The World through Art

SAMPLE SYLLABUS The World through Art The Department of Art & Public Policy Johanna F. Almiron You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Ghandi SAMO©: A COSMICONCEPT Jean-Michel Basquiat Course Description How do artists and scholars re-imagine cartographies of social, cultural and political worlds? How do artists articulate the politics and poetics of place? How do artists play a role in defining space through creative production? This inter-disciplinary course reorganizes interpretations of the world beyond geographical quadrants as a way to re-conceptualize collective identity, critical consciousness, global citizenry and social transformation. In contrast to Eurocentric mapping, we navigate the world by way of indigenous epistemologies, land-centered frameworks, landbased struggle, and grassroots social movements. Students will engage the intersection of art, politics and place through cultural analysis and critical theory including working class internationalism and organization, settler colonialism, racial formation, diaspora, queer racialized mobilities, and radical cartographies among others. To ground the historical and cultural context of the class itself, the first unit covers continental North America as a way to introduce incoming Tisch Students to the host space of New York City—original territory of the Lenape Nation. This unit titled “Nowhere North America” introduces theoretical frameworks around labor, migration, imperialism and settler colonialism. In praxis, we examine the creative cultural production of artists responding to New England and American South. Linking the experiences of Caribbean, Pacific Islander, Latinidad subjects, the second unit dives into the ocean and we explore the multiple subjectivities emerging from transPacific and trans-Atlantic migrations including the Global South. “Decolonized Dream Time” refers to the configuration of temporality within Pacific Indigenous navigation systems. The final unit explodes the linearity and compulsive binaries of space to invoke queer cartographies of the planet. Drawing from black Marxism, Afro-Futurism and transnationalism, “Another World Is possible” references social protest as a central method towards imagining new worlds. NB: As a seminar, students should be prepared to participate in depth discussion on a weekly basis by completing the reading and viewing assignments. Since the subject matter of art is intrinsically visual and since Art Politics studies is an inter-disciplinary field, there is a strong multi-media element in the course. Students will be expected to view films regularly both online and in-class. Students are also strongly encouraged to attend outside exhibitions and performances for extra credit. Course Requirements Attendance Participation (Weekly Discussion & Group Leader) Cartography Project (Unit I) Mid-term Art/Performance Analysis (Unit II) Final Project (Unit III) 15% 25% 15% 20% 25% FALL 2016 1 Hip-hop and American Culture Attendance (15%) Attendance Policy Regular and prompt attendance is mandatory. You will be allowed one unexcused absence without grade penalty that you are encouraged to save for emergencies. Three late arrivals is equivalent to one unexcused absence. Excused absences for illness, injuries, authorized University events and other legitimate reasons such as funerals require documentation. As per university regulations, there is no penalty for religious observances; however, as specified by university policy, students must notify the instructor within two weeks of class of the specific days or dates on which he or she requests relief. In Class Media Policy Please respect the classroom setting as a site to engage your intellectual community, your peers. Your active attendance is vital to the group experience as well as to your individual success in the course. There is absolutely no text messaging or Internet browsing permitted in the classroom space for the duration of the course. If a student violates this policy, he or she will be asked to leave and the student will be marked as absent. Communication Please check the course website several times a week for any announcements and/or alterations to the curriculum. Students are expected to respond promptly (within 24-48 hours on weekdays) to any direct communication from the instructor. Please consider the timeliness of one’s reply as part of the attendance grade, so repeated failure to respond will result in a lowered attendance grade. The best way to communicate with the instructor is via email (almiron@wisc.edu) and students can also expect a 24-48 hours response on weekdays. Late Assignment Policy It is upon the discretion of the instructor to accept late assignments with strong penalty or to outright reject late assignments. Participation: Weekly Discussion (25%) Class Discussion Leader-Discussion Outline and Passage Analysis (3-5 pages) As a way to process the curriculum concepts, we will engage in a weekly discussion based upon prompts provided by the instructor and class discussion leader. Each student is responsible for presenting on a class topic and facilitating class discussion at least twice during the semester. Each student must draft and submit a discussion outline to the instructor at the beginning of the class presentation with the following components: one or two paragraphs summarizing the main points (thesis) of the reading and at minimum three key discussion questions with written responses (approximately 75-100 words). Also, each student should choose a reading passage to analyze critically during the discussion. Sign-up will be at the beginning of the semester providing ample time to prepare. Failure to present on the assigned date will adversely affect your final grade. Discussion Guidelines This course will present ideas that hopefully challenge you and your peers to examine what you have already known. If it were not for controversy or difference, learning would be myopic and uninteresting. Although many of us hold distinct points of view, the classroom must remain a safe space that everyone feels comfortable expressing his or her own opinions and ideas. In order to maintain a productive forum, it is absolutely vital that we interact with tolerance, honesty, respect and consideration. While students are certainly welcome, if not encouraged, to debate, please be sensitive and mindful that we are all here to learn from one other and refrain from personal attacks. To ensure maximum communication and minimum discomfort, please FALL 2016 2 Hip-hop and American Culture apply the following rules to discussions: Ask questions in order to understand an opposing view rather than make judgments, do not use profanity (unless in a quote), in your online communications do not use abbreviations or other e-mail short-hand (text-speak), and do practice courtesy in all exchanges. Violations can result in your being excluded from the discussions and receiving a zero for this portion of your grade. Unit I: Cartography Project (15%) Drawing upon the art by Lordy Rodriguez, create a map based on how you see the world in terms of places you might call home; or create a map based upon the subjects covered in Unit I. Unit II: Art and Performance Analysis (20%) Drawing upon the readings and topics of Unit II, students are asked to analyze critically a performance or exhibition relating the curriculum. Use detailed descriptions of at least one piece, sequence or aspect to underscore your point of view. You may also include first person narrative that details your experiential relationship or personal response to the performance. Describe aesthetic qualities of the art production as well as the social, cultural and political significance. (5 pages double-spaced ~1,500 words). Unit III: Final Project (25%) The most profound learning usually happens among peers challenging themselves and one another. To this end, students will work in small groups to create a dynamic multi-media presentation on a research topic and subject of their choosing around the theme of home. Academic Integrity In your writing process, you are welcome to draw on alternative resources and consult with your classmates. However, all submitted work must be original. Any ideas of others must be fully and properly cited in all of your papers. Academic dishonesty is punishable by grade reduction, course failure, and in serious cases, expulsion. Students are responsible for knowing the definition and university policies concerning plagiarism. If you have questions please refer to the NYU Academic Integrity website: http://cas.nyu.edu/page/academicintegrity If you are unsure about the proper ways to give credit to sources consult the Writing Center at 411 Lafayette, 998-8866/Any student caught plagiarizing will receive a zero for the assignment and will be reported for academic misconduc Students with Disabilities If you feel you need reasonable accommodations because of the impact of a disability, please (1) contact the Henry & Lucy Moses Center for Students with Disabilities at 726 Broadway, 9984980 (2) speak with me privately to discuss your specific needs. I will be happy to work with you and the Moses Center to meet your access needs related to your documented disability. Special Events-Extra Credit Opportunity Students are strongly encouraged to seek learning experiences beyond the confines of the classroom space. To receive extra credit, students can write a response essay drawing connections to the class topics (1-2 pages, ~500 words) and submit it to the professor within a month of the event’s date. This list is not comprehensive of every happening and students are welcome to propose other events relevant to the course. FALL 2016 3 Hip-hop and American Culture Course Schedule Unit I Nowhere North America Week 1 NYC aka. “The City” Introductions Syllabus (Curriculum and Requirements) Rius. Marx for Beginners. New York: Pantheon, 1979. Week 2 No Justice on Stolen Land Rebel Music: Native America (Film, 2014) Deloria Jr., Vine. Custer Died for your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. New York: Macmillan, 1969. Coulthard, Glen Sean. Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2014. Visit National Museum of the American Indian and New York Cotton Exchange Week 3 Marroonage and The American South Woods, Clyde Adrian. Development Arrested: The Blues and Plantation Power in the Mississippi Delta. London: Verso, 1998. View film Bury the Hatchet (Dir. Aaron Walker 2010) and art collectives Project Row Houses and Otabenga Jones Collective Week 4 North Star Shining Reed, Ishmael. Flight to Canada. New York: Random House, 1976. Farrington, Lisa E. Creating Their Own Image: The History of African-American Women Artists. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Visit Studio Museum in Harlem FALL 2016 4 Hip-hop and American Culture Unit II Decolonized Dream Time Week 5 Black Atlantic Cool Thompson, Robert Farris. Aesthetic of the Cool: Afro-Atlantic Art and Music. Pittsburgh: Periscope, 2011. View film Daughters of the Dust. (Dir. Julie Dash, Kino International, 1992) and art by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Terry Adkins, David Hammons, Zanele Muholi, Carrie Mae Weems, etc. Listen to Miles Davis, Mongo Santamaria, Celia Cruz, Cesario Evora, etc. Visit The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute Week 6 Brown Pacific Oceania Trask, Haunani-Kay. From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaiʻi. Honolulu: U of Hawaiʻi, 1999. Wolfe, Patrick. "Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native." Journal of Genocide Research 8:4, 2006: 387-409. Arvin, Maile. "Possessions of Whiteness: Settler Colonialism and Anti-Blackness in the Pacific." Decolonization. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. View film Sand Island Story (Dir. Victoria Keith, 1981); art of 808 Urban (Grassroots Hip Hop Arts Collective) and Pow Wow Hawai’i Week 7 Borderlands and Bridges Rubin, Rachel, and Jeffrey Paul. Melnick. Immigration and American Popular Culture: An Introduction. New York: New York UP, 2007. Chávez, Karma R. Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities. Parry, William. Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine. Chicago: Lawrence Hill, 2011. View art by Guillermo Gomez-Pena (Pocha Nostra) and Coco Fusco, Ana Mendieta, Wilfredo Lam, Pato Hebert among others Week 8 Global South Uprock/Uprisings Third Text: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Art & Culture. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge Taylor and Francis, 2008. Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam. Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. London: Routledge, 1994. View selections from Third Cinema FALL 2016 5 Hip-hop and American Culture Unit III Another World Is Possible Week 9 Translation Queer Nation Manalansan, Martin F. Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora. Durham: Duke UP, 2003. Muñoz, José Esteban. Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1999. View film A Place in the Middle (Dir. Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, 2014) and art by Zanele Muholi: Faces and Phases 2006-2014 Visit The Stonewall Inn and Harvey Milk High School Week 10 The Mighty Metropolis Chambers, Eddie. Black Artists in British Art: A History from 1950 to the Present. New York: I. B. Tauris, 2014. Robinson, Cedric J. Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. Chapel Hill, NC: U of North Carolina, 2000. Davies, Carole Boyce. Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones. Durham: Duke UP, 2007. View American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs (Dir. Grace Lee, 2014) and listen to Lee Scratch Perry, M.I.A., Linton Kwesi Johnson, etc. Visit the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and African Burial Ground Week 11 Cosmos and Future Worlds Imarisha, Walidah, Adrienne M. Brown, and Sheree R. Thomas. Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements. Iton, Richard. In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the PostCivil Rights Era. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Tate, Greg. “The Gikuyu Mythos vs. the Cullud Grrrl from Out of Space, A Wangechi Mutu Feature,” in Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey Edited by Trevor Schoonmaker (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), 83-94. View film Last Angel of History (Dir. John Akomfrah, 1996) Week 12 Research Day Week 13 Home Part I: Final Presentations A Week 14 Home Part II: Final Presentations B FALL 2016 6