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Picturing the African Presence in Early Modern Spain

Overview

  • Credit value: 15 credits at Level 6
  • Convenor: Professor Carmen Fracchia
  • Assessment: a 10-minute class presentation (20%) and 3500-word essay (80%)

Module description

The central theme of this course is the ways in which the visual form (mainly painting) responds to the African presence in early modern Spain from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. The core of this module will be the relations between religion, concepts of human diversity ('race') and the visual form. It will mainly explore the effects that African slavery, the process of manumission or freedom of slaves, and the foundation of black confraternities had in the articulations of the visual form.

We will consider a series of crucial events that had an impact on the emergence of these images: the conquest and imperial expansion in Africa and in the New World; the transatlantic slave trade; the workings of the Inquisition and the imperial policies of purity of blood; and the Catholic Reformation.

Indicative module content

  • The African presence in the crowns of Castile and Aragon: history and culture
  • Spanish visual culture and slavery: history, painting, sculpture
  • African contributions to visual culture

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • identify and analyse key moments and spaces of the Spanish-speaking world through cultural artefacts
  • demonstrate awareness of the complex relations between culture, history and politics
  • recognise the diversity and particularities of different historical moments and geographical spaces
  • situate the Spanish-speaking world and cultures in wider contexts
  • develop analytical, critical and conceptual skills and demonstrate the ability to work with theoretical arguments
  • demonstrate the ability to understand cultural forms within their socio-historical context
  • apply interdisciplinary practices in the study of concepts, works and authors.