Undergraduate Course: African art and material cultures: Beyond stereotypes (HIAR10212)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course draws on examples from ancient African cultures like Asante, Axum, and Nok to explore the art and visual cultures of the continent. The rich, diverse artistic traditions, which include monumental architecture, metalworking, terra-cotta, and woodcarving, are examined in terms of specific but interconnected cosmologies. The earliest studies of African art by Europeans produced misconceptions expressed through concepts like primitivism, authenticity and tribal art. The course challenges these stereotypes by critically examining the sophistication and richness of African art. Additionally, it explores how exhibitions were utilised to both produce and counter these stereotypes, and how African art later influenced European modernism. |
| Course description |
The course is a historical study of the artistic productions that represent Africa's rich and diverse visual cultures, including the stereotypes that emerged with the rise of scholarly interest in them during the 19th century. Examples drawn from different cultures in Africa such as Asante, Axum, Banama, Benin, Dogon, and Nok, are used to explore the mediums, forms, techniques, and the complexities in artistic representation within the continent. The course also considers the philosophical foundations of the artistic cultures, and their rootedness in local cosmologies, in socio-cultural, spiritual, political and economic life. The ingenuity in African art is explored through various lenses, including age in the case of Southern African rock art, monumentality as found in the Great Zimbabwe, regalia and display in Kuba, and naturalism in Ife art. The course further explores the conceptual framework used in the initial academic investigations of African art and material cultures, and the challenges it posed in terms of defining the subject. Concepts such as authenticity, timelessness, tribal style, and primitivism are deployed as the framework for understanding the misconceptions about African art. The course examines the roles of exhibitions and early research conducted mostly in the disciplinary context of anthropology and archaeology, in perpetuating, but also countering the stereotypes. The influence of African art in the works of artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse is deployed to investigate how the so-called primitive arts shaped European modernism.
The course involves a series of ten two-hour seminars conducted over ten weeks. The seminars integrate lecture-style delivery with class discussions and group presentations centred on the key art objects and concepts drawn from the reading materials. The course includes a practical component, offering students the option to create a short film, an online exhibition, or a photo book. This practical aspect allows students to utilise visual and audio materials for reflection on conceptual and historical questions that emerge from the course. Three seminars will be conducted in a digital media resource room, with part of the time dedicated to demonstrating the use of software applications like InDesign and Final Cut Pro for the practical projects.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have completed at least 3 History of Art courses at grade B or above, and we will only consider University/College level courses. **Please note that 3rd year History of Art courses are high-demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces. These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 4,
Revision Session Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
170 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
There are two components to the course summative assessment which include the following:
1. Creative work, which could be a short documentary film of 4-7 minutes, an online exhibition of 10-15 images, or a photo book comprising 10-15 images (50%), due in week 8-10. The projects will be undertaken in groups consisting of 2-4 students each.
2. 1500-word exam (50%) |
| Feedback |
FORMATIVE FEEDBACK
Students will engage with two formative learning tasks that are intended to prepare them for the summative assessment components:
1. 10-minute oral presentations to be delivered in groups of 2-4 students each comprising (weeks 6-8). Each group will respond to a set of questions from the seminar of the week assigned to it.
2. Group oral presentations of creative work plans in weeks 5 and 6.
Following each 10-minute group presentation in response to specific questions relating to the seminar, the students will receive verbal feedback from their peers and the course organiser.
The creative project plan will be presented in class by each group, and group members will receive verbal feedback from their peers and the course organiser. The presentation includes explanation of project idea, production technique and a slide show of selected images.
SUMMATIVE FEEDBACK:
Oral feedback on practical work will be provided in the class where all projects will be shown as part of class discussion. Written feedback will be provided via Turnitin. Written feedback on the exam script will be provided via Turnitin, and students will be given the opportunity of a meeting with the course organiser if requested. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | 3 Hour Online Exam | 180 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a broad understanding of the richness of African art in terms of the diversity of medium, form, technique, and function, through written analysis of relevant art objects
- Contest the misconceptions about African art, and highlight its contributions to the development of modern art
- Use examples from African art to rethink art historical concepts and theories
- Handle digital media in production of practical work as an approach to engaging with materials related to African art
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Reading List
Austen, Ralph A. 'The Sources of Gold: Narratives, Technology, and Visual Culture from the Mende and Akan Worlds.' In Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Sahara Africa, edited by Kathleen Bickford Berzock, 63-74. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019.
Cohen, Joshua I. 'Fauve Masks: Rethinking Modern "Primitivist" Uses of African and Oceanic Art, 1905-8.' The Art Bulletin 99, no. 2 (2017): 136-165.
De Grunne, Bernard. 'An Art Historical Approach to the Terracotta Figures of the Inland Niger Delta.' African Arts, 28, no. 4 (1995): 70-79.
Ezra, Kate. Art of the Dogon: Selections from the Lester Wunderman Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988: 15-28.
Garlake, Peter. Early Art and Architecture of Africa. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002: 29-50. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critical and Reflective Thinkers: In many instances, the African art material is at odds with dominant art historical concepts, theories and methods. This course will help to produce students as critical and reflective thinkers who would confidently employ their research in African art to challenge ideas rooted in Euro-American art historical traditions. In doing so, they will actively contribute to the process of decolonising knowledge.
Effective and Influential Contributors: The course will prepare students to be effective and influential contributors to global cultural issues where African art holds significance. One example is the ongoing discourse around colonial histories that manifests in such initiatives as repatriation and restitution.
Communication: The practical project will provide students with essential tools to convey ideas about African art through digital media and photo book. These skills are particularly valuable in the context of professional practices, such as curatorship, for which Art History students are being prepared. |
| Keywords | African art,culture,stereotype |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr George Agbo
Tel: (0131 6)51 5800
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Susanne Neil
Tel:
Email: |
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