CSCH.3400 Warhol to Beyoncé: Popular Culture in Art
We live in a media-saturated world and popular culture reflects and shapes our daily lives. In this interdisciplinary course we will explore popular cultural forms, such as art, music, advertising, and social media to reveal the pivotal connections these forms have to the socio-political environment in which we live. Through course lectures, readings, film viewings, and artistic analysis we will see that popular culture often acts as an indicator of cultural values and a producer of cultural meaning. The course is organized in a chronological manner beginning in the 1960s and continuing to the early 21st century and is largely focused on the history of popular culture in the United States. Each week we will concentrate on a decade in American history and will explore the art and pop culture of that time. At the end of the semester, students will be required to complete an oral presentation and a research paper based on a topic approved by the professor.