Module Information
Module Identifier
AH34020
Module Title
Documentary Photography
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Exclusive (Any Acad Year)
Reading List
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay plan comprising thesis statement, annotated bibliography of >10 sources, annotated list of 4-6 illustrations. 2000 Words | 15% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay 3000 Words | 85% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay plan comprising thesis statement, annotated bibliography of >10 sources, annotated list of 4-6 illustrations. 2000 Words | 15% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 3000 Words | 85% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Identify the key individuals, institutions, practices, contexts, and ideas associated with documentary photography.
Locate and assess primary and secondary sources.
Analyze, evaluate, and compare relevant critical theories of documentary photography.
Interpret photographs based on knowledge of their historical and interpretative contexts, and in light of relevant theoretical understandings.
Construct and justify a written argument about documentary photography, using the appropriate scholarly apparatus.
Brief description
Can a photograph lie? Can it even tell the truth? If so, whose truth?
Since its inception, photography has been understood as a process for faithfully recording the actual. On this basis, it became an instrument of both power and resistance. While photography’s capacity to tell the truth has, for decades, been the subject of sustained critical and deconstructive pressure, it seems we still have difficulty in letting go of a belief that the camera never lies.
Centered on the 1930s to 1960s—a period in which the documentary possibilities of photography came into sharp relief—and focusing on the USA in a global context—drawing connections with, for example, the UK, USSR, South Africa, Europe, and Latin America—this module intersects the history of documentary photography with the most important critical and theoretical responses to the problems it continues to raise.
Since its inception, photography has been understood as a process for faithfully recording the actual. On this basis, it became an instrument of both power and resistance. While photography’s capacity to tell the truth has, for decades, been the subject of sustained critical and deconstructive pressure, it seems we still have difficulty in letting go of a belief that the camera never lies.
Centered on the 1930s to 1960s—a period in which the documentary possibilities of photography came into sharp relief—and focusing on the USA in a global context—drawing connections with, for example, the UK, USSR, South Africa, Europe, and Latin America—this module intersects the history of documentary photography with the most important critical and theoretical responses to the problems it continues to raise.
Content
1. Truth & Evidence
2. Power & Resistance
3. Ethics & Suffering
4. Narrative & Memory
5. Reading Week
6. Invisibility & Representation
7. Discourse & Archive
8. Authenticity & Reproduction
9. Assessment Preparation Week
10. Style & Aesthetics
11. Individual Tutorials
2. Power & Resistance
3. Ethics & Suffering
4. Narrative & Memory
5. Reading Week
6. Invisibility & Representation
7. Discourse & Archive
8. Authenticity & Reproduction
9. Assessment Preparation Week
10. Style & Aesthetics
11. Individual Tutorials
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Communication | Articulating orally ideas in seminar discussions, and textually in essay. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Independent study reading around seminar topics; written and oral feedback on seminar contributions, essay plan, and essay. |
| Information Technology | Conducting research through library catalogues, online scholarly databases, and museum websites; engaging with digital platforms like Blackboard and Turnitin. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Emphasis on professional presentation of research in assessment using MLA style. |
| Problem solving | In seminar preparation and discussion, essay research and writing. |
| Research skills | In seminar preparation and discussion, essay research and writing. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Ability to analyse, contextualise, and interpret photographs; and navigate historiographic and theoretical debates. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6