VA 6320 - African Visual Traditions in the Americas

Credits: 3

Description This is a course designed to explore different visual traditions in the Americas and the Caribbean that have roots in traditional African arts, cultures and religions. These traditions started with the deportation of Africans in the Caribbean and the Americas and are recorded since the beginning of the plantation era. We can trace some of these traditions to the colonial period until the present time in the arts of various regions of the Americas. Through readings of critical texts and essays in cultural theory, visual analysis, writing and class discussions, this course will examine Diasporic identity, Transatlantic historical and cultural relations, theories of Pan-Africanism and Negritude, and the development of transnational cultural paradigms.