Home | Announcements | Schedule | Assignments | Grades | Conduct | Class Roll |
|
Instructor: Dr. Virginia
Bonner |
|
|
Semester: Spring 2011 Credit: 3-0-3 credit hours Prerequisites: ENGL 1102 with a minimum US grade of C and FILM 2100 or ART 2302 or PHIL 2401 or THEA 1100 or WST 2500 with a minimum US grade of C |
|
Meetings:
MWF 11:00-11:50am in
|
|
Office hrs: Scheduled via AdvisorTrac and by appt. via email | |
Office: Music Building, room 105 | |
Web
Address: http://www.virginiabonner.com/vbonner Teaching Intern: Ms. Fallon Guess Office hours in UC 272 W 12:00-3:00pm and by appointment |
In this course, we will explore the role of women as artists,
spectators, and representations in the visual, literary, and performing arts.
Our primary category of analysis in Women & the Arts is gender, the socially
constructed and historically variable understanding of what it means to be a
woman or a man. Likewise, a central idea in our class is that knowledge and
images conveyed through artistic texts are not neutral; rather, the arts
socialize and discipline us even as it entertain and enlighten us.
Thus, our course will closely
analyze artworks by and about women. We will discuss how these texts in fact
give rise to and/or interrogate closely held beliefs about women’s roles. We
will also examine the construction of gender as it interacts with other
seemingly self-evident categories such as race, class, and sexuality within
these cultural texts. Throughout our course we will study how works of art can
serve to both create and challenge social meanings, and how we can become more
critical thinkers of those messages.
The following texts may be purchased in the campus
bookstore or through online vendors like Amazon.com:
The format of this class is
largely discussion-based (class and small group), with some lecture, in-class
assignments, and out-of-class assignments including many out-of-class film
screenings. I believe that the most productive teaching/learning experience
results from an interactive process. Ultimately, this is your class; each of you will contribute to this learning experience
through active contemplation and discussion. Though I will lecture on occasion,
I will not be reading you facts that you will then regurgitate by rote. Instead,
we will explore topics together; we will all challenge ourselves to think
critically about these ideas, and to make connections among these diverse
artworks and concepts, readings and screenings.
Note: If you have added this course at the end of the schedule change period and/or were not present for the syllabus review the first day of class, you are required to meet with me the following week to review course requirements and policies.