AAH 370: The Arts of Ancient Mesoamerica

Each student will create a Midway Reference List of four total sources on a topic (see below) chosen for the final research paper (prompt to follow). I recommend that you choose one of the topics listed below. All are well covered in the scholarly literature, meaning that sources are available for each of these topics. Regardless of whether you choose one of the topics below or come up with your own topic, please run it by me. I must approve all research topics. Write your topic at the top of this assignment so that I know what you have chosen for the research paper.

• architectural forms (e.g., plazas, range-type palaces; tzompantli)
• surviving media (e.g., mural painting; sculpture; Maya codex-style pottery; pyrite mirrors; metal jewelry);
• the rubber ballgame (e.g., comparison of courts at different sites; examination of yokes and hachas);
• artistic manifestations of Mesoamerican religious or philosophical concepts (e.g., duality);
• Maya calligraphy (i.e., decorative writing and aesthetic concerns rather than decipherment);
• aesthetics in Maya art;
• the relationship between text and image in Classic Maya art;
• Maya blue and the use of color in Maya art;
• architecture and/or sculpture of a well-studied city (e.g., Monte Alban, Copan, Palenque);
• the imagery of death in Mesoamerican art (e.g., sarcophagus lid of Pakal the Great);
• abstraction in Mesoamerican art (e.g., use of the xicalcoliuhqui or stepped-fret motif);
• artistic representations of the human body (varies by culture);
• representations of food (e.g., maize, cacao) in Mesoamerican art;
• exploration of gender in Classic Maya figurines from the island of Jaina;
• the treatment of young men in Classic Maya art;
• depictions of dress and textiles in surviving works of Mesoamerican art;
• artistic influences across civilizations (e.g., the influence of Teotihuacan on Early Classic Maya pottery);
• the art and architecture of less-well-understood/studied civilizations (e.g., Tarascan Empire);
• depictions of sacrifice (e.g., auto-sacrificial blood-letting rites of the Maya nobility);
• art as political propaganda used by elites at Teotihuacan;
• urbanization and urban planning (e.g., geomancy) manifested in the site plans of city-states (e.g., Teotihuacan);
• visual imagery that relates to warfare and militarism (e.g., shield iconography);
• animal motifs in Mesoamerican art (e.g., birds, crocodiles, dogs, monkeys, toads, deer); and
• the Olmec phenomenon: "mother" civilization or shared art style reflecting interregional exchange/trade?

Once you have selected a topic, narrow its focus. For example, choosing to look at the sculpture of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Triple Alliance or Aztec/Mexica Empire is a significant undertaking. To make the project manageable, narrow your focus to major state monuments such as the Calendar Stone and other solar sculptures; representations of animals in stone; or depictions of female deities (e.g., Coyolxauhqui). Consult reference works to narrow your topic!

Your four (4) sources should consist of the following:

• One tertiary source (or reference work), for instance an article from a scholarly encyclopedia.
• Two secondary sources from such media as journal articles and exhibition catalogs / scholarly books. At least one exhibition catalog should appear on all students' Midway Reference Lists.
• One primary source, preferably from ARTstor. Cite your primary source as described in CMOS (18th ed.), Chapters 14.133 (artworks) and 14.134 (exhibition catalogs).
• Do not exceed four (4) total sources.
• Title the assignment Midway Reference List [Topic], [Your Name].
• Again, cite in CMOS (18th ed.), Author-Date Style.
• Recall that a citation's first line is left-margin justified. Subsequent lines employ a hanging indent.
• Reference list entries should be single spaced with double spaces between citations.
• Write your assignment in Microsoft Word or in Google Docs and then convert it to Microsoft Word (.docx).

Your two secondary sources must incorporate an art historical dimension. Put another way, your secondary sources should be written by an art historian or scholar in a related field (e.g., epigrapher, archaeologist, ethnographer, historian) whose analysis partly rests on visual evidence. Often you will be able to tell from the source if the author is an art historian or scholar in another field. If not, Google her/his name and append "professor" or "faculty" to the search syntax. I used that technique to find the emeritus faculty page of Dr. Mary Ellen Miller, author of our textbook.

Among the many possibilities for reference works here are several of my favorite:

• Oxford Art Online (a reference database consisting of scholarly encyclopedia articles);
• Historical Dictionary of Mesoamerica (c2012; see the bibliography that begins on p. 369);
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures (c2001);
• The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs (c2016); and
• Gitenstein Library's discovery service (i.e., main search) for finding all source types.

Please do not use Google as a discovery tool (reference work). Google Scholar is fine.

Keep a log of your research activities. This will help you to reflect on the research process both for this assignment and the upcoming Annotated Reference List.

Now, based on your research log and beneath your four correctly cited sources, describe in no more than twenty sentences or about two paragraphs your research process. This time focus largely on your experience with the databases and journals listed on the Secondary Sources sub-pages and your one (1) reference work. Think critically about why a particular tool turned out to be effective given your stated need. Do not hesitate to explore the "about" and "help" pages of each tool/database, if available. Your observations should demonstrate a growing familiarity with the reference works and other research tools available from this libguide, and their value for your research. Do not simply repeat what you wrote in the Initial Reference List.

Outcomes: The goals of this assignment are to provide students with the opportunity to further practice 1) choosing the most appropriate method or tool for accessing information on their topics; 2) recognizing and employing controlled or "subject" vocabularies; 3) constructing online searches using search terms (i.e., "keywords") and Boolean operators; and 4) revising the development process (i.e., logging research activities, reflecting on what did and did not work).

Due date: February 27 (upload to Canvas before midnight)