Sacred Landscapes of the Ancestral Americas

3 units

This class will explore the rich indigenous artistic traditions of the ancestral Americas before the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century. Through the selection of a limited number of works of art and architecture, we will focus primarily on the way Indigenous American art and architecture traditionally intersects with the natural landscape it is found within in order to produce sacred landscapes. We will define and interpret these sacred landscapes by learning about several secondary themes in the course including: queens, kings, and their representation; sacrifice and approaches to life and death; ancient cities and urban planning; and materials and material meanings. Although the course's geographical and historical reach is large (spanning over 3,000 years of history and a broad swath of North, Middle, and South America), the works that we will examine are selective rather than comprehensive. This strategy provides for a more thorough understanding of the cultures we do study and offers time for us to engage not only in class lecture, but in article-based discussion groups, hands-on learning with real ancestral American artifacts, and with guest lecturers, all of which provide for critical thinking and experiential learning opportunities.