HART306 Art and Symbolism in Rituals And Festivals 3cr

are pervasive in social life, but what are they

doing and what do they mean?  This course

explores how such cultural enactments use art and

artifacts to present and structure people’s

perceptions of reality. We will consider how the

symbolic behavior of rituals and festivals

contributes to the individual and collective

negotiation and enactment of ethnic, gender,

religious, and national identities.  On one hand,

we will look at how art in ritualized

performances function to articulate, maintain,

and legitimize particular cultural institutions,

world views, and ideals about consensus and

order.  At the same time, we will also analyze

customary rites and festivals as arenas where

authority and resistance, memories and counter

memories sometimes collide in controversy and

contestation.  We will draw on analytic

perspectives from psychology, religious studies,

anthropology, sociology, history, art history,

and folkloristics to examine the artistic

aesthetic expression in a range of religious and

secular rituals and celebrations including rites

of passage, seasonal festivals, national

holidays, and public protests.  Issues of

cultural representation and preservation,

cultural appropriation and commodification, and

cultural tourism will also be considered,

particularly in regard to how they relate to the

tensions that emerge when traditional cultural

practices come into contact with modernity and

commercialized cultural industries. We will

consider such topics as masking and mumming

traditions in Ireland, Japan, and the Caribbean;

the sacred art of Haitian Vodou, Mardi Gras

Indians in New Orleans, the Italian-American

Giglio festival, Day of the Dead celebrations in

Mexico and the U.S., spontaneous memorials

related to 9/11, and protest art used in various

demonstrations.

Prerequisites: HART-100

Lecture

Spring