UCSSCANT237.5 ECTSEnglishBachelor
Anthropology of Art and Material Culture
Faculteit—
NiveauBachelor
Studiejaar2026-2027
Beschrijving
Course goals
- demonstrate historically informed knowledge of anthropological approaches to art and material culture;
- demonstrate anthropologically- informed knowledge of concepts, approaches and debates concerning art, photography, material culture, the ‘material turn’, and materiality;
- describe specific colonial and postcolonial forms of art and material culture, their connection to governing, independence/ emancipation movements, and unfolding histories of modernity;
- understand the historical distinctions made between art and material culture, as pan-human phenomena, and specific ways of understanding and interpreting their production, use, exchange, circulation and transformation;
- apply scholarly skills of critical reading and preparation of texts combined with rhetorical skills of communication and argumentation, in leading a group discussion;
- engage relevant concepts and methods – such as photo elicitation and collaborative image-making – to design and conduct a small ethnographically-informed study of the making/ acquisition/ use/ or disposal of a work of art or material culture.
Assessment connected to learning goals:
Group presentations about the readings (20%): Learning goals 1, 2, 3, 5
Term essay proposal (10%): Learning goals 1, 6
Term essay (30%) (research an art or craft): Learning goals 1, 2, 5, 6
Final take home exam (20%) (concepts, theories, approaches): Learning goals 1, 2, 3, 4
Weekly blog (20%): Learning goals 1, 2, 3, 4
Group presentations about the readings (20%): Learning goals 1, 2, 3, 5
Term essay proposal (10%): Learning goals 1, 6
Term essay (30%) (research an art or craft): Learning goals 1, 2, 5, 6
Final take home exam (20%) (concepts, theories, approaches): Learning goals 1, 2, 3, 4
Weekly blog (20%): Learning goals 1, 2, 3, 4
Content
How is art different from everyday things? And what does this distinction tell us about society and culture? This course examines the relevance of material culture, its making, use and exchange, for understanding cultures and societies. The sliding scale between what is seen as material culture and what is admitted to the category of art has exercised the minds of both anthropologists and art historians throughout the twentieth century, and is still relevant today. Ideas about creating, using, and displaying material culture and art have inspired theory ranging from nineteenth-century social evolutionism all the way to late twentieth-century actor-network theory.
The course addresses the methodological question of what a fine-grained ethnographic approach adds to the understanding of material culture and art. Students are challenged to research a material culture or art practice of their own choice, drawing and expanding on the course literature, and using it to prepare an interview with a practitioner.
The course cultivates a critical approach to understanding how different forms of material culture and art shape social action and discourses about authenticity, aesthetics, distinction, identity, tradition, modernity, heritage, and citizenship.
The course addresses the methodological question of what a fine-grained ethnographic approach adds to the understanding of material culture and art. Students are challenged to research a material culture or art practice of their own choice, drawing and expanding on the course literature, and using it to prepare an interview with a practitioner.
The course cultivates a critical approach to understanding how different forms of material culture and art shape social action and discourses about authenticity, aesthetics, distinction, identity, tradition, modernity, heritage, and citizenship.
Format
Each week there will be one lecture and one class devoted to student-led presentation presentation and discussion, followed up by a blog entry on Brightspace:
I. focusing on the week’s readings, and
II. focusing on different aspects of the term essay: concepts, methods, and specific art and material culture practices.
Each week there will be one lecture and one class devoted to student-led presentation presentation and discussion, followed up by a blog entry on Brightspace:
I. focusing on the week’s readings, and
II. focusing on different aspects of the term essay: concepts, methods, and specific art and material culture practices.
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