When Europe Met Africa: Portugal, Spain, West Africa, 1440--1650
ARHA 268
Spring 2019 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AFAM 278 |
This course looks at Iberian overseas expansion, from the early 15th to the late 17th century. The Portuguese and Spanish sea-borne empires may be termed the first globalization. This course, which focuses on West Africa, is interdisciplinary. It combines art history and history to integrate images and written documents. African artists depicted Europeans, just as European painters and sculptors represented Africans. These images tell us much about how members of one culture viewed the distant peoples with whom they were just coming into contact. The earliest European Renaissance paintings of Africans show them as dignitaries and often as rulers (e.g., "The Adoration of the Magi"). This reflects the presence in Europe of African dignitaries, both secular and religious. At the same time, African sculptors represented Portuguese soldiers and missionaries in ivory carvings, so it is possible for us, 500 years later, to compare these representations. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ART |
| Course Format: Lecture | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (ARHA-MN)(ARHA)(ARST) |
Major Readings:
K. Lowe, and Earle. BLACK AFRICANS IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Peter Mark and José da Silva Horta. THE FORGOTTEN DIASPORA: JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN WEST AFRICA AND THE CREATION OF THE ATLANTIC WORLD. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Malyn Newitt, THE PORTUGUESE IN WEST AFRICA, 1415-1670, A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY. Cambridge, 2010.
Peter Mark, "African meanings and European-African Discource; Iconography and semantics in seventeenth century salt cellars from Serra Leoa." in RELIGION AND CROSS-CULTURAL TRADE IN WORLD HISTORY, 1000-1900, Edited by Cátia Antunes, Leor Halevi, and Francesca Trivellato, (Oxford University Press, 2014).
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Examinations and Assignments:
midterm exam, term paper of 10 pages, final exam |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
A class trip to New York City on a Saturday (the date to be announced) will be required. |
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