How do mechanisms of perception structure responses to visual art? What is at stake when words describe images? By means of intensive looking, thinking, speaking, and writing, this course introduces the student to a series of problems and issues in the description and analysis of works of art. Because the course is also an introduction to the historical study of art, it is intended for students with no previous course work in the field. Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

Communicating the scale and impact of human-driven climate change is an urgent challenge as rising temperatures, more violent storms, wildfires, sea level rise, and other climate-driven disruptions threaten the habitability of the entire planet. But just as climate change impacts different populations in different ways–depending on geography, wealth, economy, and other factors–climate messages resonate in distinct ways with different audiences depending on politics, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and other personal characteristics. This course will look at the power of images to communicate to different audiences the scale of climate disruption unfolding across the globe and how the same image can be read differently depending on one’s values or culture. This course will draw on research measuring survey respondent reactions to specific climate change images as well as theoretical discussions into how images convey meaning to viewers; the use of framing and values-based messaging to tailor climate communications; and how to design climate images and messages to communicate climate science and public policy. This course satisfies the second semester Reading and Composition (R&C) requirement. Through your close reading of scholarly texts and close looking at photographs, videos, and other images over the course of the semester, you will hone your critical reading, writing, and visual analysis skills. In the first half of the semester, you will be tasked with completing regular analyses of images and/or texts in short essay format. This exercise will cultivate the necessary skills to isolate a topic and develop your final research paper (10-12 pages). In this paper, you will connect your understanding of how politics, nationality, and other personal characteristics can shape perceptions of climate change to your ideas about how specific climate images can communicate climate realities to audiences.

Requisites

• UC Entry Level Writing Requirement, English 1A, or equivalent. Previously passed an R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Previously passed an articulated R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Score a 4 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature and Composition. Score a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition. Score of 5, 6, or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination in English.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills