Georgetown University - School of Continuing Studies

Visual Culture Curricular Field

The courses listed comprise the current course offerings for the academic year 2007-2008 for the Visual Culture curricular field as well as additional course offerings anticipated in the future in this field.

Curriculum Description
The field of Visual Culture is premised upon a commitment to art as visual evidence critical to the study of cultural history and the formation of cultural values. Not simply aesthetic expression, art is a shaper and a mirror of culture. Students are engaged in the study of the visual transmission of modes of social behavior, and of religious and political values. The interdisciplinary and cross-cultural nature of the Liberal Studies degree emphasizes the ways in which works of art shape and reflect changes in cultural attitudes toward religion, government, gender, and society while also recognizing the historicity of both specific works of art and artists.

Faculty Advisor
Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Ph.D., The George Washington University; Adjunct Professor of Religious Art and Cultural History in the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University. Her research interests include the relationship between image and word; the relationship between icon and relic; the question of iconoclasm and iconophobia in world religions; and the relationship between religion, art, and gender. apostold@georgetown.edu

Format

In order to earn a Master’s degree in the Visual Culture curricular field, students must complete six courses in this field including one Core course and one Human Values course or two Core courses, three Visual Culture Topical courses, and one Visual Culture curricular field elective. No course may be counted twice to satisfy the Core, Human Values or the three Topical course requirements. To complete the total number of credits required for the MALS degree, 30 credits, three elective courses may be selected from any Liberal Studies courses or other courses at the University appropriate to this degree with the approval of the Program Director. The selected curricular field will appear on the final transcript of record.

Given the proximity of Georgetown University to many of the nation’s leading art galleries, museums, and repositories for cinematic and photographic history, students choosing the curricular field of Visual Culture are urged to visit these collections, attend the tours and special lectures, and coordinate research topics. Additionally, students may participate in appropriate study tours, such as those offered in Italy and other sites through the School of Continuing Studies. A study tour counts as a general program elective course only, not as a curricular field elective or Topical course.

COURSES

Topical Courses