This class will consider the basic history of semiotics–the study of signs and symbols–and apply its lessons to different cultures and contexts throughout history. The course will look back to early pictorial languages and trace their development through the visual cultures of ancient Mali, early Christendom, Mezzo-America, and finally into the modern era of mass culture and manufactured consent. We will draw from numerous texts and case-studies to consider the visual and linguistic biases that distort our reads on the world we live in, and further address how this lack of literacy makes us vulnerable to the exploitation of various interests, from governments to social networks to brand managers. The objective of this course is to empower students with the code reading and visual interpretation skills to more accurately process and evaluate the exhaustive amount of coded information engaging them daily.
- Teacher: Shane McAdams