Course Information

Course Information
Course Title Code Language Type Semester L+U Hour Credits ECTS
- GİT302 Turkish Compulsory 6. Semester 3 + 0 3.0 3.0
Prerequisite Courses
Course Level Undergraduate
Mode of delivery Lectures, Q&A sessions, and case studies/examples
Course Coordinator Dr. Öğr. Üyesi AYŞE USLU
Instructor(s)
Goals The aim of this course is to enable students to analyze visual culture from a critical perspective and to contribute to their understanding of the social, political, and ideological contexts of images. The course provides a comprehensive framework on how visual representations are constructed, how audiences interact with images, and how visual meaning-making is shaped across different media environments. Students will gain the ability to analyze images using various theoretical perspectives, including semiotics, discourse analysis, feminist theory, and postcolonial approaches. Topics such as the influence of media producers on audiences, the ideological mechanisms of advertising, gender representations, and surveillance technologies will also be discussed. The course aims to enhance students’ visual literacy and encourage them to approach key theoretical debates in visual culture with a critical perspective.
Course Content This course aims to enhance students’ practices of interpreting visuals by examining key theoretical and methodological approaches in the field of visual culture. It focuses on analyzing the power relations, ideological codes, and audience positions involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of images. Topics such as visual signs, representation, ideology, regimes of looking, realism, and media technologies will be discussed in line with the conceptual frameworks presented in the course readings. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to examine how visual culture operates not only in the context of artistic production but also in areas such as popular culture, advertising, cinema, media, and digital platforms. Semiotics, discourse analysis, feminist perspectives, and postcolonial approaches are among the key methods used in the analysis of visual materials. By offering a critical approach aimed at developing visual literacy, the course seeks to contribute to students’ ability to evaluate media and communication processes more consciously. The examples discussed in the course will encompass both historical and contemporary visual culture practices.
Learning Outcomes
# Öğrenme Kazanımı
1 By the end of this course, students will be able to: Critically analyze the cultural and ideological frameworks of visual representations.
2 Deconstruct visual narratives in media and popular culture using semiotic and discursive methods.
3 Evaluate how visual culture intersects with gender, class, and ethnicity.
4 Examine the processes of production, consumption, and distribution of images in the digital age from a critical perspective.
5 Enhance their visual literacy and make informed assessments of media and communication processes.
Lesson Plan (Weekly Topics)
Week Topics/Applications Method
0. Week Anatomy of the Gaze: Modernity, Surveillance, and the Power of the Eye
1. Week Visual Culture Map: What Do We See, How Do We See It?
2. Week The Power of Representation: Do Images Carry Ideology?
3. Week Who Is the Viewer? The Process of Meaning-Making and Visual Consumption
4. Week Anatomy of the Gaze: Modernity, Surveillance, and the Power of the Eye
5. Week The Reality of Images: Truth or Fiction?
6. Week Reproduction of Images: In the Footsteps of Walter Benjamin
7. Week The Role of Images in Everyday Life: The Power and Influence of Media
8. Week Mid Term Exam
9. Week Brand Culture and Consumer Visuality
10. Week Postmodern Visuality: Pastiche, Irony, and the Loss of Meaning
11. Week The Scientific Gaze: Visual Technologies and Scientific Representations
12. Week The Flow of Global Images: Media and Globalization
13. Week The Future of Visual Culture: New Media and Artificial Intelligence
14. Week Resistance and Visual Activism: Creating Change Through Images
15. Week Final Exam
*Midterm and final exam dates are not specified in the 14-week course operation plan. Midterm and final exam dates are held on the dates specified in the academic calendar with the decision of the University Senate.
Relations with Education Attainment Program Course Competencies
Program Requirements DK1 DK2 DK3 DK4 DK5
Recommended Sources
Ders Kitabı veya Notu Ders Kitabı veya Ders Notu bulunmamaktadır.
Diğer Kaynaklar
  • Sturken, Marita ve Cartwright, Lisa (2009) Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford University Press.
  • Mirzoeff, Nicholas. The Visual Culture Reader. 2nd ed. London; New York, NY: Routledge, 2002.
  • Mitchell, WJT. (2002) “Showing Seeing: a Critique of Visual Culture.” Journal of Visual Culture 1.2 : 165,181.
  • Nicholas Mirzoeff, How to See the World
  • Caren Kaplan, Life in the Age of Drone Warfare.
ECTS credits and course workload
ECTS credits and course workload Quantity Duration (Hour) Total Workload (Hour)
Sınavlar
Midterm 1 1 1 1
Homework 1 1 15 15
Final 1 1 1
Practice 14 1 14
Practice End-Of-Term 5 1 5
Classroom Activities 14 3 42
Total Workload 78
*AKTS = (Total Workload) / 25,5 ECTS Credit of the Course 3.0