This seminar will focus on a particular theme or corpus of art and visual culture from a cross-cultural perspective within a modern context. Topics will vary with each offering. Assigned readings, discussion, and a substantial paper. For specific topics and enrollment, see listings outside 416 Doe Library.

In this undergraduate seminar, we will explore horizontal affinities and antipathies in the Global South by tracking flows of visual culture between Africa and India. We will also experiment with a comparative approach that tests analytics developed to understand contemporary cultural formations in the Global South; through this lens, we will look at works by artists and scholars from South Asia and Africa that may not explore explicit connections between the two regions, but that nevertheless demonstrate shared historical experiences, political concerns, and aesthetic interventions. Units include: the visual culture of the Siddis, an African-descended community in India known for their colorful quilts; West African religious art’s adoption of Hindu iconography; Bollywood fan cultures in Africa; representations of Africans in Indian film and art; and the aesthetics of garbage and urban disorder. This course fulfills the following Major requirements: Geographical areas (D) or (B) and Chronological period (III), based on the topic of the final research paper or project. Graduate and lower division students may be able to enroll in the course with permission from the instructor.

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