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79795-01 - Seminar: Ivory, Cloth, and Clay: Making and Meaning in West and West-Central Africa, 1300–1800 (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Ingrid Anna Greenfield (ingridanna.greenfield@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This seminar takes ivory, cloth, and clay as points of entry into artistic production in West and West-Central Africa between c. 1300 and 1800. Each brought with it particular possibilities and constraints—of scale, durability, surface, pattern, sustainability—and carried distinct social and economic significance. Attending to these materials brings into view how objects took shape in practice and how forms and motifs moved across different media, from patterned surfaces to figurative imagery translated between textile, ceramic, and sculpted forms. Beginning with the materials themselves, we will follow processes of making from the ground up: from raffia palms and cotton plants processed into fibers and woven into cloth, to alluvial clays gathered and shaped by hand and transformed through heat, to elephant tusks cut from hunted animals and transported by caravan or ship. These processes foreground the environmental knowledge, skilled labour, and forms of extraction that underpinned artistic production. They also open onto larger histories of trade and exploitation, in which ivory circulated as a primary commodity alongside textiles and, increasingly, enslaved people within regional and Atlantic networks. Focusing on objects produced across a range of political and cultural contexts, the course considers how such materials were transformed into works implicated in systems of power, identity, and display. Particular attention will be paid to the ways artistic production registers processes of exchange: how motifs and visual languages moved across media and cultural contexts, and how they were adapted, reinterpreted, and given new meanings. In addition to classroom meetings, the seminar includes visits to local museum collections and hands-on sessions exploring the properties of clay and textiles. |
| Bibliography | Required and supplementary reading materials will be provided at the beginning of the semester. |
| Admission requirements | Für den Besuch der Seminare sollte das Grundstudium abgeschlossen sein. |
| Course application | Anmeldung über MOnA notwendig (services.unibas.ch). |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Tuesday | 12.15-14.00 | Kunstgeschichte, Seminarraum 1. Stock 131 |
Dates
| Modules |
Modul: Epochenübergreifende Fragestellungen (Bachelor's degree subject: Art History) Modul: Frühe Neuzeit (Bachelor's degree subject: Art History) Modul: Mittelalter (Bachelor's degree subject: Art History) Modul: Profil: Frühe Neuzeit (Master's degree program: Art History and Image Theory) Modul: Profil: Mittelalter und Mittelalterrezeption (Master's degree program: Art History and Image Theory) Modul: Werk und Kontext (Master's degree program: Art History and Image Theory) Modul: Werk und Kontext (Master's degree subject: Art History) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Presentation; detailed information will be provided at the beginning of the semester. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Kunstgeschichte |