In theory, this course is supposed to be a Comprehensive Survey of African Art, from prehistory to the present day. But it’s not going to be that. Africa is too vast, too diverse, too complex for us to explore its breadth in any detail over a period of just a few short months. There are, however, several important narratives that will allow us to get a handle on some of the most pivotal issues in the study of African cultures. “African history” is not an oxymoron; African people have their own stories to tell, stories of mythic power expressed in form, stories of contact with other cultures, stories of struggle, stories of redemption. We in the West also have had a hand in shaping these stories; the coupled histories of colonialism and the slave trade, along with our almost inevitably distorted views of what African people are and what they do, have transformed the continent and its peoples to the core. When we look at “African Art,” we are telling stories to ourselves. We must also listen closely to the stories of those people who we have been all too quick to define as absolutely Other. This course will examine some of those stories.