Overview
This course will examine the ways in which visual images can function as a form of social, political or religious propaganda. With reference to examples produced from the early modern period to the present, it will deal with a variety of media: from fine art painting, to the political poster, to the cartoon, to the video game. Possible topics for discussion may include, but are not limited to, seventeenth-century religious propaganda, American Revolutionary Propaganda, British Colonial Propaganda, Nazi Propaganda, Cold War Propaganda etc.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of ARTH 350, students should be able to do the following:
- Discuss the varying definitions of "propaganda" and explain the relationship of visual propaganda to other forms of persuasion
- Identify and analyze visual propaganda in a variety of media from c.1600 to the present
- Summarize and analyze key readings on propaganda
- Research and analyze a propaganda campaign
- Demonstrate effective research and writing skills
Topics
- Module 1 - Introduction: What is Propaganda?
- Module 2 - c. 1600-1715: Religious and Royal Propaganda
- Module 3 - c.1715-1815: Revolutionary and Napoleonic Propaganda
- Module 4 - c.1815-1914: Colonial and Imperial Propaganda
- Module 5 - c.1914-Present: Propaganda in the Modern Age
Terms
Evaluation
40% - Responses (best 4 of 5)
20% - Discussion Forum
10% - Essay Outline and Bibliography
30% - Research Essay
*Evaluation Subject to Change*
Textbook and Materials
Philip M. Taylor, Munitions of the Mind, 3rd edition, Manchester UP, 2003
*Textbook subject to change*
Time Commitment
Students can expect to spend, on average, about 10 hours per week completing relevant readings, assignments, and course activities.