Expressive Arts in Africa

Course Description & Goals

In this course students learn how ideas, desires, and positionalities are implicitly understood, explicitly expressed, and subtly remade through the plastic and performing arts in Africa south of the Sahara. The aim is to consider expressive forms broadly and in their ethnographic contexts, including attention to the functions and meanings of arts in their socio-cultural milieus, and an exploration of the conditions under which arts are produced, consumed, distributed, and represented. Critical to this approach is the idea that objects do not passively reflect or stand for meaning, but (when coupled with human agency) become integrated into the construction of identity, meaning, and culture itself. Because of the extensive diversity of African expressive arts, we must limit ourselves to the study of only a few forms. Still, the course attempts to balance depth with breadth through a class format that encourages peer-to-peer teaching and focuses simultaneously on art forms broadly and specific ethnographic examples. The course address art forms that are iconic and obscure, and as they are engaged in both ritual and quotidian settings. The course also consider problems and themes in the study, collection, and display of African art forms. 

Course Schedule

Introduction to the Course                                                                                              
Introduction to the Course

Module 1: Art & Arts of Africa                                                                            
Anthropology of Art & Arts in Africa
Classification, Collecting, & Display

Module 2: Dance & Music                                                                                                       
The Body, Community, & Participation
Music, Proverbs, Beauty, Balance, & Serenity

Module 3: Body Adornment                                                                                      
Cloth, Color, & Ritual
Hair, Tattoos, & Beadwork

Module 4: Masks & Masquerade                                                                                         
Masquerade, Animals, & Carving
World Religions

Module 5: Metallurgy & Stratification                                                                               
Royal Arts, & Tourism
Metallurgy, Caste, Creativity, & Alterity

Module 6: Homecrafts                                                                                                                       
Clay
Architecture, Aesthetic, & Nomads

Conclusions                                                                                                                        

For full course syllabus, please contact me. 

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