FAH275H1

From Diagram to Data: The History of Visualization

This course examines how knowledge has been made visible across time and cultures. From medieval memory diagrams and Islamic cosmological charts to Indigenous mapping traditions and contemporary data visualization, it investigates the visual technologies through which societies have ordered, recorded, and communicated understanding. Topics include architectural representation and the Renaissance treatise tradition, the illustrated anatomy, Buddhist mandalas and Mesoamerican codices, the invention of statistical graphics, and the rise of computational imaging. Drawing on art history, the history of science, and visual studies, the course treats diagrams, maps, and charts not as neutral tools but as cultural artifacts shaped by specific epistemologies and power relations. It asks what different visual systems reveal about the cultures that produced them—and what is lost when knowledge practices collide.