Arts of Africa & its Diaspora (CAS AH/AA 215)
Spring Semester 2015
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-2pm
Dr. Cynthia Becker
Office Phone: 617-353-1471
Email address: [email protected]
Office Hours: 11 to 1pm Tuesdays in CAS room 305B AND 3:30 to 4:30 Thursdays in
the African Studies Center (232 Bay State Road, 5th floor, room 520)
If these times do not work for you, please contact me to make an appointment.
Purpose and Goals
This course is a survey of the arts of a wide variety of cultures and time periods in Africa
and its diaspora, ranging from ancient ceramics to contemporary painting and
photography. It is intended to be an introduction to the great diversity and richness of the
arts of the African continent. The course examines issues influencing the social context
of African visual and performing arts, such as religious and spiritual beliefs, longdistance trade, gender roles, political and economic situations, royal patronage,
colonialism, apartheid, globalization, and the role of the individual artist. It is also an
introduction to the methods and vocabulary of the study of African art history and
considers the general problems of how art historians understand and write about the arts
of Africa. The course concludes with a discussion of how African artistry was
transmitted to the Americas and the various forms it took from the period of slavery to
the present.
Texts and Readings:
 Visonà, Monica Blackmun, Poyner, Robin, and Herbert M. Cole. 2008. A
History of Art in Africa second edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
 Niane, D.T. 2006. Sundiata: an Epic of Old Mali. Longman African Writers
Series.
All other readings (underlined) can be found online on the course website.
Course Requirements and Grading Scale
Exam 1 = 100 points (February 27th)
Exhibition Proposal = 100 points (April 17th)
Final Exam = 100 points (TBA)
Grading Scale
A = 100-94, A- = 93-90, B+ = 89-88, B = 87-84, B- = 83-80, C+ = 79-77, C = 76-74,
C- = 73-70, D = 69-60, F = 59-0
Exam Format
Exams will feature six slide identifications with a short question for each image, two
unknowns, four comparisons, and one or two essay questions.
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Reading and Writing Assignments
The syllabus lists the articles and books that you are responsible for reading BEFORE
you come to class. Students will also write an original research paper, which takes the
form of an exhibition proposal. Details regarding the paper will be given in class. Papers
are due April 9th.
Due Dates and Absences:
Paper and exam dates are indicated on the syllabus. Get your calendar organized now.
If you anticipate missing or miss an exam, contact me by phone or email as soon as
possible.
African art has a performative component and films will be used to illustrate this. The
syllabus notes when a film will be shown during class. Please be certain to attend this
class because this will be your only opportunity to view this film.
Your research paper will be docked one grade for every day that passes before I receive
it. I do not accept papers sent by email.
Academic Conduct
Plagiarism is defined as representing the work of another as your own. This includes
copying the answers of another student on an examination or restating the work of
another person without citing the appropriate source in a written paper. I am required to
report cases of suspected academic misconduct to the Dean’s Office and penalties include
suspension of expulsion from the university. Please consult the College of Arts and
Sciences Academic Conduct Code, http://www.bu.edu/academics/resources/academicconduct-code/.
If you are in doubt as to whether you are appropriately using research materials, please
contact me.
Any students who feel that they need special accommodations due to any disabilities
should let me know during the first week of the semester so that arrangements can be
made.
Course Schedule
JANUARY 20 (TUESDAY)
Welcome and Introduction to the Course
Video: Through African Eyes, Aminatta Forna. BBC 1995.
JANUARY 22 (THURSDAY)
Perceptions and Reception of African Art
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 10-19.
JANUARY 27 (TUESDAY)
African Archaeology: Nok and Jenne-jeno
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Reading Assignment: Visonà, 76-81, 104-108.
Brent, Michel (1994), “The Rape of Mali,” Archaeology May/June, vol. 47 (3): 26-35.
JANUARY 29 (THURSDAY)
North and West African Artistic Connections
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 27-40 and 108-111.
Video: Living Memory: Six Sketches of Mali Today. Susan Vogel, 2003. First Run
Icarus Films, NY (excerpts).
FEBRUARY 3 (TUESDAY)
Mande Arts and Sundiata
Reading Assignment: Sundiata: an Epic of Old Mali
Video: Keita: The Heritage of a Griot. Director: Dani Kouyaté, 1995. California
Newreel.
FEBRUARY 5 (THURSDAY)
Mande and Sundiata (continued)
Reading Assignment: Sundiata: an Epic of Old Mali
FEBRUARY 10 (TUESDAY)
Recent Mande Arts: Ntomo and Ci Wara, Masks
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 115-119.
FEBRUARY 12 (THURSDAY)
Gender and Performance in Masquerades: Sande
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 179-180.
McClusky, Pamela (2002), “Beauty Stripped of Human Flaws: Sowei Masks,” in Pamela
McClusky (ed), Beauty Stripped of Human Flaws: Sowei Masks, Seattle Museum of Art:
Princeton University Press, 197-214.
FEBRUARY 17 (TUESDAY)
Substitute Monday Schedule
FEBRUARY 19 (THURSDAY)
African Textiles: Bogolanfini and Hunter’s Shirts
Rovine, Victoria (1997), “Bogolanfini in Bamako: The Biography of a Malian Textile,”
African Arts 30 (1): 40-51, 94-96.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3337471
FEBRUARY 24 (TUESDAY)
Dogon Masquerades and Architecture
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 130-143.
FEBRUARY 26 (THURSDAY)
Dogon (continued)
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MARCH 3 (TUESDAY)
East Africa and the Maasai
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 457-461.
Video: In and Out of Africa, by Gabai Baare, Ilisa Barbash, Christopher Steiner, Lucien
Taylor. Los Angeles, CA : Center for Visual Anthropology, University of Southern
California, 1993.
MARCH 5 (THURSDAY)
Exam 1
MARCH 10 & 12 – NO CLASS – ENJOY SPRING BREAK
MARCH 17 (TUESDAY)
Kongo Kingdom & Memorial Arts
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 350-363.
MARCH 19 (THURSDAY)
Visit to the MFA
MARCH 24 (TUESDAY)
Ancient Ife & Recent Yoruba Arts
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 228-235; 238-242 and 244-252.
MARCH 26 (THURSDAY)
Kingdom of Benin
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 272-283.
MARCH 31 (TUESDAY)
Kingdom of Gold: The Asante
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 196-209 and 217-218.
Video: A Great Tree Has Fallen. Roy Sieber et al. Indiana University. 1977. 23 min.
APRIL 2 (THURSDAY)
African Art and Authenticity: Tourist Art
Reading Assignment:
Steiner, Chirstopher (1991), “The Trade in West African Art,” African Arts 24 (1): 38-43
+ 100-101.http://www.jstor.org/stable/3336870
APRIL 7 (TUESDAY)
West African Photography
Reading Assignment:
Lamunière, Michelle (2001), “You Look Beautiful Like That. The Portrait Photographs
of Seydou Keita,” and Malick Sidibé in Michelle Lamunière (ed), You Look Beautiful
Like That. Harvard University Art Museums: Cambridge, 11-43.
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APRIL 9 (THURSDAY)
Ndebele Art in South Africa
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 486-489.
Schneider, Elizabeth Ann (1985), “Ndebele Mural Art,” African Arts 18 (3): 60-100.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3336357
APRIL 14 (TUESDAY)
Art and Politics in South Africa
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 492-497.
APRIL 16 (THURSDAY)
Trans-Atlantic Migrations: from Shotgun houses to patchwork quilts
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 516-519
APRIL 21 (TUESDAY)
Arts of the African Diaspora: Artists Reclaiming Africa
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 519-532.
APRIL 23 (THURSDAY)
African-derived rituals arts in the Americas
Reading Assignment: Visonà 532-541.
APRIL 28 (TUESDAY)
A New African Diaspora: African Artists Abroad
Reading Assignment: Visonà, 500-541.
Hynes, Nancy and John Picton. 2001. “Yinka Shonibare.” African Arts 34 (3): 60-73,
93-95. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3337879 .
APRIL 30 (THURSDAY)
Final Exam Review
Reserve Books:
Abiodun, Rowland, Henry Drewal, and John Pemberton III (eds.) 1994. The Yoruba
Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts. Washington: Smithsonian
Institution Press N7399.N52 Y68 1989
Bastin, Marie Louise. Ritual Masks of the Chokwe. MG1 117
Becker, Cynthia. 2006. Amazigh Arts in Morocco: Women Shaping Berber Identity.
Austin: University of Texas NX587.75.A1 B43 2006
Connah, Graham. 2004. Forgotten Africa: an introduction to its archaeology. New
York: Routledge. DT13 .C66 2004
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Cornet, Joseph. 1971. African Art: Treasures from the Congo. London: Phaidon
N7399 .C6 F71
Drewal, Henry John. 1980. African Artistry: Technique and Aesthetics in Yoruba
Sculpture. Atlanta: The High Museum of Art NB1255.N5 D7
_______. 1983. Gelede: Art and Female Power among the Yoruba. Bloomington, ID:
Indiana University Press DT515.45.Y67 D73 1983
_______. 1989. Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought. New York: Center
for African Art N7399.N52 Y68 1989
Glaze, Anita. 1981. Art and Death in a Senufo Village. Bloomington, ID: Indiana
University Press DT545.45.S44 G53 198
Goldwater, Robert. 1964. Senufo Sculpture from West Africa. New York: Museum of
Primitive Art NB1097.W4 F64
Haynes, Joyce. 1992. Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa. Boston, MA: Museum of
Fine Arts DT159.6 .N83 H42 1992
Koloss, Hans-Joachim. 1990. Art of Central Africa: Masterpieces from the Berlin
Museum fur Volkerkunde. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art N7391.65
.K65 1990
Lawal, Babatunde. 1996. The Gèlèdé Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in an
African Culture. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press DT515.45.Y67
L39 1996
McClusky, Pamela. 2002. Art from Africa: long steps never broke a back. Seattle, WA:
Seattle Art Museum N7391.65 .M28 2002
Pemberton, John III. 2000. Insight and Artistry in African Divination. Washington, DC:
Smithsonian Institution Press BF1812.A352 I57 2000
Phillips, Tom. 1995. Africa: the Art of a Continent. London: Royal Academy of Arts
N7380.5.A34 1995
Ravenhill, Philip. 1980. Baule Statuary Art: Meaning and Modernization. Philadelphia,
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PA: Institute for the Study of Human Issues NB1099.I8 B38
_______. 1996. Dreams and Reverie: Images of Otherworld Mates among the Baule,
West Africa. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press NB1255.C85 R38
1996
Roberts, Mary Nooter. 1993. Secrecy: African Art that Conceals and Reveals. New
York: Museum for African Art N7391.65.S43 1993
Roberts, Mary Nooter and Allen F. Roberts (eds.). 1996. Memory: Luba Art and the
Making of History. New York: Museum for African Art N7399.C6 M46 1996
Sieber, Roy. 1987. African Art in the Cycle of Life. Washington, DC: National Museum
of African Art NB1091.65 .S54 1987
Visonà, Monica, Robin Poynor, and Herbert M. Cole. 2008. A History of Art in Africa.
New Jersey: Upper Saddle River N7380 .H54 2008
Vogel, Susan. 1997. Baule: African art, western eyes. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press N7399.I8 V64 1997
Williams, Sylvia and David C. Driskell (eds). 1993. Astonishment and Power.
Washington, DC: National Museum of African Art N6537.S77 A4 1993
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