SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY AND ART HISTORY

Module Description, Reading List and Essay Questions

2013-2014

AR317-6-AU ART, POLITICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Autumn Term only (15 credits)
Andres Montenegro Rosero Office no. 5B.129
This is an Optional module for all art history courses (single and joint honours). Also available as an outside option to students on other courses with the Module Directors permission. The School would like to encourage any student with a disability or health issue that needs to be taken into account to contact the Student Support Office, either by email on disab@essex.ac.uk, or by telephoning internal ext. 2365 or 3444. Assessment 2 essays of 2,500-3,000 words each. Each essay counts equally to the final coursework mark, weighted at 50% each. The University operates a uniform Coursework Deadline policy on late submission of coursework: each piece of coursework must be submitted by the deadline in order to gain a mark. Work which is submitted after the deadline will be given a mark of zero. For further information on the submission of coursework and essay deadlines please see the list of essay questions/assignments and Schools Undergraduate Student Handbook 2013-2014. The handbook also contains information regarding late submission of coursework. Module Outline This course explores the interplay of Art, Politics and Human Rights, from the French Revolution through to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and an examination of rights and artistic issues over recent decades. Students will be introduced to contemporary notions of rights, as well as the role of the arts in the context of power, exclusion and the state, particularly in times of sociopolitical turmoil. With this grounding, students will then consider the expansion of rights and artistic issues in the early-twentieth century, namely the formation of the International Workers Movement, the aftermath of the Great War and the politics of the Historic Avant-garde. These will be added to with assessments of the varied and complex relationship between art and the USSR, and aesthetics following the Holocaust, providing a contextualisation of artistic and political representation leading up to the Universal Declaration in 1948. Students will develop their understanding of how the universalisation of rights contributed to the rise of counterculture in the 1960s in Paris, Vienna, Chicago and San Francisco, the Civil Rights Movement, the Culture Wars and the global labour movement. Finally, students will consider more contemporary gender, sexual discrimination, and poverty issues, such as feminism, identity and the AIDS crisis, and the political and artistic tensions that accompanied such human right struggles. Given this coverage, the course should appeal to students from Government, Law and Human Rights, as well as Art History and Philosophy, with its interdisciplinary approach yielding a deeper understanding of art and rights through modernity, as well as a broader appreciation of their interaction manifest today.

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Aims The aims of this module are: to provide students with a grounding in the history of art and politics; to elucidate the role the arts have played in the formation and consolidation of the concept of Human Rights since 1789; to develop skills of visual and conceptual analysis for a wide variety of media; to familiarise students with explicitly political art; to encourage students to debate about the place of Art, Politics and Human Rights in society; to introduce students to specialised debates in the past and recent literature around the interpretation of political art; to raise student awareness of different models and approaches to the study of both Art History and Human Rights; to stimulate students to develop skills in written communication through essays. Learning Outcomes By the end of this module the student should have: a sound grasp of the history of art, politics and human rights; the ability to interpret and critically analyse artworks and how they relate to issues of human rights; the confidence to subject artworks and texts studied to critical analysis; the ability to communicate complex ideas concerning art and human rights; some insight into the different and complex issues at the intersection of contemporary art and political participation; an ability to discuss the history of the imbrication between art and human rights and demonstrate these competences through coursework essays. Autumn Term Week 1: Welcome Week Week 2: Formations of Citizens vs(and) States Essential Reading: 2.1 Gerald Raunig, Out of Sync: The Paris Commune as Revolutionary Machine, Art and Revolution: Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century, Gerald Raunig (Los Angeles: Semiotexte, 2007) 67-96 2.2 Bell, L.S., A.J. Nathan, and I. Peleg, Introduction, Negotiating Culture and Human Rights (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001) 3-12 2.3 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. http://www.udhr.org/index.htm Suggested Reading: Extracts from Ishay, M. The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches, and Documents from Ancient Testament to the Present (London: Routledge, 2007) 2.4- Magna Charta (1215), 56 2.5-The English Bill of Rights (1689), 91 2.6-The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789), 138 Week 3: Workers of the World Unite! Essential Reading:

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3.1Gerald Raunig, The Courbet Model. Sequential Concatenation: Artist, Revolutionary, Artist, Art and Revolution: Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century, Gerald Raunig (Los Angeles: Semiotexte, 2007) 97-112 Extracts from Ishay, M. The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches, and Documents from Ancient Testament to the Present (London: Routledge, 2007) 3.2Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto (1848) 119 3.3Karl Marx: Inaugural Address of the Working Mens International Association 3.4Karl Marx: The Class Struggles in France (1850), 326 Week 4: Fleeing the Great War: The Historic Avant-Garde Essential Reading: 4.1Claire Bishop, The Historic Avant-Garde, Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Claire Bishop (London: Verso, 2012) 41-75 4.2Hal Foster, Exquisite Corpses, Compulsive Beauty, Hal Foster (Cambridge: MIT Press 1993) 125-154 Suggested Reading: 4.3Hal Foster, Prosthetic Gods, Prosthetic Gods, Hal Foster (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004) 110-145 Week 5: The special case of the USSR: Suprematism, Constructivism and Social Realism (1917-1930s) Essential Reading: 5.1D. Shlapentokh, Universalization of the Rejection of Human Rights: Russias Case, Negotiating Culture and Human Rights, eds. Bell, L.S., A.J. Nathan, and I. Peleg (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001) 153-196 5.2Boris Groys, Educating the Masses: Socialist Realist Art, Art Power (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008) 141-148 5.3Claire Bishop, The Social Under Socialism, Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Claire Bishop (London: Verso, 2012) 129-162 Week 6: Aesthetics after Auschwitz Required Reading: 6.1Berel Lang, Eye and Mind: Reflecting the Holocaust, Holocaust Representation: Art within the Limits of History and Ethics, Berel Lang (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000) 95-169 6.2Boris Groys, The Heros Body: Adolf Hitlers Art Theory, Art Power, Boris Groys (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008) 131-140 6.3The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ Suggested Reading: 6.4Peter Haidu, The Dialectics of Unspeakability: Language, Silence and the Narratives of Desubjectification, Probing the Limits of Representation: Nazism and the Final Solution, ed. Saul Friedlnder (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992) 277-299 Week 7: Takin it to the Streets: European and Anglo-American Counterculture(s) Required Reading: 7.1Claire Bishop, Je Participe, tu participes, il participe..., Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Claire Bishop (London: Verso, 2012) 77-104 7.2Gerald Raunig, Art and Revolution, 1968: Viennese Actionism in the Long Twentieth Century, Art and Revolution: Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century, Gerald Raunig (Los Angeles: Semiotexte, 2007) 187-201 Week 8: The Civil Rights Movement in the United States
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Required Reading: 8.1K. Verney, An African American Summer: Black Power, 1965-1976, Black Civil Right in America (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2012) 61-89 8.2Sharon F. Patton, The Evolution of a Black Aesthetic, African-American Art, Sharon F. Patton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) 183-230 8.3 Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham City Jail, April 16, 1963, http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=100o Week 9: Your Body is a Battleground: Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Barbara Kruger & Jenny Holzer Required Reading: 9.1Griselda Pollock, About the canon and culture wars, Differencing the Canon: Feminism and the Writing of Art's Histories, Griselda Pollock (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2013) 3-22 9.2Griselda Pollock, Differencing: Feminisms encounter with the canon, Differencing the Canon: Feminism and the Writing of Art's Histories, Griselda Pollock (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2013) 23-40 9.3Lucinda Joy Peach, Are Women Human? The promise and perils of Womens Rights as Human Rights, Negotiating Culture and Human Rights, eds. Bell, L.S., A.J. Nathan, and I. Peleg (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001) 153-196 Suggested Reading: 9.4Sharon Jackson, High Maintenance: The Sanitation Aesthetic of Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Social Work: Performing Art, Supporting Public, Sharon Jackson (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2001) 75-103 Week 10: The Culture War(riors): Felix Gonzlez-Torres & Krzysztof Wodiczko Required Reading: 10.1J. Donnelly, Nondiscrimination for All: The Case of Sexual Minorities, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, J. Donnelly (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013) 225 10.2J. Donnelly, Group Rights and Human Rights, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, J. Donnelly (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013) 204 10.3L. Saltzman, When Memory Speaks: A Monument Bears Witness, Making Memory Matter: Strategies of Remembrance in Contemporary Art, L. Saltzman (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006) 25-46 Suggested Reading: 10.4J. Blocker, Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Ross McElwee on Weddings, Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony, J. Blocker (St. Paul: University of Minnesota Press, 2009) 29-49 Week 11: Global Rights? Required Reading: 11.1T.J. Demos, A Genealogy of Art and Migration, The Migrant Image: The Art and Politics of Documentary During Global Crisis, T.J. Demos (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013) 1-20 11.2T.J. Demos, The Haunting: Renzo Martenss Enjoy Poverty, Return to the Postcolony, T.J. Demos (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2013) 97-124 11.3David Rieff, Charity on the Rampage: The Business of Foreign Aid, Foreign Affairs 76.1 (1997): 132-38. Suggested Reading: 11.4Claire Bishop, Participation and Spectacle, Living as Form: Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011, ed. Nato Thompson (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012) 34-45
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Summer Term Week 30: Revision session

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Bibliography *Indicates essential reading: *Bell, L.S., A.J. Nathan, and I. Peleg. Negotiating Culture and Human Rights. Columbia University Press, 2001. *Bishop, C. Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. Verso, 2012. Blocker, J. Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony. University of Minnesota Press, 2009. Bloom, A., and W. Breines. "Takin' It to the Streets": A Sixties Reader. Oxford University Press, 2003. Davis, J.E. The Civil Rights Movement. Wiley, 2001. Donnelly, J. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice. Cornell University Press, 2013. Foster, H. Compulsive Beauty. Mit Press, 1995. ---. Prosthetic Gods. Mit Press, 2004. Friedlnder, S. Probing the Limits of Representation: Nazism and the "Final Solution". Harvard University Press, 1992. Goodale, M. Human Rights: An Anthropological Reader. Wiley, 2009. Ishay, M. The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches, and Documents from Ancient Testament to the Present. Routledge, 2007. ---. The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era. University of California Press, 2008. Jackson, S. Social Works: Performing Art, Supporting Publics. Taylor & Francis, 2011. Jonson, S. A Brief History of the Masses: Three Revolutions. Columbia University Press, 2008. King, M.L. Letter from the Birmingham Jail. HarperCollins Canada, Limited, 1994. Lang, B. Holocaust Representation: Art within the Limits of History and Ethics. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. Lewis, S.S. African American Art and Artists. University of California Press, 2003. McDonough, T. Guy Debord and the Situationist International: Texts and Documents. MIT Press, 2004. Patton, S.F. African-American Art. Oxford University Press, 1998. Pogge, T.W. World Poverty and Human Rights. Wiley, 2008. *Pollock, G. Differencing the Canon: Feminism and the Writing of Art's Histories. Taylor & Francis, 2013.

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*Raunig, G. Art and Revolution: Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century. Semiotexte/Smart Art, 2007. Saltzman, L. Making Memory Matter: Strategies of Remembrance in Contemporary Art. University of Chicago Press, 2006. Verney, K. Black Civil Rights in America. Taylor & Francis, 2012. *Wilson, R. Human Rights, Culture and Context: Anthropological Perspectives. Pluto Press, 1997.

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SUBMISSION OF COURSEWORK All coursework must be uploaded and submitted to FASer, the Universitys Online Coursework Submission system available at: http://faser.essex.ac.uk/. Once submitted to FASer you will need to watermark your assignment and then hand in a watermarked hard copy to our Undergraduate Office (6.130) by 12.00 noon the following day. The deadline for online submission is 12.00 noon on the date stipulated. The deadline for submitting the watermarked hard copy is 24 hours later, at 12.00 noon the following day. We recommend that you do this earlier to avoid any last minute panic involving printing out the watermarked hard copies. You must make sure that you are familiar with this process well in advance of the deadline. Guidance on how to upload your work is available on the FASer website through the submission system. The Online Coursework Submission system will be undergoing a number of changes over the academic year 2013/14. Due to the increased services it will provide; the name will also be changing. The hyperlinks to OCS will continue to work and all changes will be communicated through the Making Electronic Feedback Effective news blog at http://blogs.essex.ac.uk/projectmefe . We encourage you to be a part of this project and in shaping the student engagement with the Assessment and Feedback process. When submitting your watermarked hard copy please make sure it is either stapled together with the Essay Cover Sheet on top. Copies of the cover sheet are available from 6.130, or from the School`s website at: http://www.essex.ac.uk/arthistory/current_students/undergraduates/documentation.aspx. No extensions will be granted. Students who fail to submit their coursework by the stipulated deadline will receive a mark of zero unless they are able to submit a valid claim for late submission. For details of the Universitys late submission policy please go to: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/students/ug/crswk_pol.htm. Every year we have a number of students who are found guilty of plagiarism and the penalties can be severe. For a second offence it usually means that the student concerned is asked to withdraw. If you are uncertain about how to reference your work take a look at the following web site: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/academic/students/ug/sources.html or speak to one of your lecturers. WORD COUNT: A word count must be displayed at the end of your essay

ESSAY QUESTIONS These are some suggested essay questions. Students are strongly advised to discuss essay topics with me. Autumn Term Essay 1 Deadline: 12.00, Thursday, 12 December, 2013 Return date: 13 January, 2014 Answer one of the following questions: 1. Describe and discuss Delacroixs Liberty Leading the People (1830) and how it addresses the socio-political context of the time.

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Discuss Social Realism in the USSR. How does it differ from notions of citizenship in other parts of Europe? (Compare two artworks) 3. How did WWI influence the Avant-Garde? Was there a politics to the Avant-Garde? 4. What role, if any, did the arts play in the consolidation of the International Workers Movement?
2.

Autumn Term Essay 2

Choose a specific article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relate it to two or three artworks made after 1950. 2. How have the arts contributed to the expansion of Civil, Womens and Minority Rights? 3. In what way does Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger or Mierle Laderman Ukeless artworks challenge preconceptions of gender? 4. Compare and contrast two artworks before and after the Civil Rights Movement. Discuss how issues of race are represented.
1.

Deadline: 12.00, Monday, 13 January, 2014 Return date: 10 February, 2014

Feedback will be provided when your coursework is returned. If you would like to discuss the feedback received then please do not hesitate to get in touch with your lecturer or class/seminar teacher in their office hours (as shown on their office doors) or by appointment.

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