Histories of photography typically begin with the invention of the camera in 19th century France, highlighting the key figures, movements, and themes of a Western art form. At best, the Global South is an addendum to this narrative - a place photography happens to, rather than a site of visual innovation. Taking an alternative approach to the canon, this course centers non-Western image cultures in the history and theorization of the medium, following the camera as it travels from the studios of colonial bureaucrats in Rajasthan through the struggle against South African apartheid to Tunisia's smartphone revolution. Adopting a global and comparative lens, students will read classic works of photographic theory alongside anticolonial philosophy, fiction, and art manifestos, exploring how a familiar medium has been repeatedly re-imagined and re-invented to suit new contexts and meet new needs. Ultimately, we'll ask how widening our field of view can expand our understanding of photography, shifting how we read images more broadly.