HAA 0501 American Art

(usually offered once a year)

America is, and has always been, a point for cultures from around the globe--from Europe, Africa, and the New World. Historically this meeting-ground has been both violent and creative. This course will introduce students to the arts produced in that meeting-ground by America's diverse peoples and heritages. Selectively surveying history from before Columbus to the present day, we will examine the diversity of artistic production in the context of cultural interaction, conflict, and conquest. Of particular interest to us will be how art has represented (and misrepresented) the American experience of cultural interaction.