ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at teaching visual sociology, and teaching sociology visually from several vantage points. First is a review of course design, at the beginning of the movement and now; secondly, reflection on how the tools we use to record what we see (cameras, pens, cell phones), all see differently, but none “better” than others. Ethics are discussed in detail, reviewing the IVSA codes of ethics published on the IVSA website. Visual methods are unique in the social sciences because it is often impossible and, in fact, not desirable to hide the identities of those we study. The chapter looks at assignments in visual sociology courses, including studying the taken for granted, visual semiotics, social organization, learning visual comparison and studying the “self without the self.” Finally, the chapter approaches the use of feature films as texts in specialized sociology courses, and how one can teach filmmaking as a version of visual sociology.
