This course will focus on African arts produced in courtly contexts between the eleventh and twentieth centuries. We will study domestic art objects that were integral to the exercise of power and authority in several African court traditions such as Benin, Ife, Kuba, Ashanti, Igbo, and others. Students will learn about formal qualities and thematic concerns that locate certain artworks exclusively within the royal lineage and monarchy. They will also come to understand how such artworks were deployed within chieftaincy circles to wield great spiritual and mystical power. Class readings and discussions will help us navigate questions of hierarchy and authority to transcend elitist narratives of power regarding African arts. |