(Offered as BLST 333 [US], ARHA 355 and THDA 333.)  Beginning with theorists Mark Godfrey and Hal Foster, this course will investigate what has been called a historical or archival turn in contemporary art production.  Through the lens of black visual art, we will explore the varied ways that black artists have probed the meaning and production of history throughout the twentieth century, but also how these explorations have changed over time and in relationship to particular subject material (e.g., the history of slavery or more local and personal history).  We will challeng

(Offered as BLST 233 [US] and THDA 233.)  What does it mean to say that we "perform" our identities?  What role can performance play in the fight for racial and social justice?  As a people long denied access to literacy, what role has performance played in shaping the history of black Americans?  Performance studies--an interdisciplinary field devoted to the study of a range of aesthetic practices--offers us insight into such questions.  In this course, we will investigate various performance "sites" including contemporary plays, movies, and tel

(Offered as ANTH 200 and ASLC 200) In what ways are the experiences and perspectives of people in contemporary China different from those of people in other places and times, and in what ways are they similar?  What accounts for these similarities and differences? How can anthropology help us to understand China? What can the study of China contribute to anthropology? This course will help students answer these questions by reading, discussing, and writing about recent books and articles about China.

Limited to 25 students. Fall Semester. Professor Fong.

(Offered as ARHA 401 and FAMS 444) Essay filmmaking is a dynamic form with many commonly cited attributes—the presence of an authorial voice, an emphasis on broad, open-ended themes, an eclectic approach to genre, and the tendency to ruminate, digress or draw unexpected connections. Yet, true to its nature, the precise definition of the essay film is in constant flux. It can be both personal and political, individual and collective, noble and mischievous, the favored  methodology of established film auteurs, Third Cinema activists, and contemporary vidartists.

(Offered as BLST 333 [US], ARHA 355 and THDA 333.)  Beginning with theorists Mark Godfrey and Hal Foster, this course will investigate what has been called a historical or archival turn in contemporary art production.  Through the lens of black visual art, we will explore the varied ways that black artists have probed the meaning and production of history throughout the twentieth century, but also how these explorations have changed over time and in relationship to particular subject material (e.g., the history of slavery or more local and personal history).  We will challeng

(Offered as ARHA 231 and FAMS 343) From the found-footage experiments of the avant-garde to the digital remixes of the networked age, artists have used pre-existing material to question the ideologies of dominant media, explore technological possibilities or play situationist pranks. With the advent of file-sharing platforms, streaming video and cheap DVDs, we live in an era dominated by what Hito Steyerl calls “the poor image” – low resolution, second- or third-generation images whose quality has been sacrificed for accessibility.

(Offered as ANTH 200 and ASLC 200) In what ways are the experiences and perspectives of people in contemporary China different from those of people in other places and times, and in what ways are they similar?  What accounts for these similarities and differences? How can anthropology help us to understand China? What can the study of China contribute to anthropology? This course will help students answer these questions by reading, discussing, and writing about recent books and articles about China.

Limited to 25 students. Fall Semester. Professor Fong.

Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, known as the “Spanish Caribbean,” share a history of slavery, colonialism, and migration. In this course, we examine the twentieth-century history of the islands and island nations, their relationship to the United States as empire since 1898, and the founding of their respective diasporas. We begin with a brief survey of the economic and political history of the nineteenth-century, comparing each place's local, regional, and international relationships with the Caribbean and the Atlantic.