ART 303 - Introduction to African Art

(3 cr) The study and appreciation of African Art places an emphasis on an anthropological approach to viewing art.  The text and the lectures focus on the culture, belief systems, and values intrinsic to the production of what we in Western culture refer to as objects of art. Traditional African languages have no word for “Art” and therefore to understand how Africans view these works there is an emphasis on understanding how and why these works are made, how they function within the society. These objects are utilized to control behavior or police the community, to educate, to heal, and to protect. Through exposure to art and its changing role within the cultures of Africa students begin to appreciate other cultures and to see the comparisons with their own belief systems.