Mar 28, 2024  
Academic Catalog 2017-2018 
    
Academic Catalog 2017-2018 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

HART440 Seminar: When Worlds Collide: Aztecs at the Conquest and Beyond 3 cr.


The 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec of Mexico forged a new world from a monumental collision of religions, philosophies and visual cultures. Through critical reading, research and oral and written presentation of 10-12 page papers, students in this seminar explore the power and paradoxes of Aztec civilization before and in the wake of conquest through examination of Aztec art and documentary sources including pictorial manuscripts and codices, sculpture, painting and architecture. Students also analyze first-hand accounts, memoirs and philosophical treatises recording Spanish conquistadors’ and clergies’ ambivalent responses to Aztec culture, to its sophistication and to its seeming barbarity. The influence of Aztec art on modernism in Mexico, North America and Europe also will be a focus of student discussion and research.

Prerequisites: HART100 and any 200 or 300 level HART course; Art of Mesoamerica and/or Maya Art &Architecture (recommended, not required)

Lecture/Seminar
Culturally Diverse Content
All College Elective