Unit Design

Unit Title: African Art: Coming of Age

Course: AP Art History

Unit Length: 4 days

Date Created: 7/6/2015

Learning Objectives: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5
Unit Overview
Unit Components
Key Artists/Pieces
Africa
Apollo 11 Stones (review)
Running Horned Woman (review)
Wall Plaque, from Obas Palace
Oba of Benin (contextual photograph)
Sika Dwa Kofi (Golden Stool)
Sika Dwa Kofi (contextual photograph)
Veranda Post of Enthroned King and Senior Wife
(Opo Ogoga)
Great Mosque of Djenn (review)
Monday Market at the Great Mosque of Djenn (review)
Conical Tower and Circular Wall of Great
Zimbabwe
Zoomorphic Head
Bundu Mask
Bundu Mask (contextual photograph)
Female (Pwo) Mask
Portrait Mask (Mblo)
Mblo (contextual photograph)
Aka Elephant Mask
Aka Elephant Mask (contextual photograph)
Spirit Spouse (Blolo Bla)
Reliquary Figure (Byeri)
Power Figure (Nkisi nkondi)
Ndop (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang
maMbul
Ndop (contextual photograph)
Ikenga (Shrine Figure)
Lukasa (Memory Board)
Lukasa (contextual photograph)

Concepts/Topics/
Unit Vocabulary
The Cradle of Art and
Civilization
(Early African Art)
Saharan Rock Art
(review)
Signifying Royalty and
Power
lost-wax casting
oba
eben (sword)

Readings and
Assessments
Concepts/Topics/
Unit Vocabulary

African Art and

Identity
Masks and Sculptures
(the Modern Era)
Early Masks
zoomorphic
Masks as a Form of
Initiation
Sowo
sowei

sika dwa kofi

pwo

ogoga
Olowe of Ise

Masks for Masquerades

ndoma
scarification
mblo

Urban Centers
Zimbabwe
battered

tso
mbap mteng

Concepts/Topics/
Unit Vocabulary
Spirit, Reliquary, and
Power Figures
blolo bla
blolo bian
nsek-bieri
bieri (byeri)
nkisi
nkonde
bilongo
pakalala
mooyo
ndop
ibol
ikenga
Preservation of History
lukasa

Chapter 13
pages 402-421
Reading Guide
7-A
Chapter 28
pages 878-901
Reading Guide
7-B
Graphic
Organizers and
Worksheets
Writing
Assessments
Completed
Unit 7 Image
Matrixes
Unit Test
Matrixes with
Images - Unit 8

Learner/Performance Objectives: The student will . . .

Assessments/Evidence

1. Define and use unit vocabulary.

2. Identify works of art.
3. Recognize the clarity and strength of design and expression of the
earliest African arts, even though interpretation of this art is conjectural
at best.
4. Discover how the arts of Africa reflect individual and group beliefs and
behavior.
5. Explain how African arts motivate behavior, contain and express belief,
and validate social organization and human relations.
6. Explore how African arts mediate and support communication between
the temporal and the supernatural worlds of various spirit forces, and
how efficacy is a major factor.
7. Examine the role of the visual arts in the expression of power and
authority by modern African leaders.
8. Observe how African arts are, by nature, meant to be performed rather
than simply viewed, and can only be fully realized in their contexts and
functions.
9. Recognize the role of masquerade in African rites of passage such as
initiation and funeral rituals.
10. Discover how contemporary African arts reflect ideas found in its
ancient past.
11. Realize how Africas interaction with the rest of the world has led
to dynamic intellectual and artistic traditions, and has contributed
dramatically to many forms of human expression.

Selected response (e.g., multiple choice, matching, true/false)

- unit test
Constructed response (e.g., slide identification, fill-in-the-blank,
short answer, label, graphic)
- unit test
- reading guides
- graphic organizers
Product (e.g., essay, model, project)
- image matrixes
- writing assessment
Process (e.g., observations, discussions)
- observation
- classroom discussions
- pair share
- oral questioning

Unit Resources/Materials:
Textbooks Videos Powerpoint Presentations