ARTH 308
African Art and the Western Museum Spring 2017
Division I Writing Skills Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed AFR 369
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Provides a focused study of the issues associated with the exhibition of African objects within Western institutions from the formative period of the practice in the early 19th century to the modern era. Covering topics ranging from early collection and display methodologies to exhibition-based practice in the contemporary digital era, this tutorial will provide an opportunity for robust discussion about the interactions that have occurred between the arts of Africa and the Western museum over the lengthy history of their engagement. Students will investigate the nature of the cross-cultural dialogues taking place and the politics of display at work in regional museum spaces that display African art towards fleshing out how exhibitions function through the strategic organization and display of objects. In other words, students will explore how the dialogues created between objects and individuals often speak to the voices and agendas that collide, collaborate, and even compete with each other within the environment of the museum. This tutorial fulfills EDI requirements through its exploration of issues of so-called ‘authentic’ representation, cultural capital, rights of seeing, the politics of representation, and the meaning of art as it applies to African artifacts displayed within the context of a Western art museum.
The Class: Format: tutorial
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 3461
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: field trips to area museums,weekly targeted writing assignments between 4 to 5 pages in length, bi-monthly peer response papers (2 pages)
Extra Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the fifth course option
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: seniors and majors
Distributions: Division I Writing Skills Exploring Diversity Initiative
Notes: meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under ARTH; meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under AFR
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ARTH 308 Division I AFR 369 Division II
Attributes: ARTH post-1600 Courses

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