Course Info: CSI-0226

CourseCSI-0226 Image, Icon, Object, Fetish
Long Title Image, Icon, Object, Fetish
Term2017F
Note(s) Satisfies Distribution
Textbook information
Meeting InfoFranklin Patterson Hall 107 on T,TH from 2:00-3:20
FacultyJutta Sperling
Capacity25
Available3
Waitlist0
Distribution(s) Culture, Humanities, and Languages
Cumulative Skill(s)Independent Work
Multiple Cultural Perspectives
Writing and Research
Additional InfoStudents are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.
Description

This course is about interlocking theories of visual culture, materiality, and desire. It will start out by examining miracle-working art of the medieval period, move into early modern iconoclasm, and consider European encounters with visual cultures in Latin America and Africa. Among others, we will ask, in W. T. Mitchell's words: "What do pictures want?" to theorize the particular address of certain figurative art works on the viewer. We might also consider questions concerning the materiality of Neapolitan Baroque art, and trace the colonial history of the concept of "fetish," first coined by 16th century Portuguese explorers of Africa, who encountered what they called magic and witchcraft (feitico).