First Thoughts

When I started this course I wasn't sure what to expect having almost no knowledge of the subject. We began the semester off with a few readings, lectures, and videos. Instantly I became surprised at how complex the culture in Africa is. We have been looking at many aspects of there cultures such as their architecture, sculpture, and other types of art.

This week we studied two groups of people the Dogon and the Asante. While studying both of these groups we took a look at several different things. These included architecture, sculpture, and others forms of art. What I enjoyed most though was looking at the sculptural objects made by both groups. The works that the Dogon created were the wooden figures. I found these to be fascinating because they made them very abstract and emphasized certain body parts for example the elongated heads. The Asante people have just as sculpture as well. Some of their pieces that really stood out were the brass-cast gold weights used to when weighing gold. I also found the stools they made to be an intriguing part of the culture as well. everyone has a stool and once they die it's blackened and then used for ancestral purposes. This in a way reminds me of American culture in a way. We don't necessary have stools that belonged to our ancestors, but often we have something that has been passed down from generation to generation that reminds us of them.

A few issues that have been addressed in the readings as well in class are the influence of Western culture and interpretations. One of the first days of class we were discussing about the Dogon and how they wear specific masks for tourists, because they are the most appealing to them. Then they wear different ones when they are performing within there culture. I think this adds to the idea of the misconceptions of African art. We as viewers are interpreting there work in our own meaning rather than what they intended it on being.