ARTH 1149 - FWS: The Politicized Image in East and Southeast Asia

Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

First-Year Writing Seminar.

P. Corey.

This course will introduce students to objects of Asian art and visual culture that have been produced in tandem with political agendas or have themselves engendered contentious debate. The social and political arena we discuss is shaped through discourses of nationalism and citizenship, the representation of the Other, memorialization, borders, gender and bodily sovereignty, among others. Students will learn how to engage with these topics through the lens of the visual, with careful attention to the ways in which aesthetic gestures can catalyze and complicate political tensions. We focus largely on the modern and contemporary periods with case studies in East, Southeast, and South Asia. Assignments will not only involve interpretative analysis and critical argumentation, but also encourage an aptitude for different styles of writing. (FWS)