ATS3650 · Ways of looking: Women, art and archetypes

Overview

A sensuous goddess, a damsel in distress, a femme fatale, a terrifying witch – this limited set of archetypes, found everywhere in cultural images from European art history to contemporary advertising and Instagram posts, has long suppressed women’s identities, influencing ideas of how women should appear and how they should behave. At the same time, women artists have historically been overlooked and hampered from creating more empowering identities. This unit asks you to evaluate what some of the most iconic images in art history and contemporary online images tell us to value, and investigate how women artists have offered us new ways of thinking about women’s identities across differences (gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality) and power. You will look at how archetypal constructions of womanhood have been used to contain and limit women, and how these archetypes endure in our contemporary culture, shaping our ideas of not only beauty and taste, but also national identity, political authority, and gender/sex/sexuality.

Areas of study: European languages

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. reflect how the history of European art, from past to contemporary images, both shapes and confines expressions of gender identities;
2. critically analyse and interpret a variety of European cultural texts and their relevance to challenging gender stereotypes and biases across social categories;
3. communicate effectively in written and oral academic formats through individual and group work;
4. research a specific visual/cultural/literary archetype using different theoretical positions or arguments relevant to gender studies and visual arts.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.