Experiencing Islamic Art: The Johnson Museum’s Collection

Catalog description

Grounded entirely in the collection of our on-campus museum, this course will introduce students to a broad chronological and geographical selection of examples of ‘Islamic’ visual culture via close encounters between students and objects. In addition to the scholarly essays and articles through which students habitually learn to analyze visual culture, we will employ fiction (some of which the students themselves will generate), poetry from all relevant periods, including contemporary, current events, travel literature, and more. All written work will be, as will all class sessions, grounded in the physical objects that will form our principal focus.