The Visual Culture of Abolition

(Offered as ARHA 276 and BLST 276) Can art achieve political change? This course investigates that question in relation to transatlantic campaigns to end chattel slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We will begin by developing familiarity with critical approaches to slavery, visual culture, and the archive, before tracing abolitionist activism across artistic media. We will consider paintings, sculptures, photographs, and decorative arts, as well as imagery that circulated in newspapers and books.

Italian Renaissance

(Offered as ARHA 241, ARCH 241, and EUST 241)  Michelangelo, a defining genius of the Italian Renaissance, emerged from a rich cultural environment that forever changed how we think of art. Artists of the Renaissance developed an original visual language from the legacy of the ancient world, while also examining nature, their environment, and encounters with other worlds to the East and West. Their art revealed a profound engagement with philosophical attitudes toward the body and the spirit, as well as with ideals of pious devotion and civic virtue.

Italian Renaissance

(Offered as ARHA 241, ARCH 241, and EUST 241)  Michelangelo, a defining genius of the Italian Renaissance, emerged from a rich cultural environment that forever changed how we think of art. Artists of the Renaissance developed an original visual language from the legacy of the ancient world, while also examining nature, their environment, and encounters with other worlds to the East and West. Their art revealed a profound engagement with philosophical attitudes toward the body and the spirit, as well as with ideals of pious devotion and civic virtue.

Intro to Sound Art

(Offered as ARHA 191 and MUSI 191) This course explores sound as a medium of art-making with a rich history and radical potential. With an emphasis on the materiality of audio, techniques covered will include constructing microphones and speakers, creative manipulation of analog media, and building lo-fi electronics. Accompanying readings draw from artists’ writings and media theory to contextualize collective exploration. Students will be expected to create studio-based art for critique. No musical experience is required.

Spring 2026: Assistant Professor House.

Intro to Sound Art

(Offered as ARHA 191 and MUSI 191) This course explores sound as a medium of art-making with a rich history and radical potential. With an emphasis on the materiality of audio, techniques covered will include constructing microphones and speakers, creative manipulation of analog media, and building lo-fi electronics. Accompanying readings draw from artists’ writings and media theory to contextualize collective exploration. Students will be expected to create studio-based art for critique. No musical experience is required.

Spring 2026: Assistant Professor House.

PostColonial City

(Offered as ARHA 157, ARCH 157, and BLST 193) This course engages the buildings, cities, and landscapes of the former colonies of Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean. Beginning with the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the non-European territories, which once comprised the lucrative possessions of modern European empires, quickly became independent states charged with developing infrastructure, erecting national monuments, and handling the influx of laborers drawn to the metropolises formed as sleepy colonial towns grew into bustling postcolonial cities.

PostColonial City

(Offered as ARHA 157, ARCH 157, and BLST 193) This course engages the buildings, cities, and landscapes of the former colonies of Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean. Beginning with the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the non-European territories, which once comprised the lucrative possessions of modern European empires, quickly became independent states charged with developing infrastructure, erecting national monuments, and handling the influx of laborers drawn to the metropolises formed as sleepy colonial towns grew into bustling postcolonial cities.

Art/Architecture-S. Asia

(Offered as ARHA 154, ARCH 154, and ASLC 154) This introductory course surveys the architecture, painting, sculpture, textiles, and other arts of South Asia—including India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka—from 2300 B.C. to the present.

Art/Architecture-S. Asia

(Offered as ARHA 154, ARCH 154, and ASLC 154) This introductory course surveys the architecture, painting, sculpture, textiles, and other arts of South Asia—including India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka—from 2300 B.C. to the present.

Arts of Japan

(Offered as ARHA 148 and ASLC 148) A survey of the history of Japanese art from neolithic times to the present. Topics will include Buddhist art and its ritual context, the aristocratic arts of the Heian court, monochromatic ink painting and the arts related to the Zen sect, the prints and paintings of the Floating World and contemporary artists and designers such as Ando Tadao and Miyake Issey. The class will focus on the ways Japan adopts and adapts foreign cultural traditions. There will be field trips to look at works in museums and private collections in the region.

Subscribe to