African Art

 Elements to include: Your paper should include, address, and connect the following.: -Highlight in form and/or writing content one core aspect of Black aesthetics as detailed in course lectures and readings -Trace the origins of this core concept -Connect to one theory of perception from your own research, readings, and interest -Connect to one core concept addressed by Fred Moten in The Undercommons -Relate this concept to your own work either in form of paper (such as poetics) and/or in details of performance, painting, musical composition, etc. -Problematize your selected practice in terms of Rowland Abiodun’s introduction on African art and the fashioning of a new lens. -Consider ashé as it related to your work. Where is the ashé—does it exist—within your work or practice, and how might audiences experience it? -Directly reference (with quotes) at least four key texts we have read, utilized, and/or referenced (from the syllabus) If you are addressing aspects of ritual, initiation, and other points of transition, consider the following questions.: • What is the ritual practice you are exploring? Describe the ritual i.e. detail what happens, when, who participates, etc. to give a full view of the ritual itself. • What is the purpose and/or intention of the ritual? • What are the origins of the ritual? In this, include connections not only to religious practices and/or mythologies that may have given rise to the ritual practice and tracing the trajectory from Africa to Americas but also connections to architecture, geography, interactions with neighboring communities, historical practices, etc. which have played a part in the development of this particular form both conceptually and also in its ritual execution. • What is the performative nature of this ritual art performance? Discuss this in relation to paradigms of soul, sacred, and secular as discussed in Paul Carter Harrison’s essays “Praise/Word” and “Form and Transformation.” • Is this a work of art, a work of religion, a spiritual practice, all of the above? How or why can this be considered a “ritual art performance”? • Relate this practice to each of the overarching categories framing our syllabus this semester: origins; the fantastic; the voice; and performing blackness. As part of the bibliographic references, relate your chosen practice to a text from each of these categories, making sure for “origins” to relate at least one aspect of Yoruba cosmology and ritual practice using correct terminology. • Discuss this practice in relation to contemporary art practices. Format: -12-15 pages in 1.5 line spacing, size 11 font, maximum one-inch margins on all sides, numbered pages -Footnotes may be used but these should not take up more than an inch at bottom of page; otherwise, use endnotes. -Cover sheet for paper title and your identifying information -Papers must be stapled; unstapled papers will not be accepted. Web-based sources, music files and non-book sources are encouraged and are in addition to the six bibliographic references. List any class texts that you use as well. -Correct grammar, spelling, punctuation must be used along with proper citation for your bibliography (MLA preferred).