Fall 2023 Course Highlight | Introduction to Indigenous Art in North America

ART HIST 303 | Intro to Indigenous Art in North America

Explore North American Indigenous art this fall with our Henry John Drewal Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. David NormanART HIST 303 Introduction to Indigenous Art in North America | TR 2:30–3:45pm | Sophomore Standing | Humanities Breadth | L&S Credit | Enroll here.Description: The territories we now call North America encompass the ancestral homelands of hundreds of distinct Native American nations, whose citizens continue to live and thrive in every region of the continent. This course offers an introduction to select histories of art from these lands. From Anishinaabe quillwork to Inuit storyknife drawings, and from a Tsėhésenėstsestȯtse-language billboard in Times Square to a tent carved from Athenian marble, we will study cases from disparate regions and periods that demonstrate the diversity and vitality of Indigenous art.The course provides an introduction to ancestral arts alongside cross-cultural practices such as video art and installation. Students will also gain understanding of core theoretical concepts developed by Indigenous scholars, such as visual sovereignty, decolonization, cultural appropriation, and what David Garneau calls critical care. Not least, we will study how the discipline of art history has contributed to settler colonial practices, and examine how art has aided resistance to colonial power.