Online courses directory (457)

This course examines traditional performances of the Arabic-speaking populations of the Middle East and North Africa. Starting with the history of the ways in which the West has discovered, translated and written about the Orient, we will consider how power and politics play roles in the production of culture, narrative and performance. This approach assumes that performance, verbal art, and oral literature lend themselves to spontaneous adaptation and to oblique expression of ideas and opinions whose utterance would otherwise be censorable or disruptive. In particular we will be concerned with the way traditional performance practices are affected by and respond to the consequences of modernization.

Topics include oral epic performance, sacred narrative, Koranic chant performance, the folktale, solo performance, cultural production and resistance.

This class has been reorganized to focus primarily on the War in Iraq. As in previous years, the class still examines war in cross-cultural perspective, asking whether war is intrinsic to human nature, what causes war, how particular cultural experiences of war differ, and how war has affected American culture.

This class examines how anthropology and speculative fiction (SF) each explore ideas about culture and society, technology, morality, and life in "other" worlds. We investigate this convergence of interest through analysis of SF in print, film, and other media. Concepts include traditional and contemporary anthropological topics, including first contact; gift exchange; gender, marriage, and kinship; law, morality, and cultural relativism; religion; race and embodiment; politics, violence, and war; medicine, healing, and consciousness; technology and environment. Thematic questions addressed in the class include: what is an alien? What is "the human"? Could SF be possible without anthropology?

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.

Learn how ancient artefacts, written evidence, excavation and digital technologies are transforming understanding of this harbour.

Admit it — you wanted to be an archaeologist when you grew up... This course builds on that enthusiasm, while radically expanding your notions about just what archaeology is and just what archaeologists do.

This course is an exploration of visual art forms and their cultural connections for the student with little experience in the visual arts. The course includes a brief study of art history and in depth studies of the elements, media, and methods used in creative process and thought. This course will teach students to develop a five-step system for understanding visual art in all forms based on description, analysis, meaning, context, and judgement. The Open Course Library (OCL) is a project to create 81 openly-licensed high-enrollment general education college courses & lower textbook costs for students. The Art Appreciation course was developed by Christopher Gildow (Cascadia Community College), published originally with OCL, and is showcased here with his permission.

A clear concise history of art since Prehistory until the beginnings of the Italian Renaissance,

A basic level survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture.

Augustus of Primaporta. Painted Garden, Villa of Livia. Head of Augustus. Sculpture from the Parthenon's East Pediment. Victory Stele of Naram-Sin. Ancient Greek Temples at Paestum, Italy. Dying Gaul. Ara Pacis. The Standard of Ur. Dionysiac frieze, Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii. East and West Pediments, Temple of Aphaia, Aegina. Colosseum. Myron, Discobolus (Discus Thrower), Roman copy of an ancient Greek bronze from c. 450 B.C.E.. Nike of Samothrace. Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi . The Pergamon Altar. Arch of Titus. Great Lyre from the "King's Grave" at Ur. Hadrian's Villa: A Virtual Tour. Parthenon Frieze. Maritime Theatre at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli. Neo-Assyrian Art: Human Headed Winged Lion and Bull (Lamassu). The Parthenon: Metopes. Pair of Centaurs Fighting Cats of Prey from Hadrian's Villa. Mixing Vessel with Odysseus Escaping from the Cyclops' Cave. Erechtheion: Caryatid and Column. Column of Trajan. Ishtar Gate and Processional Way . Medea Sarcophagus, 140 - 150 C.E.. Equestrian Sculpture of Marcus Aurelius. Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus. After Praxiteles, Venus (Roman Copy). Apollonius, Boxer at Rest, c. 100 B.C.E.. Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf). Seated Scribe. Arch of Constantine. Digging Through Time. Thutmose's Bust of Nefertiti. House Altar with Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Three Daughters. Ramesses II. Alexander Mosaic. The Colossus of Constantine. Rosetta Stone. Hellenistic Art at the Metropolitan: Eros Sleeping and An Old Market Woman. Bodhisattva from China. Geometric Greek Krater. Exekias, Attic black figure amphora with Ajax and Achilles playing a game. Buddha of Medicine Bhaishajyaguru (Yaoshi fo). Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer). Barberini Faun, c. 220 B.C.E.. New York Kouros. Japan, Muromachi to Momoyama period Negoro ware ewer. Ancient Rome. Temple of Portunus. The Pantheon, Rome.

Humans have been making art for tens of thousands of years, long before there was writing. Why was Egyptian art obsessed with death? Why did the ancient Greeks seek the perfect human form? How did the ancient Romans use art as state propaganda? Why was the naturalism of ancient Greek and Roman art abandoned with the rise of Christianity? This topic explores the art of the ancient world, from the Venus of Willendorf to a 6th-Century Chinese Bodhisattva. Prehistoric Art: Paleolithic Origins. Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf). The Neolithic Revolution. Jade Cong. Prehistory: Proto-writing. Prehistoric Art Quiz. Introduction. Ancient History: The Alphabet. Sumerian Art: Standard of Ur. Sumerian Art: Great Lyre from the "King's Grave" at Ur. Akkadian Art: Victory Stele of Naram-Sin. Babylonian Art: Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi. Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions (Assyrian). Assyrian Art: Human Headed Winged Lion and Bull (Lamassu). Neo-Babylonian Art: Ishtar Gate and Processional Way. Ancient Near Eastern Art. Introduction. Egyptian Art. Materials & Techniques. Ancient Near Eastern & Ancient Egyptian Art. Old Kingdom: Seated Scribe. New Kingdom: House Altar with Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Three Daughters. Portrait Head of Queen Tiye with a Crown of Two Feathers. New Kingdom: Thutmose's Bust of Nefertiti. Judgement in the Presence of Osiris, Hunefer's Book of the Dead. New Kingdom: Ramesses II. Ptolemaic: Rosetta Stone. Ancient Egypt. Ancient Greece and Rome. Ancient Greek and Roman Art. Geometric: Terracotta Krater. Archaic: Exekias, Attic black figure amphora with Ajax and Achilles playing a game. Archaic: Exekias, Dionysos Kylix, c. 530 B.C.E.. Archaic: Mixing Vessel with Odysseus Escaping from the Cyclops's Cave. Archaic: New York Kouros. The Classical Orders. Archaic and Early Classical: Ancient Greek Temples at Paestum, Italy. Archaic and Early Classical: East and West Pediments, Temple of Aphaia, Aegina. Early Classical: Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer). Classical: Myron, Discobolus (Discus Thrower), Roman copy of an ancient Greek bronze. Classical: Parthenon Frieze. Classical: Sculpture from the Parthenon's East Pediment. Classical: Parthenon Metopes. Classical: Caryatid and Column from the Erechtheion. Late Classical: Lysippos, Farnese Hercules, 4th century B.C.E. (later Roman copy by Glycon). Late Classical: Lysippos, Apoxyomenos (Scraper), c. 330 B.C.E. (Roman copy). Late Classical: After Praxiteles, Venus (Roman Copy). Hellenistic: Barberini Faun. Hellenistic: Dying Gaul. Hellenistic: Nike of Samothrace. Hellenistic: The Pergamon Altar. Hellenistic: Apollonius, Boxer at Rest. Hellenistic: Alexander Mosaic. Hellenistic: Laoco

This is a transitional period. In the art of Florence and Siena there is a move away from medieval abstract depictions of space and the human body as artists began to focus on the illusion of mass and space and the expression of human emotion. With hindsight, it is possible to trace elements of Renaissance art back to this period. This century saw the creation of the beautiful poetry of Dante and Petrarch, but it is also the century that saw the worst outbreak of the Bubonic plague (known then as the Black Death) which wiped out close to half the population of Europe

This is the century that sees the full realization of the Renaissance and the end of the medieval way of thinking about the world. The Humanist rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture is supported by the wealth accumulated in prosperous cities such as Bruges, Florence, and Venice. New wealth and increasing trade created a demand for an art based on the world we see. The second half of the century saw the invention of the printing press, and Columbus

If there was one century in the past that saw radical changes in established ways of thinking comparable to the 20th Century, it would be the 16th. Before this, in Western Europe, there was only one type of Christianity

The 17th Century is the era of the Baroque style, characterized by energy, drama, and movement. The Church in Rome needed art that spoke to its resurgent power even as the conflict between Protestant and Catholics continued. A new realism

From the frivolous paintings of Fragonard to the politically-charged moralizing images of David, this tutorial brings us from the King of France and his court

With the failure of the French Revolution (Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, and after his defeat, a King was restored to power in France), there was a turn away from public, political life, toward personal, subjective experience. In large part, this turn characterizes the new style of Romanticism (don

The art of this period is familiar, since the world of the Realists, Impressionists and Post-Impressionists is much like our own. More and more people lived in cities and worked in factories or shops for wages. Scientific and technological advances increased dramatically during this period and although there was dislocation and privation, standards of living increased sharply. In essence, modern mass culture was born. Artists responded sometimes by embracing these radical changes, and at other times by resisting them. Key here is understanding the authority of the various art academies in Europe, which controlled matters related to taste and art, and which were, to some extent, always connected to the government. A small number of artists rebelled against the strictures of the academy, and against the demand for art to tell clear stories for a middle class audience, and formed what we know as the