Art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Catalog description

A selective overview of the indigenous art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. ARTH 130 African, Oceanic, and Native American Art (3) (GA;US;IL)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. ARTH 130 provides a selective introduction to major developments and issues in African and Oceanic art. The beginning of this course will concentrate upon the art and architecture of selected regions of Africa, during the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods. This will be followed by a discussion of the traditional arts of Oceania in Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Australia. The course will conclude with an introduction to the Pre-Columbian art and architecture of the Americas and art from the Eastern Woodlands, Great Plains, the Southwest and Pacific Northwest of North America. Art will be examined within its cultural and social contexts. Special attention will be given to the role that art serves in a culture's religion, rituals, ceremonies, political structure, gender roles, and ethnic identity. The impact of the West upon the art of these regions, both in colonial and post-colonial contexts, will be a reoccurring issue in this course. The actual time devoted to each topic and the sequence of topics will vary from instructor to instructor. The objective of the course is to introduce students to diversity in art. In so doing, negative stereotypes associated with traditional notions of the "primitive" will be challenged. Also, the course emphasizes visual analysis and critical thinking. The course requirements will consist of exams and a paper. As a general education course, this class provides an introduction to African and Oceanic art for students of any major. The course has no prerequisites, and presumes no prior exposure to art history. On the other hand, students majoring in Art History will learn vocabulary, methodology, and theory that is not only basic to the field, but which will also broaden their knowledge of the discipline as a whole.