Under the violence of dictatorial regimes, social repression, and foreign intervention, artists across Latin America and the Caribbean have historically turned to art as a tool of demonstration and resistance. Looking closely at the political and social climate of the 1960s through the 1990s, this course examines radical feminist interventions that employ conceptualism, minimalism, body art, fiber practices, photography, and performance, among other aesthetic projects. We will learn diverse modes of visual analysis that will enable us to interpret these artworks within their local contexts. We will explore how artists mobilize art to condemn regimes of violence and the mechanisms of surveillance and censorship on which those regimes depend. Radical feminist interventions bring to the fore questions of race, gender, and sexuality, and expose the role that patriarchy plays in conditioning life and the public sphere in times of dictatorship. 

This R1B course will also help you develop your writing and research skills. Throughout the course, you will complete scaffolded writing assignments that will incrementally grow in length and complexity. You will be asked to share drafts and conduct synchronous and asynchronous peer-reviews. The goal of these activities is to practice critical generosity with your peers and further develop your writing. By delving into scholarly texts, exhibition essays, interviews, and other materials, you will learn close reading skills that will enable you to mobilize your research to support an argument. This process will culminate in a final project, which will take the form of a 10-12 page undergraduate term paper. The final paper will demonstrate your ability to explore a research question, map an argument by bridging your visual analysis and research skills, and produce compelling and effective writing.