The Politics of Documentary Photography in Latin America
Module coordinator: Dr Erika Teichert
Teaching arrangements: Trimester 1, Wednesdays 2-4pm (option)
We will study instances across Latin America, throughout the XXth and XXIst centuries, where documentary photography has been put to the service of political change, social change, and human rights activism. We will analyse examples from a wide range of photographers, collectives, and social movements. We will consider several questions that are crucial to studying the relationship between politics and visual culture: To what extent can photographs trigger socio-political transformation? Can photographs be co-opted as political propaganda? Have we fallen prey to “image-fatigue” or are we still responsive to the harsh realities photographs often represent? Can we think of photography as a form of activism in its own right? If so, what is the function of photography as activism? Is it to document reality, to witness violence, to denounce injustice, or to prophesize the change to come? We will ground our analyses in photography theory, the ethics of the documentary genre, as well as in the particularities of each political and social context. While the first half of the module follows a chronological order, the second half prioritises thematic and theoretical associations. Throughout this module, we will study a trend, both in theory and practice, that has moved away from testimonial readings in order to understand documentary photography as a social exercise, which produces, rather than represents, politics.