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This course will provide an introduction to the cosmology, religion, ritual practices and historical events of the Ancient Maya populations through an examination of indigenous literary traditions (hieroglyphic, pictorial, and with epi-colonial Latin script), architecture, painting, sculpture, and other art forms. We will consider these artistic traditions as transmitters of cultural worldviews and political messages, while focusing on the regional ideologies which characterized the Maya (and Mesoamerica) civilization from the 2nd millennium BCE until shortly after the arrival of the Spanish in the Sixteenth century.
This course will study the main cultural trends that influenced film production in Latin America from the 1960's until today. Starting with what was called "New Latin American Cinema" we will examine the relationship between film as an art form and Latin America's struggle to define its own identity and national autonomy. Students will learn both how to analyze movies as cultural texts, and their relationship with the particular realities of the countries in which the movies were produced.
A comprehensive look at the Greek-speaking world after Alexander the Great (4th - 1st centuries BCE), from Italy to India. Emphasis is on the societal, intellectual and aesthetic changes brought about by colliding cultures. How did people's beliefs, tastes, daily lives and possibilities change as a result of the new world Alexander left behind? How did the Hellenistic period resemble our own? How did east and west coexist? How did people find escape from their anxieties in unsettling times? How did their arts reflect their new preoccupations? And how did the person and the myth of Alexander himself impact the times?