We are surrounded by images. We pass billboards, flip through images in magazines and newspapers, share memes, "like" photos on social media, and hang artwork on our walls. Maybe we create our own images, whether its drawing, digital design, or taking selfies. Our culture is very much a visual one.
Although images are ubiquitous and "everyday" they are also powerful. In this class we explore how pictures persuade. I use "persuade" here in a broad sense. We will begin the semester learning rhetorical approaches to how images aid in persuasion and more specifically in argumentation. However, this class is more broadly concerned with how pictures are meaningful - that is, how they construct meaning about our world and about ourselves. How do images represent people, groups, and issues? How do they reflect and reinforce power? What "truths" do they construct? How do they produce "ways of seeing" the world or ourselves? Throughout the course of the semester you will familiarize yourself with various communication theories and use them to analyze images.