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MESOAMERICAN ART ARH 347L Unique #20590/LAS 327 Unique #40780 Fall 2013 Dr. Julia Guernsey (email: [email protected]) Class: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-2:00 DFA 2.204 Office, phone, and hours: DFA 2.514 (or ART 1.302F); 471-5850; Thursdays 11:00 AM-12:15 PM or by appointment Course Description and Goals: This course surveys the art and architecture of the ancient civilizations of Precolumbian Mesoamerica, from the time of the Olmec through that of the Aztecs. Analysis and interpretation of the art will be based primarily on its role as a transmitter of cultural information and worldview. We will focus particularly on the continuities and shared ideologies that characterize and unite Mesoamerican civilizations, from the 2nd millennium BC until the arrival of the Spanish at the time of the Conquest. The goal of this course is to provide students with a general knowledge of the chronology, traditions, major works, primary messages and functions of Mesoamerican artistic and cultural production. PREREQUISITE: FOR ART HISTORY MAJORS, ART HISTORY 302; FOR VISUAL ART STUDIES MAJORS, ART HISTORY 302 AND 303; FOR OTHERS, AT LEAST ONE OF THE FOLLOWING IS ADVISABLE BUT NOT REQUIRED: ART HISTORY 301, 302, 303. Required text: Michael D. Coe and Rex Koontz, Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, 6th ed. This text is available for purchase in the bookstore and is also on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection. Assigned readings for each week are listed on the schedule below. Also, the schedule contains a list of suggested readings from books that have been placed on reserve in the Benson Latin American Collection (the complete citations for these suggested texts appear on the last page of the syllabus). These are designed to supplement the information presented in class lectures. The suggested readings are not mandatory, but may provide useful review information and images. Class website: A class website exists for this class, and it is highly recommended that students take advantage of it for review and study purposes. It contains an interactive map of Mesoamerica, an interactive timeline of the periods covered in class, and summaries of the major sites and monuments discussed. The website also contains a more extensive bibliography for each site and time period, a list of key Mesoamerican web links, the class syllabus, and an email link to the professor. The address is: http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/art/347/index.html. Blackboard: I will post several assigned readings, necessary for class lectures and the assignments, to the Blackboard site for this class. These are noted on the schedule below. I will also post a few additional images, not found in your text or on the class website, for a couple of lectures; these are noted below in the schedule. Assessment: Assessment of a student’s progress within this course will be accomplished through two exams and two assignments that require the student to 1) recognize and demonstrate an understanding of the various objects of art covered in class through discussion, comparison, and contrast; 2) go beyond memorization and synthesize ideas presented in class and drawn from assigned readings; 3) clearly and effectively discuss the attitudes, ideas, and messages encoded in the art and imagery of ancient Mesoamerica; and 4) discuss how objects of art reveal insight into the ways in which ancient Mesoamericans structured and ordered their ancient communities. Exams: There will be two exams, each worth 30% of your final grade. The exams will consist of fill-in-the- blank and short answer questions, image identifications and comparisons, and essays. Objective components of the exam are designed to test a student’s knowledge of the key artistic works and their primary messages; short answers and essays are designed to give students the opportunity to move beyond memorization, demonstrate an understanding of concepts, and synthesize ideas drawn from class lectures and assigned readings. There will be no makeup exams; if a student misses an exam, a zero will be given unless a valid medical excuse is provided. Assignments: There will be two assignments, each worth 20% of your grade; each involves a 3-5 page essay that discusses a major monument, theme, or motif in Mesoamerican art, or the scholarship concerning these monuments and themes. The assignments are designed to allow students to develop critical thinking skills, hone their writing skills, and develop the abilities to effectively synthesize ideas presented in class with those drawn from assigned readings into well-constructed and well-argued essays. Grading: Plus/minus grades will be used for determining the final grade in this course. 1 Attendance and Class Participation: Attendance will not be taken, but since exam material will be drawn primarily from class lectures it is very important to attend all lectures if you intend to fare well in this class. Accommodations for religious holidays: By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence. Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259, http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/ Schedule of lectures, assigned readings, exams, and assignments: August 29: Introduction September 3: What is Mesoamerica? Assigned reading: Coe 9-17, 26-38 September 5: EARLY PRECLASSIC: 1500-900 BC The appearance of the Olmec at the site of San Lorenzo; Olmec sculpture, celts and concepts of rulership/maize Assigned reading: Coe 59-72 Suggested reading: The Olmec World: 11-45 September 10: MIDDLE PRECLASSIC: 900-300 BC The Olmec site of La Venta: construction of sacred space; underpinnings for divine kingship Assigned reading: Coe 72-76 Suggested reading: Maya Cosmos: 132-137 September 12: The Middle Preclassic sites of Chalcatzingo, Oxtotitlán, Teopantecuanitlán Suggested reading: Coe 79-91; David Grove, “Faces of the Earth at Chalcatzingo, Mexico: Serpents, Caves, and Mountains in Middle Formative Period Iconography, in Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, eds. John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, pp. 277-295 (a PDF of this essay is on Blackboard) ASSIGNMENT ONE HANDED OUT: reading and assignment posted on Blackboard September 17: The Middle Preclassic site of La Blanca, Guatemala Suggested reading: Michael Love and Julia Guernsey, “Monument 3 from La Blanca, Guatemala: A Middle Preclassic earthen sculpture and its ritual associations,” Antiquity 81 (2007): 920-932 (a PDF of this essay is on Blackboard as well as several images from La Blanca for study/review purposes, as this site is not on the class website). Also suggested: Report on 2005 excavations at La Blanca by Love and Guernsey at http://www.famsi.org/reports/05051/index.html September 19: LATE PRECLASSIC: 300 BC - 250 AD The organization of sacred space at Izapa Assigned reading: Coe 98-100 Suggested reading: Guernsey, Ritual and Power in Stone, chapters 4 and 5; also Guernsey, “Sacred Geography at Izapa and the Performance of Rulership,” in Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, pp. 81-111. September 24: Izapa and performance Suggested reading: Guernsey, Ritual and Power in Stone, chapters 4, 5, and 6 September 26: West Mexico Assigned reading: Coe 54-58; Suggested reading: Ancient West Mexico ASSIGNMENT ONE DUE 2 October 1: The Valley of Oaxaca and the Zapotecs: Monte Albán and Dainzú Assigned reading: Coe 43-44, 91-97 (Several images for study/review purposes of related rituals from Guerrero are posted to Blackboard as they do not appear on the class website) Suggested reading: The Cloud People; Orr, “Procession Rituals and Shrine Sites: The Politics of Sacred Space in the Late Formative Valley of Oaxaca,” in Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, pp. 55-79. October 3: Review for first exam October 8: EXAM ONE October 10: THE CLASSIC PERIOD 250-900 AD: THE VALLEY OF MEXICO &: TEOTIHUACAN Teotihuacan architecture and sacred space Assigned reading: Coe 44-53, 101-121 Suggested reading: Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods: 16-43; catalogue entries October 15: Teotihuacan: the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and the iconography of warfare Suggested reading: Saburo Sugiyama, “Rulership, Warfare, and Human Sacrifice at the Ciudadela” in Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan: 205-230 October 17: Teotihuacan and its relationship to the Zapotec region Suggested reading: Michael Spence, “Tlailotlacan, a Zapotec Enclave in Teotihuacan” in Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan: 59-88; also see the following in Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods: cat. no. 175 on p. 152, and cat. entries 174 and 175 on pages 270-271; also The Cloud People: 175-181. October 22: Teotihuacan and its relationship to the Maya region Suggested reading: David Stuart, “The Arrival of Strangers: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History” in Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Great Aztec Temple. October 24: The Valley of Oaxaca in the Classic and Post-Classic periods: Monte Albán, Mitla and Cerro de la Campana Assigned reading: Coe 125-131, 147-148, 175-177 Suggested reading: The Cloud People October 29: The Mesoamerican ballgame Suggested reading: Blood of Kings: 241-264; Maya
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