Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) from an internationally recognised university.

Learning outcomes

Having successfully completed the course, the student will be able to:

• critically reflect upon the possibilities and limitations of using images in historical research, both as complements to written sources, and as objects of enquiry in their own right;
• apply theories, methods and analytical concepts from the course to images produced in the past, both in order to historicise the images, and to gain historical knowledge about the past;
• discriminate between different historical technologies for producing, circulating, and conserving images, and reflect upon the implications of such and other material factors for their use as historical sources;
• design and independently conduct an historical investigation centred around one or several historical images.

Content

Whereas the academic field of history is largely defined by its reliance on written sources, historians have always made use of images in addition to text. Visual materials including photographs, maps, diagrams, drawings, and paintings have long had their place in the field, but recent decades have witnessed a more systematic and methodologically robust approach to images, both as complements to written sources, and as objects of historical enquiry in their own right.

The overarching aim of this advanced-level course is to introduce students to the possibilities and limitations of using visual materials in historical studies, and to encourage participants to consider images as starting points in their own research activities. Thematically organised around visual genres in which the department has particular expertise-including geographical maps, medical photography, scientific diagrams, and commercial marketing-the course will introduce students to a variety of historical visual materials, as well as to current theoretical and methodological discussions about their employment in historical research. In taking advantage of locally available collections and expertise at handling historical images, students are expected to develop a versatile toolkit for integrating historical images alongside written materials in historical research and writing, and to apply their newly acquired tools in an individually authored study.

Parts of the course will be held at the Maps and Graphics Department at the Uppsala University Library. The course is recommended to advanced students in all fields of historical research, as well as to students from other fields who wish to explore the historicity, materiality-and empirical potential-of images produced in the past.

Instruction

The course consists of compulsory lectures, seminars, and workshops. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

Student achievements are assessed by way of written assignments, and by active participation in the seminars and workshops.