unit name	Using Visual Culture
Unit code	CLAS12368
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Hales
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Classics & Ancient History
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

The people of the ancient world lived in an exceedingly visual culture. Ancient audiences responded to a wide variety of visual stimuli - from formal works of art and architecture to performance and ritual. Successful participation in religious, political and social life relied on the ability to interpret visual information. Using a number of different methodological approaches and a series of case studies from the Roman world, this unit equips students with the tools needed to study these visual aspects of ancient culture. In providing both the practical skills of 'reading' images and the theoretical issues involved in studying visual material, we will ask: What questions can we ask of visual evidence? How does art communicate meaning? The ultimate aim of this unit is to enable students to use visual culture with confidence in their wider studies of the ancient world.

Aims:

• To enable students to use visual culture in their wider studies of the ancient world.
• To equip students both with the practical skills of 'reading' an image and an understanding of the theoretical issues involved in studying visual material.
• To introduce students to the range of media on which visual images occur, using the Roman world as a case study.
• To develop students’ experience of writing critically about the visual so that they are able to construct coherent, relevant and persuasive responses to images, using appropriate vocabulary and approaches.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students should:

1. have acquired the basic tools with which to read and explore visual evidence.
2. be aware of the major methodologies used in interpreting visual culture
3. have developed an understanding of how visual evidence can contribute to the study of the Classical World.
4. have had the opportunity to develop their communication skills in class discussion and in the composition of written work.

Teaching Information

3 contact hours per week (including traditional lectures, seminars, small-group work, informal student presentations, visit to local museum/gallery)

Assessment Information

1. Personal Reaction (500 words) (20%)

2. Visual Criticism (1,500 words (30%)

3. Group Project (2,000 words) (50%)

All three assessments will assess ILOs 1-4.

Reading and References

M. Beard & J. Henderson, Classical Art (2001)

B. Borg ed. A Companion to Roman Art (2015)

J. Elsner, Imperial Rome & Christian Triumph (1998)

T. Hölscher, The Language of Images in Roman Art (2004)

R. Howells, Visual Culture (2003)