Hawaii Pacific University
ARTH 2100 Tribal Arts Section ____
Semester and year, meeting times
Instructor: Name, contact information and other relevant information about the instructor.
Course description: The indigenous art and architecture of Sub-Saharan Africa, Native America, and the
Pacific are examined.
Course prerequisite: Any introductory humanities course
General Education Requirement: This course is classified under the World Cultures Theme and meets
the requirement for a course in World Cultures A: Cultures, Themes and Movements. The course also
satisfies the Art, Aesthetics and Creativity requirement.
General Education Student Learning Outcomes and the Five Themes: HPU’s general education
curriculum is focused around five themes. This course emphasizes the World Cultures Theme and
provides students with opportunities to achieve the following related general education student
learning outcomes.
In the course, students will:

Develop informed perspectives on the historical development of cultures that focus on the
interrelationships among institutions, values and ideas. Tribal cultures carry with them ideas
and concepts that inform their concepts of reality. Based upon that, social institutions such as
council structures notions of healing and the relationship to ancestors inform their production
of art and architecture. In certain regions these elements can be traced through archaeological,
genetic and linguistic evidence to form kinships between sometimes distant ethnic groups. Art
expresses values and structures of societies and this allows one to become aware of how these
function. In tribal societies the arts are integrated into all aspects of society. They not only
express ideas from other categories and institutions of society but embody them in the form
and function of ritual objects and items of daily use.

Describe the significance of important movements or themes which have shaped the world’s
diverse cultures. This course covers cultures in three very broad regions of the world where
different histories influences have prevailed. In West Africa we encounter mostly individual
tribal areas with diverse customs and artistic traditions. In many areas there are age-graded
societies where art functions as a form of social control. However despite tribal differences the
art and its associated context often transcends tribal boundaries. Although social functions
range over large areas the local art styles remain distinct. Native North America also consists of
individual cultures with distinctive arts and traditions. However these also form broad culture
areas where art styles reveal borrowed ideas from neighboring tribes. The Pacific has both
isolated individual cultures and broad prehistoric influences. We can trace the movements of
peoples from Southeast Asia through Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia through their arts.
America, Africa and the Pacific have all encountered the West and have been transformed by
that encounter and, especially in the arts, have also transformed the West.

Develop the vocabulary and conceptual skills needed to appreciate or respond to aesthetic
activity from cultures other than one’s own. Through class lectures, readings and a museum visit
students are exposed to art from these diverse cultures. The ability to discuss art requires the
vocabulary and conceptual skills of this discipline. This course is multicultural and covers vast
periods of time giving the student exposure to cultures other than their own. Exam questions
and a paper in response to the museum visit will enable them to demonstrate these abilities.
The course also addresses the Global Systems Theme by providing students with opportunities to
achieve the following related general education student learning outcome:

Understand the impact of the process of globalization from a historical or cultural perspective.
Topics such as origins of the tribal groups, their migrations and interactions, are discussed in
the readings and lectures. Since most of the art discussed was collected at the period of
European contact that impact is also explained and its transformative effect on traditional arts
is discussed. Drawings and documents from the early contact period are integrated into the
lectures. By themselves the cultures in this course generally do not belong to the giant
categories of East and West and must be understood on their own terms. However their
origins and later interactions are deeply tied to global circumstances.
Note: Purple text shows places where specific course information must be filled in. Red text contains
explanatory notes to the instructor which should be deleted before using the syllabus. Blue explanations
above should be rephrased by the individual instructor to reflect the specific approach in that section of
the course.
Course-Specific Student Learning Outcomes for ARTH 2100 Tribal Arts
In addition the following objectives are met specifically dealing with the Arts, Aesthetics and Creativity
cross theme:
Students will:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of style in the Arts.
2. Develop an appreciation of skills involved in artistic expression including sculpture,
painting, print making, ceramics and architecture.
3. Develop an appreciation for cultural diversity in the Arts recognizing that in the tribal
world each area and ethnic group has its own unique artistic tradition that reflects
different world views and concepts about the nature of reality as seen through the filter
of culture.
4. Demonstrate understandings about the aesthetics of a culture, time or place
5. Express an understanding of the history of Arts with regard to how new discoveries in
West Africa, new understandings regarding Pacific settlement and archeological findings
in North America have added considerable depth to our understanding of time depth of
these cultures even though we lack established chronologies.
6. Develop an understanding of the genres of the Arts including ritual architecture, domestic
architecture and public architecture; paintings of ancestors and spirit beings; burial
sculpture, religious sculpture, and objects of private use.
7. Discuss cultural and social values that are expressed in the Arts.
For the rest of these required syllabus items see the details in the faculty handbook. Delete this note
once the syllabus is complete. For online courses there are some additional requirements given at this
link.
Texts List textbooks with ISBN’s and include this language as well
All textbook information (pricing, ISBN #, and e-books) for this course can be found on the HPU
Bookstore website: hpu.edu/bookstore.
If you have any questions regarding textbooks, please contact the HPU Bookstore at:
Phone:
808-544-9347
Or e-mail:
jyokota@hpu.edu
mmiyahira@hpu.edu
Assignments and mode of evaluation
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not given with the description of the assignments).
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