Watering Time: Visualizing Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora Through Photographs

This seminar studies how photographs shape our understanding of Puerto Rico and its diaspora, spanning the 19th century to today. We explore how photographs construct truth, identity, and knowledge through four key inquiries: truth vs fiction, representation, documentary politics, and abstraction. Through the critical analysis of, and hands-on experiments with, images, we engage with artworks, state archives, and vernacular photographs in our midst. Through discussions, projects, and fieldtrips, we develop skills for critically analyzing photographs and understanding their role in Puerto Rican cultural and historical narratives.