In Focus II: In the Footsteps of Franz Boas—Native Arts of the Northwest Coast and the Rise of Anthropology
This seminar surveys the Indigenous arts of
North America’s Northwest Coast from historical and contemporary perspectives,
and examines their role in the career of Franz Boas, founding figure of
American anthropology. We will look at a full range of media and object
types—quotidian, ceremonial, and commercial—within changing socio-cultural,
disciplinary, and aesthetic contexts: colonialism as a factor in artistic
transformation; the indigenization of foreign materials, motifs, and ideas, as
well as the adaptation of Native forms to commercial markets; the rise of
anthropology and the history of museum collection and exhibition; and the
complex relationship of contemporary art with its material precursors. With a
concentration on the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), our goal will be to understand
Indigenous objects both within local histories of cultural production and use,
and within global histories of changing anthropological interpretation.
Students will participate in the final development and design of a spring 2019
Focus exhibit on Boas’s foundational ethnography and collecting in the region
(prior enrollment in Focus 1 course is NOT required). Course work will include
research for and preparation of a website/digital publication to accompany the
exhibit. 3 credits. Satisfies the non-Western
requirement.