This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

21A.348 Photography and Truth

As taught in: Spring 2005

An illustration showing a man viewing the holy land from his desk.

Diagram from the Underwood Travel System, Underwood & Underwood's photographs advertised as virtual travel, 1913. (Diagram in Underwood Travel System: Sunday School Lessons.)

Level:

Undergraduate

Instructors:

Prof. Susan Slyomovics

Course Description

Photographs in anthropology serve many purposes: as primary data, illustrations of words in a book, documentation for disappearing cultures, evidence of fieldwork, material objects for museum exhibitions, and even works of art. This course explores photography as art, research tool, and communication.