AH5168 The Documentary Impulse

Academic year

2023 to 2024 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 11

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Module coordinator

Dr C E Spencer

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This MLitt module will explore the complex relationship between photography and concepts of documentary and the document during the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first. It will address a range of issues and practices in relation to key socio-political events and ideas, from the emergence of documentary photography in the first half of the twentieth century, particularly in the US and Europe, through to the questioning and subversion of this legacy from the 1970s onwards, particularly in relationship to conceptual and performance art. We will address the changing relationship between photography and durational media such as film and video, as well as the impact of digital technology. By following the trajectory of various documents across the time-period, the module will enable us to address a range of geographic sites, together with photograph's role in mass reproduction and mediatisation on a global level, as well as trends in recent curatorial and exhibition practice.

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

An essay of 3,000 words

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1.5-hour seminar (x 10 weeks) and occasional fieldwork

Scheduled learning hours

17

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

285

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • review, interpret and critique the literature relating to documentary photography in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
  • analyse original photographic materials in the St Andrews special collections
  • contextualise works encountered in the module within the framework of social, historical cultural and political circumstance
  • think independently and articulate their ideas orally and in writing
  • understand debates relating to the role of documentary photography in the twentieth century and their legacy in the contemporary moment