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Arts of East Asia (AHIS20021)

Undergraduate level 2Points: 12.5Online

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Overview

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Semester 1 - Online
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This subject will introduce students to the mediums, genres, and vocabulary of pre-modern Chinese, Japanese, and Korean visual culture. Weekly lectures and tutorials will focus on either a specific medium (ink painting, calligraphy, ceramics, timber frame architecture, urban landscape, gardens) or a theme (tombs, Buddhism, Confucianism, genre painting, narrative painting) and through case studies, the political, social, and cultural factors that inform and shape works of art will be considered. The objects and sites under consideration will sometimes raise historical questions about the impact of one tradition upon the others, allowing us to see East Asia as a culturally connected macroregion; in other cases, the lectures will bring together works that require us to think critically about how we analyze and interpret the history of artistic production. Ultimately, this subject will provide students a foundation and framework to consider the history of East Asian art, as well as the tools by which to consider the dimensions and character of the common narratives applied to this history.

Intended learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

  • Acquire broad familiarity with the history of the arts of China, Japan, and Korea, including their primary genres, materials, and techniques;
  • Gain familiarity with some of the fundamental artistic, religious, and philosophical concepts underlying the production of East Asian art;
  • Consider the arts of China, Japan, and Korea within their individual cultural contexts, as well as within the broader contexts of intra- and interregional exchange;
  • Develop the foundational skills of visual, material, and iconographic analysis necessary to analyze East Asian art and pre-modern art more generally & understand the limitations of these foundational skills and to consider alternative methods and approaches to understanding the history of East Asian art.

Generic skills

  • Be able to research through the competent use of the library and other information sources, and be able to define areas of inquiry and methods of research in the preparation of essays;
  • Be able to conceptualise theoretical problems, form judgements and arguments and communicate critically, creatively and theoretically through essay writing, tutorial discussion and presentations;
  • Be able to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion;
  • Be able to manage and organise workloads for recommended reading, the completion of essays and assignments and examination revision; and
  • Be able to participate in team work through involvement in syndicate groups and group discussions.

Last updated: 3 November 2022