Seminar: American Photography of the Turn of the Century (1880 - 1920) - Details

Seminar: American Photography of the Turn of the Century (1880 - 1920) - Details

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General information

Course name Seminar: American Photography of the Turn of the Century (1880 - 1920)
Course number Kuwi I
Semester WiSe 2025/26
Current number of participants 23
maximum number of participants 25
Home institute Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Courses type Seminar in category Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen
Next date Monday, 15.12.2025 16:15 - 17:45, Room: Seminarraum 3 [AKStr.35] (Angl.)
Lehrsprache(n) Englisch

Module assignments

Comment/Description

“No other means of representing human likeness has been used more systematically to describe and formulate American identity than photography. Envisioning and exhibiting the American self has been a photographic venture since the inception of the medium. It is an ongoing social, cultural, and political project” (Coco Fusco, “Racial Time, Racial Marks, Racial Metaphors”).
During the 19th century photography became a central means of identity formation in the US. It is the aim of this course to investigate photography as a means of cultural meaning making in the US around the turn of the century, in particular in the four decades between 1880 and 1918 when photography was increasingly used for social and documentary means and when photography could technologically be included in print publications like newspapers or magazines. During the same period heated discussions on the functions of photography took place, oscillating between photography as a form of social record or form of aesthetic expression, and we see the emergence of magazines (e.g. Camera Work) as important media where these discussions took place.
It is the aim of this course to acquaint student with the technological, media-historical, and theoretical history of photography between 1880 and 1918 while at the same time familiarizing students with a wide variety of photographic genres popular at this time and looking at how the medium of photography is intertwined with the wider cultural context – e.g. literature, the theater, advertisement, or science. This course will give students insights into photography as part of a societal discourse, historical sources, and as aesthetic artworks.

Admission settings

The course is part of admission "Beschränkte Teilnehmendenanzahl: KuWi I".
The following rules apply for the admission:
  • The enrolment is possible from 29.09.2025, 12:00 to 20.10.2025, 12:00.
  • Enrolment is allowed for up to 1 courses of the admission set.
  • A defined number of seats will be assigned to these courses.
    The seats will be assigned in order of enrolment.
Assignment of courses: