Listed in: First Year Seminar, as FYSE-108
Yael R. Rice (Section 01)
We live in a world saturated with images. What makes some images the targets of veneration (iconophilia), and others the targets of destruction (iconoclasm)? What drives the rejection or—alternatively—embrace of certain types of images, and how are such acts justified? This course will begin by examining these questions within a historical framework, drawing on medieval and early modern case studies of image worship and destruction from around the globe. We will consider how different religious and cultural communities defined their relationship with images. We will also attend to the physical nature of images that were worshipped or destroyed to better understand the role that materiality, scale, and other properties might have played in inviting these impassioned responses. In the latter half of the course, we will turn to more contemporary case studies—the Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, for example, and the emergence of the digital icon—to ask how, or if, the impulses that drive iconophilia and iconoclasm have changed over time. Our goal is to better understand the power that images hold over us.
Fall 2024: Professor Rice.
How to handle overenrollment: First year students
Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: The course emphasizes critical reading, looking, and thinking skills. Participation in class discussions and completion of weekly writing assignments are essential.
Course Materials