ARTH 585(F) Igbo and Yoruba Arts
This seminar focuses on the classical and traditional arts of the Yoruba and Igbo of Southern Nigeria. Although these two groups may have had historical and cultural connections in the past, they developed distinct politics and social formations, as well as architecture, visual, and performing arts. Ulli Beier (1960) and Simon Ottenberg (1983) have compared and contrasted the arts and aesthetics of these two Nigerian cultures and have called for further studies on the arts. This seminar takes off from the arguments outlined by Beier and Ottenberg and encourages comparative studies and critical examination of specific visual arts of Yoruba and Igbo in order to see what aspects of the groups' philosophies, aesthetics, and socio-cultural formations might account for the very nature of their arts. The seminar will involve readings on Igbo and Yoruba art and aesthetics, including but not limited to those by Margaret and Henry Drewal, Rowland Abiodun, John Pemberton III, Chike Aniakor, Simon Ottenberg, Ulli Beier, Babatunde Lawal, Herbert Cole, G. I. Jones, Elizabeth Willis, Sarah Adams, and Moyo Okediji. Topics to be covered in student presentations and seminar papers will include comparative studies of forms and aesthetics of mural painting, textiles, ancient and ritual sculpture, masking, architecture, and gender politics.
Format: seminar. Prerequisite for undergraduates is a prior course in African art and architecture.
Hour: OKEKE-AGULU