Anthropology Through Speculative Fiction, Fall 2009

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Abstract:: This class examines how anthropology and speculative fiction (SF) each explore ideas about culture and society, technology, morality, and life in "other" worlds. We investigate this convergence of interest through analysis of SF in print, film, and other media. Concepts include traditional and contemporary anthropological topics, including first contact; gift exchange; gender, marriage, and kinship; law, morality, and cultural relativism; religion; race and embodiment; politics, violence, and war; medicine, healing, and consciousness; technology and environment. Thematic questions addressed in the class include: what is an alien? What is "the human"? Could SF be possible without anthropology?

Subject:: Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: MIT OpenCourseWare

The Bleeding Edge: Loren Chasse

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Abstract:: Sound artist Loren Chasse seeks out unusual acoustic environments and teaches a class of students about fundamentals of sound. This Educator Guide explores sound and the history of sound as a musical form, extending back to the early 1900s.

Subject:: Arts, Science and Technology
Grade Level:: Primary, Secondary
Collection:: KQED Education Network

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Cultural and Literary Expression in Modernity

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Abstract:: This course seeks to develop a nuanced understanding of the scope of cultural and literary expression in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. It attends to broad socio-historical happenings, from the birth of modernism in the late 19th century to the post-modern moment. In addition to literary modernism, the course will also take a brief look at the cultural production of modernism in art, music, architecture, cinema, philosophy, and drama. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: Define the terms modernism and modernity and explain the similarities and differences between these terms using specific works to illustrate comparison and contrast; List and explain the importance of a variety of social, cultural, and historical developments leading up to and occurring during the modern period; Cite and analyze the meaning of primary works of literature, poetry, art, music, architecture, cinema, philosophy and drama to illustrate the principle characteristics of modernism; Compare and contrast the literatures of both France and England from the start of the modern era (i.e., the turn of the twentieth century); Explain the impact of the Great War upon the development and expression of a variety of literary and artistic forms and especially on poetry in a number of genres; Describe the aftermath of World War I and its variety of effects upon literature and art and especially upon the poetry of T.S. Eliot and the novels of Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway; Define High Modernism and give examples of the tenets, ideals, and even the contradictions and self-contradictions of this movement in history and literature (and especially in both its Irish and British contexts); Define the terms postmodernism and deconstruction as well as the phrase Magical Realism and identify the most important characteristics of the movements, fields, theories, and texts associated with these terms; Explain the premises of postcolonial literature and literary theory and identify, describe, compare, and contrast postcolonial texts from range of national origins. (English Literature 204)

Subject:: Humanities
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: Saylor Foundation

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Modern Art

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Abstract:: This course covers the various artistic movements that comprise 19th- and 20th-century modern art, including Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art, among others. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to: define the term “modern art,” and explain the factors and ideas that make (or made) artworks “modern”; identify the key art movements of the 19th and 20th centuries that comprise the modern art era; list the principal artists from each movement, and accurately identify seminal works of art by those artists; compare and contrast a number of important artworks and identify just what makes these particular works modern and, most importantly, what makes these works true achievements that allowed for future developments in the arts; build a presentable and accurate timeline of the progression of modern art movements. Note that this course has been developed through a special partnership with The Art Story Foundation; please see the resource for more information. This free course may be completed online at any time. (Art History 208)

Subject:: Arts, Humanities
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: Saylor Foundation

Topics in the Avant-Garde in Literature and Cinema, Spring 2003

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Abstract:: 21F.031 examines the terms "avant garde" and "Kulturindustrie" in French and German culture of the early twentieth century. Considering the origins of these concepts in surrealist and dadaist literature, art, and cinema, the course then expands to engage parallel formations across Europe, particularly in the former Soviet Union. Emphasis on the specific historical conditions that enabled these interventions. Guiding questions are these: What was original about the historical avant-garde? What connections between art and revolution did avant-garde writers and artists imagine? What strategies did they deploy to meet their modernist imperatives? To what extent did their projects maintain a critical stance towards the culture industry? Surveying key interventions in the fields of poetry, painting, sculpture, photography, film, and music, the readings also include signal moments in critical thought of the last century. Figures to be considered are: Adorno, Aragon, Bataille, Beckett, Brecht, Breton, Bürger, Duchamp, Eisenstein, Ernst, Jünger, Greenberg, Kandinsky, Malevich, Mayakovsky, and Tzara. Taught in English, but students are encouraged to consult original sources when possible.

Subject:: Humanities, Social Sciences
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: MIT OpenCourseWare

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Twentieth Century Art

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Abstract:: This course explores the history of cultural and artistic developments of the twentieth century in the Western world (Europe and the United States). The student will concentrate on major styles in painting and sculpture, including Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Pop Art, and Op-Art. The student will also discuss Modernism and Post-Modernism in architecture. The student will learn about the aesthetic ideals, systems of belief, as well as political, religious, and social conditions that these styles reflect. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify the works of art of major contributors to twentieth-century art; Accurately use the visual arts vocabulary presented in this course; Demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between a work of art and its cultural context (i.e. its historical, social, religious, and economic environment); Analyze, interpret, and critique works of art; Identify the basic features of each of the twentieth-century styles and discuss the main contributions that these styles made to the development of visual arts. (Art History 209)

Subject:: Arts, Humanities
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: Saylor Foundation

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Anthropology Through Speculative Fiction, Fall 2009

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Cultural and Literary Expression in Modernity

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Browse: Keyword: Futurism

You searched for:

Refine Your Search

Anthropology Through Speculative Fiction, Fall 2009

The Bleeding Edge: Loren Chasse

Cultural and Literary Expression in Modernity

Modern Art

Topics in the Avant-Garde in Literature and Cinema, Spring 2003

Twentieth Century Art

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