Art History 471: Seminar in Pre-Hispanic Art
Term 1, Tuesday evening 5-8 pm
Lasserre Room 5C (in Basement)
Instructor: Marv Cohodas
FIRST CLASS MEETS TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 6
We will be looking at the ways that Aztec and contemporary peoples of Mexico painted their histories on portable media (books and maps), including their depictions of the Spanish invasion that began in 1519. We will investigate the concepts, methods and functions of recording history in pictorial form in the absence of a phonetic writing system, and theories of how and under what circumstances these records were intended to be read or recited.
The seminar format will include lectures and discussions of assigned readings. In addition, each participant will choose a research project, developed throughout the term and presented to the group at the end of term.
A packet of assigned readings will be available in the UBC Bookstore shortly before the first class.
In addition, it is strongly recommended that students individually purchase the excellent book by Elizabeth Hill Boone, Stories in Red and Black (University of Texas Press, 2000), which is available online from the publisher at a considerable discount.