Animal Actors and Medieval Art

In this course we will reframe the role animals played in medieval material culture. Though commonly depicted as images, animals were also essential contributors to the artistic process, their bodies utilized in all stages of craft production. Each week we will foreground one animal species that operated in a global Middle Ages to help us think through the ways that animals shaped both art production and the landscape in which they lived, from Greenland to the Sahara. Along the way, students will develop essential skills, including a vibrant understanding of the numerous ways animals were enmeshed in global systems of medieval art production; the ability to discuss techniques and materials used by medieval artists; confidence mobilizing critical theory from diverse perspectives; and confidence applying these tools in writing and research assignments.