The course will explore the uses and practices of documentary photography in the United States and in Canada in the 20th and 21st centuries. The very open definition of documentary photography adopted here will take us on a tour of various genres - social photography, ethno-photography, social realism, photojournalism, anti-documentary, staged photography, and virtual reality. The course requires weekly readings around theoretical, practical, social or artistic issues photographers have sought to address. Students will be expected to make oral presentations on various photographic projects and to prepare syntheses aiming at comparing and contrasting various photographic material.
A bibliography will be provided in class.