Dr. Constance Cortez

Santa Clara University

Department of Art

Santa Clara, California

Email: ccortez@scu.edu

COURSE OBJECTIVES: This is not a survey course. It will not cover all the arts of all the peoples of Africa, Oceania, and the Native Americas. Rather, certain aspects of selected cultural traditions will he examined in order to establish a foundation for advanced upper division study of visual culture in these three areas of the world. In addition to learning about a number of specific cultural groups at particular historical moments, our goal is to understand more fully how art historical and anthropological methodologies, theories, and practices structure our encounters with the cultural materials of Africans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans.
 
 

TEXTS & READINGS: The required text, Arnold Rubin's Art as Technology: The Arts of Africa, Oceania, Native America, SouthernCalifornia (edited by Zena Pearlstone, Beverly Hills: Hillcrest Press, 1989) is available at the student bookstore. All other assigned readings are on reserve at the library. Additionally, there are a number of articles and books that have been placed on reserve in the library for supplementary reading.
 
 

EVALUATIONS: Student performance will he evaluated on the following
 

Class Participation	10%
Paper Topic (date)	5%
Exam 1 (date)	20%
Exam2(date)	20%
Research Paper (date)	25%
Exam 3 (date)	20%

 

CLASS PARTICIPATION: You are expected to attend all class sessions and to turn in assignments on the assigned date. 2 points will be deducted for each day after more than 2 absences. This grade is also based on "active listening," that is, listening to what others have to say and offering your own comments and opinions during classroom and group discussions.
 
 

TESTING: An exam study guide will be handed out one week prior to the exam. All exams will consist of a combination of objective and subjective testing formats. You will be expected to identify the ethnic and geographic origins of objects seen in class as well as the medium (material[s] of manufacture), dates, artist (where possible), and details of use, function and meaning. Spelling counts in your identifications. All visual materials used in the testing process will be similar to images illustrated in the text or assigned readings. In addition, you will be expected to answer a short essay question. All exams are required and may be made up only in cases of emergencies and if notification of absence is submitted in advance and supported by an appropriate written explanation/excuse.

RESEARCH PAPER: This assignment consists of two parts: The first part is a "Paper Topic Proposal" due on (date). The second part is a final research paper 5-7 pages (typed, double-spaced) in length. The topic will be a study of Santa Clara visual culture employing the research methods associated with scholarship on the cultures of Africa, Oceania, and the Native Americas; the specific assignment is appended to this syllabus. The paper is due in lecture on (date).
 
 

PURPOSE: The grouping together of Africa, Oceania and the Native Americas in a course such as Art History 060 suggests that societies in these geographic areas share something that sets them apart from the cultural traditions of Europe and Asia. However, the grouping of these cultures is not prompted by similarities found in their respective visual cultures or other social practices. Rather, all of these cultures have been impacted by a former colonial presence and they are studied by scholars in similar ways. In this paper, we will investigate ourselves by employing the research techniques (ethnography and ethnographic analogy) usually reserved for the examination of others. This assignment should demonstrate that human creativity extends far beyond the restrictive boundaries of "art" as it has historically been conceived in the West. By means of this assignment, you will become an ethnographer conducting original research; in so doing, you are encouraged to question both the methods of ethnography and traditional assumptions about what constitutes "art."

A secondary goal is to provide the opportunity for you to develop research and writing skills. While independent, analytical thought will be stressed, grammar, spelling, and organization count! Use a standard style manual for references, footnotes, and bibliography.

NOTE: Two student papers from a previous year have been placed on reserve in at the library. You should read them carefully for structure and content in order to get an idea of what is expected
 
 

TOPIC: After reading Pearlstone's chapter on "Convergence" (in Rubin, pp. 149-162), select an object or practice from contemporary visual culture that will allow you to explore "art as technology" right here in Santa Clara, California (or your own hometown). Possible subjects include: Dorm room decor, coiffure, body art (nail painting, cosmetics, piercing, tattoo, etc.), holiday observances, fine china, graffiti, refrigerator magnets, bumper stickers, decals, etc.

STRUCTURE OF PAPER TOPIC PROPOSAL: The paper topic proposal should consist of four typed, double-spaced pages. Usea 12 point font.

Page 1: Cover page. Include your name and the class meeting time on this.

Page 2: Once a topic has been chosen, one to two paragraphs describing your project and discussing your role as ethnographer. In the context of explaining your project describe what you are investigating, how you will proceed, and what you hope to fmd. In this essay, you should seriously consider your role as the ethnographer of your particular subject (What attracted you to this topic? What are you gaining by conducting this research? What are you giving your informants in exchange for their time and information? What responsibilities do you have as an ethnographer). Your essay should include your reactions to one or more of the points made by Mary Louise Pratt in "Fieldwork in Common Places" (in) Writing Culture:

The Poetics and PoliticsofEthnography, ed. James Clifford and George E. Marcus (Berkeley: Univ. of Calf. Press, 27-50, 1986).
Page 3: a list of at least 5 "informants." Include a couple of sentences describing the informants and their relationship to you

Page 3: a questionnaire listing between 10 and 15 questions that will elicit information about your topic from these informants. Be careful to structure your sentences in a manner that does not elicit a simple"yes" or "no" response.

METHOD: Make sure that your informants know what you're upto and have agreed to cooperate--a good ethnographer does not harass her/his subjects. Usually an ethnographer offers something in exchange for information; consider what might motivate your informants to cooperate with you. The responses of your informants as well as your own observations will provide you with the basis of your term paper. Note: Beware of the differences between "insider" and "outsider" explanations (insider = the reasons people give for doing what they do; outsider = explanation for the behavior of others).

Once you have done at least a portion of the interviews and have thought a good deal about the topic you chose, you should locate several books or articles on Africa, Oceania, and/or the Native Americas which deal with a similar topic (festivals, costume, body art. architecture, etc.). Complete your investigations using these works for comparative material and new ways of thinking about your topic. (The text or recommended readings may be used as one source). Be sure you paper includes a brief ethnographic analogy derived from this comparative work For many, this will be the most difficult aspect of the paper as it requires conceptual thinking; make sure you understand how ethnographic analogy can help your study and what its limitations are. Refer to Pearlstone's analogies in Rubin, pp. 149-162, for examples.

THE FINISHED PAPER: Your final paper should be 5-7 pages, typed, double-spaced using a l2 point font. It should include a title page, bibliography containing at least 3 outside sources (not including your text) "Outside sources" are sources actually used in the paper. Youshould not include works that arenotreferenced in the body ofthe paper. Also include illustrations (if needed) and your questionnaire as an appendix. If the body of your paper does not include a description of your informants, include a second appendix containing this information. The following will be valued:

• an introductory paragraph which includes a clear statement about what you chose to investigate explicit reasoning, with frequent signposts and transitions to guide the reader

• clear distinctions between information received from informants and your own observations

• a concise ethnographic analogy which reveals a new point of view

• a concluding paragraph which reiterates what you have accomplished

• a neat, proofread paper
 
 

DT513 .B37	Bascom, W.	The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria. New York: Rinehart and Winston, 1969
Folio DT 547.45.B67 B	Beckwith, Carol	Nomads of Niger. New York: Abrams, 1983.
E99.M76 B76	Brody, J. J.	Mimbres Painted Pottery. Santa Fe: School of Amiercan Research, c. 1977.
	D'Alleva, Anne	Arts of the Pacific Islands. New York: H N Abrams, c1998
DT545.42 .G55	Glaze, Anita J	Art & Death in a Senufo Village. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c 1981.
F1435.3.A7 S34 1986	Griswold del Castillo (ed.)	Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985. Los Angeles: Wight Art Gallery, University of California, 1991.
	Hanson, Allan and L Hanson	Art and Identity in Oceania. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press
DU 122. T5 H3	Hart, C W M, A R Pilling and J C Goodak	The Tiwi of North Australia, New York: Holt, 1960.
	Jolly, Margaret	Sites of Desire, Economies of Pleasure: Sexualities in Asia and the Pacific. L Manderson and M Jolly, eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997
	Mead, Sidney M & B Kernot (eds)	Art and Artists of Oceania. New Zealand, Pacific Arts Association, 1983
Folio N7410 M4 1996 v.1 & 2	Meyer, A J P	Oceanic Art. Edison, N.J.: Knickerbocker Press, 1996
	Murphy, Howard	Aboriginal Art. London, Phaidon Press Limited. 1998
Folio GN419.15. M63	(no author)	Modern primitives: an investigation of contemporary adornment & ritual. San Francisco, CA: Re/Search Publications, c1989
NK9796.N4G43	Rockefeller, Michael C	The Asmat of New Guinea: the journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, edited with an intro. by Adrian A Gerbrands. NY, Museum of Primitive, 1968
GT2345. S26 1989	Sanders, Clinton	Customizing the Body. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989
F1434,3,A7 S34 1986	Schele, L and M E Miller	The Blood of Kings. Fort Worth: Kimbell Art Museum, 1986.
	Smith, Bernard	European Vision and the South Pacific. New Haven: Yale University Press
	Sutton, Peter (ed)	Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia. New York, Viking, 1988.
Folio E78.G73 S93 1994	Szabo, Joyce M	Howling Wolf and the history of ledger art. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, c1994
DT515.42 .U3	Uchendu, V.	The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria. New York: Holt, 1965
GN671.N5 W43 1988	Weiner, Annette	The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1988

Upload: 12/18/99

oceania | academic programs | people | outreach | resources | publications
news & events | about the center | contact | home | text only site

© 2005, UHM, Center for Pacific Island Studies. | Site Credits