Art & the History of Art 353 - Myth/Ritual West Africa

Spring
2015
01
4.00
Rowland Abiodun
MW 12:30PM-01:50PM
Amherst College
ARHA-353-01-1415S
COOP 101
roabiodun@amherst.edu
BLST-315-01,ARHA-353-01

(Offered as BLST 315 [A] and ARHA 353.) Through a contrastive analysis of the religious and artistic modes of expression in three West African societies--the Asanti of the Guinea Coast, and the Yoruba and Igbo peoples of Nigeria--the course will explore the nature and logic of symbols in an African cultural context. We shall address the problem of cultural symbols in terms of African conceptions of performance and the creative play of the imagination in ritual acts, masked festivals, music, dance, oral histories, and the visual arts as they provide the means through which cultural heritage and identity are transmitted and preserved, while, at the same time, being the means for innovative responses to changing social circumstances.


Spring semester. Professor Abiodun.


 

Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.