California

Community College International Curriculum Development Grant 2017

New Course: Art of the Ancient Americas
Dr. Rainer Mack (Visual and Performing Arts Dept., Oxnard College)

Project Description

Grant support is sought for development of a new course, Art R172: Art of the Ancient

Americas. The course will introduce students to the art and archaeology of ancient cultures in

Mexico, Central America, and South America prior to European contact. Art objects and

practices will be considered in their relationship to broader environmental, social, and cultural

contexts. Museum-based assignments using collections in the US and Mexico will provide more

direct connections with art objects, as well as opportunities to consider how art of the ancient

Americas intersects with contemporary social and cultural concerns. The course is the first in a

projected two-course sequence on the history of Latin American art from antiquity to the

present.

Art R172 Art of the Ancient Americas will be the first course in our Art History curriculum to

consider art and culture outside the Western tradition (Europe and the US). It is being

developed within the context of a new Associate of Arts for Transfer Degree, which requires at

least one non-Western offering. Art of the Ancient Americas will substantially expand the

geographical and cultural reach of our curriculum, and will serve as an anchor for a projected

two-course sequence on the history of Latin American art. Art R172 will be offered for the first

time in Fall 2017; its sister course on modern and contemporary Latin American art will be

offered for the first time in Spring 2019. Our focus on Latin America is motivated by the
relevance of Latin American art and culture to Southern California, and to our own majority

Hispanic community here in Oxnard (Oxnard College had 72% Hispanic enrollment in Fall

2015).*

Developing course content for Art R172 will require library and museum-based research. I

anticipate making use of the library resources at UCLA for general research as well as for the

development of course modules and teaching materials (readings and visual resources).

Museum-based research is required to gain facility with representative examples of art from

the cultures covered in this course, and to develop assignments focused on museum collections

and exhibition practices. I anticipate conducting museum-based research in the Los Angeles

area (LACMA and the Bowers Museum), where it would be possible to develop in-person

museum-based assignments. With the award of a grant, I would extend my research to

museum collections and sites in Mexico City (the National Anthropological Museum, the

Anahuacalli Museum, and local archaeological sites and museums). Travel to Mexico City would

not only provide me an opportunity to study some of the most important art objects and sites

covered in the proposed course. It would also allow the development of museum-based

assignments that consider the place of ancient art in a contemporary Latin American context,

offering a comparative perspective on exhibition practice in the US. Crossing the border in our

class assignments would be especially powerful pedagogy for our students at this moment in

time. Museum-based assignments in Mexico City are projected to be web-based, but in

coordination with on-site museum education staff.

*https://tableau.vcccd.edu/t/Public/views/DEMOGRAPHICS_Oxnard_Final/Demographics?:em
bed=y&:display_count=no&:showVizHome=no)

MACK: California Community College International Curriculum Development Grant 2017 / 2