Introduction to the Art and Architecture of South and Southeast Asia

4 credits · Undergraduate

The course offers an introduction to the art and architecture of South and Southeast Asia from ca. 2500 BCE to the colonial period. Proceeding in a chronological order, we will engage with key moments of artistic production in the region. We will locate art and architecture within the larger world of political economies, religion and philosophy, gender and sexuality, urbanity, and state formations to generate the depth and context required for understanding South and Southeast Asia through a historical frame. Thus, we will study Buddhism and Hinduism in the early Common Era, early modern Islamic art, and encounters with Europe fueled by colonialism. We will also develop critical skills to study art and architecture more broadly.