Visual (Re)Presentation: Image, Culture, and Meaning

1 Unit · Undergraduate

This course explores how images - from digital media posts to paintings and political ads - communicate, persuade, and shape public understanding and collective meaning. The course bridges interpretive analysis and strategic communication by asking: What do images do, whom do they serve, and what values do they reinforce or challenge? Students will use critical and cultural frameworks to analyze the relationship between visuals and text across journalism, advertising, and social platforms, unpacking how design, context, and technology influence interpretation. Through visual essays and cross-platform analysis, students will develop critical visual literacy for a media landscape driven by images and explore how power, bias, identity, and ethics influence the way images communicate across contexts.