ART V09A - Art of the Ancient Americas

    Recent Professors
    Maline Werness-Rude
    Recent Semesters
    Spring 2026, Spring 2025, Fall 2024
    Class Size
    40–46 students
    Credits
    3
    Spring 2026 Sections
    View Spring 2026 sections of ART V09A
    Transfers To
    UC and CSUCal-GETC Area 3A · IGETC Area 3A · CSU GE Area C1
    Description
    This course surveys the visual culture of Mesoamerica and South America from pre-history to the Spanish conquest. The comparative analysis of social, religious, political, and economic messages sent by these objects and monuments will elucidate patterns of interaction, continuity, disjunction, and adaptation through time and space. Discipline specific approaches and vocabulary will be introduced and individual works will be analyzed in relation to their political, social, religious, economic, cosmological, and philosophical contexts. Cultural awareness and visual, stylistic, and cultural literacy will be emphasized, both within and across geographic regions and times.