Sacred art practices can serve as a bridge between the worlds. Dances can embody spirit energies. Visual arts can invite spirit into the physical realm. Ritual can bring the spirit into an object and provide protection. Lectures, readings, film, artist works, and community engagement introduce students to the philosophies and aesthetics of the sacred art practices in the African Diaspora.We journey together between worlds, to understand aesthetics amongst African-descended peoples for their cultural, narrative, spiritual and historical multiplicities. We will meet with Artists/Healers from an Ile (House in Yoruba) and explore how respectful participation in ritual work can be used safely and effectively to deepen our own studio practices. Students will develop and implement three interdisciplinary projects and the final is optionally collaborative. To avoid engaging in cultural appropriation, I ask that you identify your strongest ethnic lineage as an entry point to all creative actions. All majors are welcome. Critical Ethnic Studies 3000-level studios deepen students’ knowledge of the fundamental theoretical and political questions regarding the social construction of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class from both domestic and global perspectives through art, writing, and design practices. The seminars utilize decolonial, transnational, and intersectional approaches for producing works related to power, oppression, and systems of knowledge from the following interdisciplinary fields of critical ethnic studies, Africana studies, African-American Studies, Asian American studies, Indigenous studies, Chicano/a /x and Latino /a/x studies, Women’s studies, border studies, cultural studies, Queer studies and global racialized and marginalized communities. Studio courses bridge the gap between seminar and studio courses and can be in-person, hybrid, or online.

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