Image: Photo of Xu Bing's Book from the Ground (2013), from http://andycrush.blogspot.com/2013/12/

Anthropologists and art historians tend to privilege the visual over the other senses (smell, taste, touch, hearing) and yet, it is often the case that our "visual (and sensorial) literacy" is undeveloped in contradistinction to our "literary literacy." Moreover, visual phenomena—images—are commonly utilized to illustrate written passages rather than as data in their own right or as alternative approaches to written description and analysis. Learning how to understand and utilize images and visual, sensorial phenomena is like learning a new language with its own special alphabet, lexicon and syntax. In becoming visually (and sensorially) literate—in learning how to "see" beyond "looking"—we will learn to appreciate images and image-making as fields of social action/intervention and cultural critique. In addition to discussing theories and methods of visual, image-based research, we will explore such interrelated topics as fieldwork as art, ethnographic photographs, advertisements, emojis, color semiotics, collecting and collections, and body ornamentation, among others.

Estimated cost of materials: $50-$100.