HIST 3285

This course examines the history of still analogue photography from its emergence in the early nineteenth century to its ubiquity in the late twentieth century, providing historical background for ongoing conversations about the circulation of digital images today. A defining feature of modernity, practices of photography have shaped and been shaped by movements in science, art, technology, politics, capitalism and consumer culture, the social sciences, imperialism, war, religion, leisure, the environment, and the social worlds of everyday life. This course examines the historical worlds in which photographers have made images, as well as the social, cultural, and political work of photographs themselves in the contexts of their production, circulation, and consumption. In addition to lectures and class discussions, the course includes opportunities for hands-on engagement with archival materials and historical practices of photography, and instruction on using photographs in historical research.