Architectural Studies 293 - Orientalism: Art, Architecture, Archive

(Offered as ARHA 293, ARCH 293, and ASLC 293) 

This course examines the relationship between visual culture, politics, and knowledge. Focusing on the long history of cross-cultural encounters between the “West” and the Islamic “Orient,” we will investigate how knowledge was (and is still) produced, described, archived, and displayed. We will begin with a close reading of Edward Said’s Orientalism, and then proceed to consider case studies drawn from the medieval past up till the present, focusing on how—and, especially, why—representations of and from the Islamic world have shifted over time. As we analyze architecture, gardens, paintings, metalwork, sculpture, archival documentation, and digital media, we will ask how understandings of race, gender, sexuality, religion, and cultural difference have factored in Western representations of an “Oriental” other. We will also consider some of the strategies that artists, architects, and others have employed to counteract these perceptions. While the course concentrates geographically on South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, it also attends to the politics of representation and the specter of Orientalism in the United States, including in the Pioneer Valley and on Amherst College’s own campus.

Spring 2026: Associate Professor Rice.

How to handle overenrollment: Priority given to ARHA, ARCH, and ASLC majors

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Visual analysis, writing, critical reading, application of varied methodologies, object-centered learning, research, field trips