So Pleased With Y'all!

I have been very pleased with the overall quality of work each of you has submitted to me this semester. It has been a pleasure getting to know each of you and assisting you discover not only information about objects from various places in Africa, but how to be critical thinkers in a diverse and globally-oriented world. Stay in touch! I have provided links to your web museums here.

Warmly,
Dr. Sutton

For those who were foiled...Here is your new opportunity

Find a contemporary African artist working today. Peruse his/her website and oeuvre. Consider how, if at all, this artist engages traditional imagery or themes in his/her work. Make explicit connections/comparisons where possible. Provide the link to the artist's personal site in your blog. Blogs should be posted by FRIDAY, Dec. 2, 11:59 p.m.

How else/through what other lens/frames might we consider the artist's work?
•Gender?
•Sexuality?
•(Dis)ability
•Politics/activism?
•aesthetics?

see for eg: 

http://art.state.gov/artists.aspx

http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/dialogue/intro.htm
  

Oh No!

Dear All,
I've received your emails about the Waterloo Arts Center! Sometimes these things come up, and it's good to learn to go with the flow. Your visits will just have to happen some other time. In any case, I very much appreciate your efforts to go, and for those who went and blogged on the Bahamaian show, that will be graded. If you blogged on Rotimi Fani-Kayode, that also will be graded. If you still want to blog on either of those things, you may with a new deadline of Sunday night. However, if your plans were foiled and now feel too much time pressure, don't worry. I will provide another prompt after Thanksgiving to get you up to speed. For all, do comment this week, by Monday night, the same as usual. 

Prompt for 11-11-11

This week, you are to visit the Waterloo Center for the Arts (check their hours here). Make sure to consider the Haitian art displayed. You may also want to link in your observations of the Bahamaian Art exhibition currently on view.

For your blog, write a critical review of the WAC display(s) and/or continue your critical consideration of the readings on Rotimi Fani-Kayode and our class discussion from Tuesday.


For extra credit, write your blog in binary code.
Just kidding.

Prompt for Nov.4: Contemporary African and Diaspora Arts

For this week, make sure you consider the assigned readings by Sidney Kasfir, Olu Oguibe, and Yinka Shonibare. Use the quotes and questions discussed in class Thursday to build your blog response. What issues seem to concern many contemporary artists of African descent? You may also wish to present an example of a contemporary artist and use it to help explain how a particular issue is dealt with by the artist. How does the artist from your example use or deny his/her heritage? How do they confront assumptions and projections?

Prompt for October 28

1.       Explain how the “other” is constructed in the Mami Wata cult or by the Kongo or Sapi. Provide a specific example where visual culture is used in this construction.

2.       What do the two essays have in common? What strategies for interculturation or encountering difference seem to be shared by African peoples from each time period considered by the authors, respectively? In other words, how do both essays explain African receptivity to difference/new things? Provide specific examples where appropriate.

Comments on Haitian art blogs

Generally, I was glad to see so many thoughtful posts. It's always rewarding as a teacher to see students reconsider prior beliefs and conceptions of what they thought they knew after processing new information. I was also impressed last week with more students providing each other with helpfully critical comments on the blog posts. Keep that up!

A lot of you mentioned you got a lot out of "Black in Latin America." The other episodes on Brazil,  Mexico, and Cuba are available to watch free online here. Rod library also has it, and we will have it soon in the VRC.

Prompt for October 14

For your blogs this week, consider the following questions. Make sure to support your responses with specific examples.

•What are sources of vodou material culture and ritual? How is Haitian vodou religion and some African peoples’ beliefs similar?

•What meaningful connections can you make between what you know about African arts and what you read and saw about Haitian art?

•What meaningful connections/relationships can you make between the reading and the DVDs (Maya Deren’s “Divine Horsemen” and Henry Louis Gates' “Black in Latin America”?)

Prompt for October 7

Discuss how Yoruba visual culture communicates Yoruba spirituality. You can go in-depth with one or two examples, or write a comparative blog that is more all-encompassing. What seem to be major themes in Yoruba cosmology and spiritual belief?

General comments on comparisons

This week I noticed a lot of room for improvement.

It is also clear some folks are not reading the text--or at least, not reading it carefully. Misspellings, incorrect identification of peoples--these are all items that can be fact-checked with the resource you are meant to be reading for every class meeting.


Editorial mistakes were big this week too. You should write a draft and edit before you publish your post.


By this point in the semester, your blogs should be thoughtful, fact-checked, organized, and edited. There are three major writing skills everyone can improve upon:

Introductions
It would be good to start with an interesting introduction relating to theme and thesis rather than "I chose to compare". It is more efficient to begin with overarching comparative themes and support with formal analysis.

Theses

This is not a specific thesis: "Though both of these items are pencils, they represent very different things as well vary in their appearance." 

Neither is this: "When comparing the cheese to the cracker there are both similarities and differences between the two." We will practice making these specific in class.

Contestable information: Citations

There were quite a few instances where folks made statements that needed citations. If it is a claim that is contestable, it needs a citation. Ie: "It has been suggested that..." (Who suggested this idea?)

Prompt for September 30

Create your own comparison of objects from two different peoples whom we have studied thus far. Make sure to fully identify each object as you are required for the online museum project.

• people/artist who made it
• description of object medium/process of construction if applicable
• function

Create a meaningful comparison that highlights significant themes or aspects of the cultural contexts in which the objects were created. Avoid using the same comparisons studied in class. Pay attention to organization and mechanics in your essay!

Prompt for Friday, September 23

For this week's blog, make sure to address Cole’s essay and relate the concepts he explains to what you’ve learned about the Baule, Bamana, and Bwa. How do masquerades mark and effect change? Provide specific examples.

Prompt for Friday, September 16

For this week's blog, make sure you respond to the essay "Radiance of the King" by Donald Cosentino in African Arts.

• Do you think the paintings are “ambassadors of cross-cultural pollination”? How? What other arts have we looked at that also seem to fit this label?

• Do you recognize any similarities in themes and/or modalities between the contemporary Ghanaian paintings and other Akan art we have seen? Provide examples.

Remember--learning is about making relevant connections.

Make sure your blog is organized, thoughtful, and edited.

General Comments on your responses to Nani

It was great to see that so many of you enjoyed the workshops with Nani and the performance. Many of you commented on the things Nani said in the performance and on Friday in the workshop. That's great! One student commented that Nani himself used "tradition" to describe visual and performing arts, and that he also drew distinctions between public staged dances versus private spiritually activated dancing. I hope you all can see how "tradition" and "art" are social and temporal constructs. In each cultural manifestation of an art form--and each individual's creation--it becomes something new. Ie: "tradition" is actually constantly changing. For example, motifs like fans or autos on fancy-wax prints are symbolic, still a "sign" for something--, just as an adinkra stamp may be, albeit not from the older repertoire.


I enjoyed students' photos and video links, but this week there was a little less attention paid to copy editing. Make sure you edit your grammar, spelling, and sentence structure.

Blog for Friday, Sept. 9!

Your blogs should be thoughtful, developed analyses of how you connect what you DID with what you read and heard this past week. Think about the questions I posed to groups about John Picton's reading. Think about the roles of textiles to the African peoples we've discussed thus far. Think about what Nani has said (and what he will say), and what I have said in class. Process, and write your critical response.

General Comments on Your First Blogs!

Overall, I was impressed by your first blogging attempts. That is good! I am glad to see folks addressing the questions on the blogging guidelines. Many students indicated they are re-examining prior beliefs and assumptions. That is excellent! You are thinking critically. Some students developed their critical responses to specific concepts and themes we've addressed in class more than others. Only a couple of students discussed the notion of "traditional." We'll talk more about that term and concept as it relates to African art next week.

There were a couple common tics that I'd like to correct: many of you wrote about "African culture"--It would behoove you to add an 's' and make culture "cultureS". That way you acknowledge there are multiple and diverse peoples on the continent.

Writing your First Blog

Look at the assignment sheet and rubric to get you started writing. For this first week, you will want to pay close attention to the first FIVE bulleted questions!

When you respond to your peers' blog, consider connective language: "I understood x about...." "Can you say more about...." "I disagree with the claim that...."

Questions to Consider for Blogging:

§ What did you like about class/assigned material this week? What didn’t you like?

§ What are the major themes/issues addressed in class this week?

§ Make links to specific objects and peoples.

§ What are the major themes/issues addressed in the assigned readings/media?

§ How do the assigned material and class material relate?

§ If you are addressing an article/essay, what is the author’s thesis? What is his/her evidence?

§ What are the strengths and weaknesses of the article/essay?

§ How does this article help (or hinder) our interpretation/understanding of the African art?

§ Does it help us reflect upon and/or be critical of prior interpretations (historiography)? How?

§ If paired, how do the readings inform each other, if at all?

§ What questions did class and/or the assigned material raise for you?

§ Choose a statement, supporting evidence, or passage from the article that particularly struck you. Why is it important to you?

§ NB on quotes—don’t “just quote.” Paraphrase (with citation) and explain.

Blog Rubric 10 pts

Blog entry adequately responds to guided question sheet or posted prompt supporting evidence, and thoughtful analysis	Blog entry answers the question with some detail and supporting evidence.	Blog entry does not fully answer question, lacks detail and evidence.
Few to no mechanical and grammatical errors	Some mechanical and grammatical errors, no hindrance to meaning	Mechanical and/or grammatical errors hinder meaning
Critical response that includes personal reactions thoughtfully supported.	Works to connect personally to material, but with little or no support.	Lacks critical thinking about personal reactions.
Analyzes and reflects on material from class and readings discussed. Relevant connections made.	Works to show some analysis and reflection on material from class and readings discussed. Attempt to make connections.	Does not analyze or reflect on material from class and readings. No relevant connections made.

Comments Rubric 5 pts

Comments go beyond agreement or disagreement with author. Try: “I see…” “Have you considered…” “A question I have is….”	Attempts to go beyond agreement.	Only states unsupported opinion.
Addresses specific points made by the author and adds insight.	Addresses some specific points and adds a small amount of insight.	Does not address author’s comments.

Welcome to the Arts of Africa Blog Model!

This is simply a model for you to look at as you design your own blogs. Don't forget to refer to the instructions on the syllabus appendix for help, or the youtube tutorial.

You can insert your own pictures, links, whatever as you design. Don't forget, if you publish the post, it's public! Use your absolute best writing skills!

Once you have created your blog, you put the url on the class wiki on BB9. I will then also add a link to your blog from THIS blog! AND once everyone has posted their blog url, go through your classmates' blogs, and "follow" them [make sure your blog has this option as a gadget! Look to the right--I added a "subscribe to" and "follow by email" gadget. Do the same on your pages!]

The prompt for next week will be posted here, in addition to BB9.

Happy blogging!