NATIONS AND BORDERS

Catalog description

(Slashed with ARTH 42069 ) Emphasizing art and visual culture since World War II, this course considers the phenomenon of the nation-state in the context of embodied borders and diasporas. From the historically charged U.S.-Mexico borderlands to the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany, modernity is characterized by the development of nations and subsequent nationalisms as well as the delineation of borders and boundaries—and, once unpacked, theoretical and physical embodiments become legible. Taking a historically-grounded and global approach to state production and displacement, critical texts—many of which are grounded in feminist and queer theories—will address various interpretations of boundaries, especially national and corporeal. We will explore the intellectual history of nation-building and subsequent textual analyses of geographic and embodied borders. We will also study specific art historical moments, such as the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico frontera, Israel’s occupation of Palestine, treating East and West Berlin as metaphor and allegory, the borderlands of queer and black identities in the United States and present-day Euro-American imperialism. The course format consists of rigorous class discussions guided by readings and illustrated presentations.