Pre-Columbian Lecture Notes
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I. Two basic guiding ideas:
1.
2.
Iberian dominates in conquerors, language, religion, culture patterns,
humanities; from 16th century, Spanish Renaissance and Baroque are
primary influence until 20th century (these balanced ideas will
dominate during the course)
II. General notes on Latin American
Indians (native Americans)
1.
More than 100,000,000 Indians in
2. Indian majorities in Guatemala,
Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia (2008)
3.
Strong Indian minorities in México, Colombia, Venezuela
4.
Mestizo majorities in:
5.
Native Americans in
6.
Humanities consciousness of Indians in
III. Latin American pre-Columbian
civilizations
1.
By 900 C.E., Mayas (
2.
By 1000, Toltecs (central
3.
After 1300, Aztecs and Incas rise
4.
Mayas and Incas had writing systems; Incas on textile knots; Mayas on codices,
steles, carved stones, pottery, painted walls, tombs, temples: from Titcaca to
Teotihuacan.
5.
There were major and advanced civilizations all over the
IV. Basic groups of Indians
1.
Hunting and gathering tribes: East Brazil, Pampas, Patagonia,
2.
Tropical forest tribes: Amazon,
3.
4. Andean civilization:
Araucanians (Chile), Chibchas (Colombia), Incas (Peru, Ecuador)
5.
Mesoamerica: Central Mexico, Yucatán, Guatemala
V. Pre-Columbian humanities
1.
high value on craft skills
2.
art plus engineering and design
3.
magico-religious objects in art plus reality (prefigures 20th
century Magical Realism)
4.
culture and humanities: expression of mythic world, which dominated all life
5.
art: human's relationship to gods; few "periods",
"movements"; no constant revision, no constant change (for change's
sake); decorative elements always repeated (like medieval
6.
Most Náhuatl (Aztec) and Quechua (Inca) poetry: theogony (
7.
art: image (stone or poetry) = god, = thing represented (not just a symbol)
8.
myth is only reality
9.
result: much abstraction; little variations or interpretations (but, realism
not absent)
10.
artists = artist-priests; art practiced by initiates, priests, acolytes
11.
art for public indoctrination, instruction
12.
goal of pre-Columbian realism: make invisible visible (roughly akin to Spanish
and Latin American baroque art)