ARH 361 Syllabus, Nelson
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Carnival and Beyond: Contemporary Brazilian Art, Spring 2020 ARH 361 / LAS 327 Tuesday & Thursday, 2:00–3:30 pm, ART 1.204 Instructor: Professor Adele Nelson Email: [email protected] Office: DFA 2.508 Office hours: Wednesdays, 1:00-4:00pm or by appointment Course description: Brazil, the fifth largest nation in the world, is also among the most culturally and ethnically diverse in the world. Representations of Brazil, with its vast geography and its varied people and culture, have undergone profound transformations since the encounter of the Portuguese with native peoples of the New World in 1500. This course surveys the trajectory of Brazilian art from the first moments of cultural collision through the long periods of colonial and modern history before focusing on the contemporary arts of Brazil of the last two decades. The art and visual culture we will be studying is wide-ranging: indigenous terra-forming and ceramics; Tupí featherwork; art and architecture created when Brazil was a colony and subsequently the seat of the Portuguese Empire; and avant-garde modern and contemporary art of various media. Together we will study how artistic practices have contributed to different national and international models for representing Brazilian national identity, as well as the ethical, aesthetic, political, and/or social repercussions of these practices and models. Your semester-long research and writing project for the course will focus on recent Brazilian art. Brazilian artists working today face a paradoxical situation: while Brazilian contemporary art occupies a privileged place in global museums and the commercial art world, cultural expression in Brazil is being stifled. Initiated by the Temer administration and accelerating under the recently inaugurated far-right Bolsonaro presidency, democratic institutions in the country are being eroded and its cultural entities are being eliminated or surveilled. Artists whose work addresses topics such as race, sexuality, gender, and histories of inequity are particularly at risk. In conjunction with the research and planning for Social Fabric: Art and Activism in Contemporary Brazil, an exhibition co-organized by Prof. Nelson and MacKenzie Stevens, Director of the Visual Arts Center, and tentatively scheduled for Fall 2021, we will examine how artists are relating to, reflecting on, and resisting the democratic erosion underway in Brazil. The course will take advantage of the excellent Brazilian art collection at the Blanton Museum of Art as well as the Brazilian Studies Association Congress to be held at UT March 26–28, 2020. Writing flag: This course carries the Writing Flag. Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and you may be asked to read and discuss your peers’ work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work. Writing Flag classes meet the Core Communications objectives of Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility, established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Global Cultures flag: This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present. 1 Class structure: We meet two days a week, Tuesday & Thursday. Please be on time, as late arrivals, and early departures, are disruptive. This course combines lectures with discussion, and attendance is essential. Everything we will study and analyze in class will not be covered in the readings. You are expected to be an active participant in the class: asking questions, answering questions, and engaging with each other as well as with the readings and works of art. See accompanying guidelines for critical reading. Learning objectives: Students who successfully complete this course will: 1. Gain familiarity with the art of Brazil in terms of style, form, and historical context; 2. Refine their interpretative skills in looking at art and visual culture of different periods; 3. Develop fluency and confidence in writing about art; 4. Identify and become conversant with a variety of art historical methodologies; 5. Acquire the ability to assess and discuss critically a variety of texts. 6. Acquire or develop the knowledge and skills to write a research paper, including finding, analyzing, and evaluating primary and secondary sources; formulating an argument; revising writing based on peer and instructor feedback; and correctly employing Chicago Manual of Style documentation formatting. Required texts: The required readings are available on Canvas. Additional suggested texts for background reading (on reserve at the Fine Arts Library): Jacqueline Barnitz and Patrick Frank. Twentieth-Century Art of Latin America. Revised & expanded edition. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. (also available at University Co- op) Boris Fausto. A Concise History of Brazil. Trans. Arthur Brakel. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Darlene J. Sadlier. Brazil Imagined: 1500 to the Present. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008. (also available at University Co-op as Print-on-Demand with 5-7 day delivery) Thomas E. Skidmore. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Reference & writing guidance texts (on reserve at the Fine Arts Library, unless noted otherwise): Sylvan Barnet. A Short Guide to Writing about Art. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2015. The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. (electronic access via library catalog; 16th ed reference desk at Perry-Castañeda Library) Andrea A. Lunsford. Easy Writer: A Pocket Reference. 4th ed. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Marjorie Munsterberg, Writing About Art. Available at: writingaboutart.org Requirements/Grading: As this is a writing flag class, emphasis will be placed on students’ ability to effectively express themselves through a series of written essays. The quality of the student’s written expression will be an important component in determining the student’s course grade. Assessment will also be based on the student’s ability to synthesize ideas presented and discussed in class and drawn from weekly assigned readings, as well as on their ability to organize and present their independent research. All assignments and papers 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. 2 Writing component: Students will submit three papers. Each paper will be worth 20%, for a total of 60% of your final grade. These papers require independent research done in close consultation with the instructor. Students will also submit three written assignments, each worth 5%, for a total of 15% of your grade. Overall class participation: Participation in class discussions and presentations on the papers will account for the last 25% of your total grade. Your participation grade includes prompt and regular attendance and active, substantive participation in class discussions of assigned readings and peer research. Papers and Presentations: Paper One: Choose a topic of an artist and specific work, from the working artist list of Social Fabric: Art and Activism in Contemporary Brazil or the larger list of contemporary Brazilian artists. Once you have chosen your work, construct an annotated bibliography using at least 6 art historical or art critical sources. Explain the significance of each source and why you chose it. This paper should be at least 3 pages long. You will make a brief (5 minute) presentation in class on your topic and annotated bibliography. Please refer to the following guide as you write your annotated bibliographies: http://library.ucsc.edu/help/howto/write-an-annotated-bibliography Paper Two: Using the same work chosen for Paper One, construct an annotated bibliography using at least 6 non-art historical sources that provide a fuller view of the context (region, political events, etc.) in which your work was created. Your entries should focus on why you chose these sources, and how they expanded your understanding of the context in which your work was created. This paper should be at least 3 pages long. You will make a brief (5 minute) presentation in class on this non-art historical annotated bibliography. You are encouraged to incorporate feedback presented on the first paper/annotated bibliographies and your presentation, by both the professor and your fellow students into Paper Two. Paper Three: This paper fully presents and discusses the work you have chosen and incorporates the information from the sources in your bibliographies (Papers One and Two). It also incorporates revisions from the peer review process, feedback from the instructor on Papers One and Two, and the re-thinking and and/or re-organization of your ideas as a result of this feedback.