Comparative Literature 393D - S-Native American NarrativeArt

Spring
2018
01
3.00
N Couch
TU TH 10:00AM 11:15AM
UMass Amherst
50701
This course provides an introductory survey of Native American Indian artistic and pictorial traditions that were intimately bound to stories and histories of nations and families, religious and mythological traditions, autobiographical narratives or aesthetic and philosophical reflections. More than mnemonic devices, these visual traditions are inseparable from culture and performance, community and nation, human life and the physical world. The visual and tactile media that will be encompassed in the course include pictorial manuscripts, ceramics, bead and shell work, and textiles. Visual and verbal or artistic, cultural, aesthetic and literary elements that were originally unified have usually been divided into printed texts and reproduced images identified with different disciplines or are as of study. The course will be interdisciplinary, with each unit including readings of narratives or texts, analysis of visual materials, and will also include readings on aesthetics and translation, as well as cultural and literary criticism as appropriate.
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.