加州大学-洛杉矶

Three streams of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary study are available in the World Arts and Cultures major: arts activism, critical ethnographies, and visual cultures. Students are introduced to all three streams through introductory courses the first year and then by a pyramidal progression, they develop intermediate knowledge in two streams followed by advanced knowledge in the stream selected as the individual specialty. Four lower-division and three upper-division core courses are required to establish interdisciplinary relationships between theory and discourse, methods, and experience. Representation is studied within societies — as people understand their own lives and the world around them — and then from the outside looking in through humanistic scholarship.

The major emphasizes hands-on activities such as internships to build skills necessary to participate in the required senior projects. In consultation with faculty adviser’s students select elective courses within and outside the department to increase knowledge of particular area studies, histories, literatures, theories, and methods.

Learning Outcomes

The World Arts and Cultures major have the following learning outcomes:

Demonstrated critical analyses of a variety of approaches to visual and performance-based art-making and activism in cross-cultural contexts

Interpretation of and, in some cases, conduction of field-based research within specific communities

Demonstrated ability to conceptualize, plan, and exercise art, curatorial, and/or ethnographic projects that reflect a dynamic dialog between theory and practice

Demonstrated sensitivity to diversity and cultural differences, particularly as articulated within various forms of governance, national and international policy, transnational art and curatorial practices, and museum and heritage sites

Development of informed interpretations, not only of the way that art functions within communities but also how the links between art and community and created and represented

Articulation of the value of civic engagement within a variety of arts-oriented social contexts