Preparing for this Module and Approximate Costs

Preparation for this first class is very light. There is just one short required reading, the chapter "Art for Art's Sake" from Lola Olufemi's new book Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power. This chapter tackles a number of the module themes about power and art as they relate to race, class, gender and disability. The introductory lecture will review some of Olufemi's argument. There are also a couple secondary readings, which we recommend you read before or after class.

Read:

• Lola Olufemi, "Art for Art's Sake," in Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power (London: Pluto Press, 2020), 82-94.

Preparation Questions:

As you read the article from Olufemi, try to answer these questions:

• Identify any moments when Olufemi talks about "power" or "politics." Is there a difference for her between the two?
• Try to paraphrase (put into your own words) what Olufemi means by the following statement: "We do a disservice to the power of art and artistic creation when we assume that it is less important than political intervention, likewise we do ourselves a disservice when we assume that art alone can liberate us."
  

• What does Olufemi think art can do? What purpose should art serve?

Recommended Reading:

• bell hooks, ‘Performance practice as a site of opposition,’ in Lets Get it On: The politics of black performance (London: ICA, 1995), pp. 210-211.
  
• Judith Butler, "Merely Cultural," New Left Review 227 (1998). Available online here.
  
• Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction Volume One (London: Penguin, 1990), pp. 92-8.
  
• Nancy Fraser, "Rethinking Recognition," in Fortunes of Feminism (London: Verso, 2013), 107-110.