BA Archaeology, Anthropology and Art History

Key details

BA ARCHAEOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY AND ART HISTORY

Start Year

2021

Attendance

Full Time

Award

Degree of Bachelor of Arts

UCAS course code

V0L0

Entry Requirements

ABB

You’ll study archaeology, anthropology and art history as an integrated whole, and will develop a multi-faceted appreciation of the visual and material culture of a wide range of places and times. You’ll begin to understand how the interaction of people and things is fundamental to humanity.

By studying archaeology you’ll gain the ‘long view’ of how people successfully (or unsuccessfully) adapted and changed over hundreds and even thousands of years. Anthropology will provide you with multiple perspectives on how we live and interact now. From art history you’ll gain an understanding of how human creativity has shaped the world we live in, from technological creativity to individual ingenuity.

You’ll have the opportunity to study the collections of the world-famous Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, itself a celebrated icon of modern museum architecture. This means you will have access to important artworks from Asia, Africa, the Pacific, the Americas, and Europe. You will be able to study relevant objects at first hand, while learning about the processes of collecting objects for museums. You will be taught by experts from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, who will encourage you to approach works of art from different perspectives.

The department of Art History and World Art Studies at UEA is a world-leading art history department. Our main areas of research are the history of art and architecture in Europe and North America, the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America, the archaeology and anthropology of art, and museum studies and cultural heritage.

We are part of a close network of internationally renowned centres for the study and display of art: the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures.

About

Discover how society’s views, beliefs and actions are recorded in the things we make, use and value. Through the study of archaeology, anthropology and art history, you’ll learn how to examine the visual and material culture of societies across the world, from prehistory to the present.

On this unique and dynamic course you’ll gain a strong grounding in all three disciplines - archaeology, anthropology and art history - with a central focus on analysing and interpreting visual and material culture from around the world. You’ll gain key skills in interpreting the past and understanding its role in the present.

During your degree you will have the opportunity to study the visual and material cultures of African, Near Eastern and Pacific societies, and the Mediterranean world. Alongside this you will engage with the arts of Europe and the Americas.

Our BA Archaeology, Anthropology and Art History course is ranked in the top 20 for History of Art by both 'The Complete University Guide 2022' and 'The Guardian 2021'.

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Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

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Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the courses listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the regular review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. Changes may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will inform students.

Assessment for Year 1

You won’t sit any formal examinations. Instead, you’ll be assessed on written coursework, usually in the form of essays. Our assessment methods have been developed to measure your skills, but also to aid your learning. For example, when you submit an essay you’ll receive feedback on a piece of related ‘formative’ work first. You’ll then have a chance to make revisions and improvements before handing in a ‘summative’ essay for assessment. This helps you identify and focus on areas for improvement.

Structure

You’ll begin your studies by establishing firm foundations for the study of art and material culture. You’ll start with studies of artists, artisans, and the processes of creating. Here you’ll engage directly with artworks first-hand in order to explore different techniques and visual effects, deepening your appreciation of their different functions and meanings. At the same time you’ll be introduced to the disciplinary principles of art history, archaeology and anthropology.

Teaching and Learning

You’ll be taught by leading scholars in art history, archaeology and anthropology and you will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars and field trips.

Your seminar groups will very rarely have more than 18 students. This allows for plenty of dialogue between tutors and students. Teaching methods vary but most sessions are organised around investigation of particular topics supported by close analysis of artworks and texts. As you progress through your course you’ll expand your knowledge, skills and understanding as you become familiar with different art practices and techniques and become accustomed to reading diverse historical sources and art-historical and critical texts.

You’ll be asked to prepare material for classes, which you will often later use as a starting point for an essay. You’ll also be given the opportunity to engage with a diverse range of relevant presentation styles such as catalogue entries and exhibition reviews.

In lecture modules you’ll engage with a range of art-historical problems and methods. Your lectures will be delivered by members of staff from art history, anthropology and archaeology.

As you develop specialist knowledge in your final year you’ll also begin work on a dissertation. This will enable you to refine your understanding of a particular topic and develop the independent perspective crucial to practising art history, archaeology or anthropology beyond university.

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Assessment for Year 2

Structure

At this stage of your course you’ll be introduced to the most recent theoretical approaches to material culture studies, and also develop your knowledge of archaeology. You’ll be encouraged to think about the strange and varied ‘lives of objects’ as they move through different contexts and how art history interacts with anthropology and archeology. In your spring semester you’ll be invited to consider how your historical studies relate to contemporary debates about the status of art and the role of galleries and museums in the present. Alongside these lectures you’ll choose from a range of optional modules through which you’ll develop more specialist knowledge of particular problems and periods.

Teaching and Learning

You’ll be taught by leading scholars in art history, archaeology and anthropology and you will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars and field trips.

In lecture modules you’ll engage with a range of art-historical problems and methods. Your lectures will be delivered by members of staff from art history, anthropology and archaeology.

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Assessment for Year 3

Structure

In your final year of study you’ll take three optional modules which involve close engagement with advanced topics in art history, archaeology and anthropology. Currently our optional modules address topics such as mapmaking between 1000 and 1400, public memorials and the arts of memory, and the art and archaeology of ancient Iran and Iraq. You’ll also write a dissertation on a topic that has sparked your interest, working closely with a supervisor to design your own research programme.

Teaching and Learning

You’ll be taught by leading scholars in art history, archaeology and anthropology and you will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars and field trips.

In lecture modules you’ll engage with a range of art-historical problems and methods. Your lectures will be delivered by members of staff from art history, anthropology and archaeology.

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Assessment for Year 1

Compulsory Modules

ENVIRONMENT, ART AND CULTURE

Code AMAA4004B

Credits 20

Most works of art – whether objects, buildings, or performances – are designed to serve a set of purposes. How their forms and functions relate may be straightforward and practical, or complex and elusive. Through a range of case studies, presented in lectures by our staff in Art History and World Art Studies, you will examine the connections between the uses, meanings, and appearances of art, culture, space, and landscape. You will also consider how these connections may change over time, especially in the context of cross-cultural contact. The opportunity to analyze texts on your own and in discussion groups will help you understand different points of view and construct an argument supported by evidence.

LEARNING ON SITE: THE SAINSBURY CENTRE FOR VISUAL ARTS

Code AMAA4007A

Credits 20

In this module, you will discover the art and architecture that makes up our department’s home in the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVA). Designed by Lord Norman Foster and opened in 1978, this building and the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection have shaped the study of Art History and World Art Studies at UEA. Through readings, group discussions, and the close study of objects in the SCVA, you will be encouraged to challenge assumptions and preconceptions about different kinds of art – from around the world, and from prehistory to the 20th century. This module will also develop your abilities in library research and academic referencing.

INTRODUCTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY

Code AMAA4023B

Credits 20

How do archaeologists investigate and interpret the ancient past? This module introduces you to what makes archaeology unique. You will learn about the methods archaeologists use to gather and record data. By looking at case studies drawn from different excavations, you’ll begin to understand the complexities involved in interpreting the past from archaeological remains. You’ll also encounter changes in archaeological approaches over time, and consider some of the contemporary issues facing archaeology around the globe.

INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY

Code AMAA4024B

Credits 20

What is anthropology? What do anthropologists study? How is anthropology different from other disciplines? This module presents an overview of key anthropological approaches and their connections with history and archaeology. Throughout this module, you'll learn about classical and contemporary anthropological themes by looking at approaches to nature, human ecology, material culture, art, ritual, religion, and globalization. You'll learn how important culture is in shaping the world. This enables you to comprehend the complexities of today's world.

MAKERS AND MAKING

Code AMAA4002A

Credits 20

Making works of art – from objects to performances, bodies to buildings – involves a range of materials, activities and ideas. On this module, you’ll learn about the physical and technical properties of different materials as well as their social, economic and symbolic significance. You’ll hear from a range of experts in a series of lectures by our staff in Art History and World Art Studies. You will gain a wider perspective on how people at different times, in different cultures, have designed, crafted and created works of art - challenging narrow ideas about what (and who) an artist is. You will also develop the skills you need to write effective essays at university.

INTRODUCTION TO ART HISTORY

Code AMAA4001A

Credits 20

This module introduces you to the study of art history. You will discover what makes art history distinct as an academic discipline. By learning about the themes art historians have explored over time, and some of the methods they use to study art, you will start to understand the subject better – and to appreciate how it fits into your degree. As a seminar, this module also gives you the chance to experience the small-group discussions that are central to our teaching.

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Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.

Assessment for Year 2

Compulsory Modules

THE LIVES OF OBJECTS

Code AMAA5089A

Credits 20

Your main objective in this module will be to develop your critical skills as they pertain to thinking, reading, writing and looking. To enable this, the module will fall into two main sections. In the first section, you’ll focus on one particular methodology – object biographies – used in archaeology, anthropology, museum studies and art history. You’ll examine this methodology in detail, breaking it down into its component sections. You’ll then consider its strengths and its weaknesses, as we subject it to a thorough critical evaluation. In the second half of the module, you will study a range of theories and methodologies used in the study of material culture. In this part of the module, you will focus more broadly on what critical thinking is, both in general and within each of the four disciplines taught in the Department of Art History and World Art Studies. You’ll be taught through a combination of two weekly lectures and one discussion seminar. The lectures will offer you an introduction to the relevant topic, and will end with an opportunity to discuss/debate the issues raised. During the discussion seminars, you’ll consider key issues raised in preceding lectures and the weekly class readings which accompany them.

ART IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

Code AMAA5090B

Credits 20

Art is a resource which can be used both positively and critically to affect the contemporary world around us. It may be exploited, most obviously for its economic value, but also for broader social or political gain. You will explore these different uses of art by addressing the factors that condition our contemporary reception of art works and visual culture. You will begin by examining some of the key methodologies for interpreting art’s contemporary functions, including its capacity to create contemporary identities and world-views. You will then turn to focus on the museum and gallery as spaces for these contemporary issues to emerge, before considering the same ideas at work in more quotidian ways. And, finally, you will conclude with a reflection on your own position as art historians, anthropologists, and archeologists working with art in the contemporary world.

MATERIAL WORLDS

Code AMAA5009A

Credits 20

We live our lives surrounded by material objects. In many ways, our lives are dictated by the consumption of goods. How then, should we understand our relation to materiality? In this module, you'll learn about contemporary archaeological and anthropological perspectives in the study of material culture. Questions that come up include: why the Summer Solstice is celebrated at Stonehenge; how houses differ across cultures; why we give each other gifts and wrap them; and how clothing gives us identity? Studying human-object relations from a range of perspectives, this module equips you to understand the role of materiality in your life and to think in nuanced ways on our consumer society.

ARCHAEOLOGIES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD

Code AMAA5098B

Credits 20

Using a range of case studies from the Mediterranean World, this module introduces students to some of the most significant themes and debates in the archaeology of the Mediterranean and archaeology more generally. Case studies will be drawn from a range of time periods and will address ‘the big themes’ in archaeology, such as cultural transmission, cultural development, societal collapse, trade and exchange, conflict, migration, empire and expansion, the emergence of urban societies, climate and society and ritual and religion. Often more than one theme will be included in a case study and the aim will be to understand how they relate to each other. For example, how does conflict or climate change contribute to migration or societal collapse?

Optional A Modules

(20 credits)

MEDIEVAL BODIES

Code AMAA5086A

Credits 20

Born, bathed, dressed, worshipped, sexed, cut, bruised, ripped, split, buried: the human body offer historians a gateway onto understanding the cultures of the past. On this course you will examine several groups of objects from the visual culture of medieval Europe and the Middle East through this contemporary theoretical lens, building up a body of medieval artistic practice piece by bodily piece, and examining how the techniques and society of the medieval craftsman at once idolised and distorted the medieval body's forms. In previous years this course has also featured a study trip to museums and galleries in London to meet with curators and handle objects.

CONTEMPORARY GALLERY AND MUSEUM STUDIES

Code AMAA5102A

Credits 20

You will examine how contemporary artists have explored the way in which contemporary galleries and museums function. Since the 1960s artists have adopted the museum as both subject and medium in their artworks. These seminars will examine how such projects impact on our idea of what galleries and museums are, how they operate, and what role they have in public life today. Throughout, key ideas regarding aesthetics, politics, memory, and audience participation will be approached by way of specific artworks and exhibitions. These sessions will be supplemented by workshops exploring art criticism, as well as a study trip to London.

Optional B Modules

(20 credits)

ACTION / ABSTRACTION:ART AFTER 1945

Code AMAA5103B

Credits 20

You will explore the rich history of art made after 1945, with a particular emphasis upon the problem of the relationship between the idea of art's autonomy and claims for its capacity to engage directly with social and political conditions. You will be introduced to key tendencies in art and a wide variety of artistic media made since 1945, with a (non-exclusive) focus upon Europe and North America.

THE BLACK RENAISSANCE

Code AMAA5109B

Credits 20

This module examines how Black artists have expressed their experience of the modern world in art. The module situates the making of Black Consciousness in the Black Atlantic, that space of cultural exchanges between Africa, the Americas and Europe as it emerged in the context of the slave trade. In this module you’ll learn how Black artists articulated their membership of modernity in the Harlem Renaissance in 1920s New York, Paris in the interwar period, the decolonization movement, African nationalism and Pan-Africanism, and the Black Power movement in the 1960s. You will learn how diasporic artists articulate their remembrance of slavery and engage with the intersections of race and gender in representations of Black subjectivity today. You will look at the work of Aaron Douglas, Feral Benga, Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé, the Dakar School, the Zaria Art Society, Faith Ringgold, David Hammons, Emory Douglas, Adrian Piper, Keith Piper, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Carrie Mae Weems, Sonia Boyce, Fred Wilson, Yinka Shonibare, Chris Ofili, El Anatsui, Sammy Baloji, Kara Walker, Lubaina Himid, and Zanele Muholi.

ARTS AND HUMANITIES PLACEMENT MODULE

Code HUM-5004B

Credits 20

This module will provide you with the opportunity work within a creative/cultural/charity/ heritage/media or other appropriate organisation in order to apply the skills you are developing through your degree to the working world and to develop your knowledge of employment sectors within which you may wish to work in the future. The module emphasises industry experience, sector awareness and personal development through a structured reflective learning experience. Having sourced and secured your own placement (with support from Careers Central), you work within your host organisation undertaking tasks that will help you to gain a better understanding of professional practices within your chosen sector. Taught sessions enable you to acquire knowledge of both the industries in which you are placed as well as focusing on personal and professional development germane to the sector. Your assessment tasks will provide you with an opportunity to critically reflect on the creative and cultural sector in which you have worked as well as providing opportunities to undertake presentations, gather evidence, and articulate your newly acquired skills and experiences.

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Assessment for Year 3

Compulsory Modules

DISSERTATION

Code AMAA6112B

Credits 30

On this module you will undertake a research project on a topic related to your specialised interests, in consultation with an appropriate member of ART Faculty, leading to a 9,000 word dissertation.

Optional A Modules

(60 credits)

MAPPING WORLDS

Code AMAA6121A

Credits 30

Mapping helps us to conceive of abstract concepts in tangible visual form. Be it geographical notions of the globe and the heavens, or more complex outlines of the body, the mind, time, even history, a map helps to bound and give features to otherwise inexplicable space and knowledge. This course uses historical maps and modern theories of cartography as the jumping-off point for an in-depth investigation of the visual and imaginative cultures of Europe and the Middle East from the prehistoric and classical eras through to the Middle Ages and Renaissance. In previous years this course has also featured a study trip to museums and galleries in London to meet with curators and handle objects.

GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS PRACTICE

Code AMAA6126A

Credits 30

This module explores a variety of practical and conceptual considerations in Gallery and Museum Studies by focusing on specific aspects of these institutional structures: from building, housing and caring for collections, to curating shows and exhibitions, and producing texts and writing criticism. You will develop your engagement with the practice of conceiving, designing and mounting exhibitions, exploring both the conceptual demands of putting on a successful show and the practical considerations involved in doing so. Finally we consider the role of interpretation and learning in galleries and museums practice, thinking also about how texts of various sorts operate in exhibitions and collections displays. The module has previously involved a study trip to London or Cambridge.

MODERN ART AND STATES OF MIND

Code AMAA6141A

Credits 30

This module explores art’s relationship with aspects of mental and emotional life in the 20th Century. Each seminar is dedicated to a particular ‘state of mind’: anxiety, boredom, anger, joy, love, grief, or shame, for example. The module examines both the way in which inner life is subject to social, historical and technological forces, and how artworks engage such crucial dimensions of lived experience. The seminars will draw upon rich conceptual resources derived not only from art history but also from psychology, literary theory, sociology, and philosophy.

Optional B Modules

(30 credits)

MODERNISM AND GENDER: FRANCE AND GERMANY 1900-1939

Code AMAA6128B

Credits 30

On this module you will study some of the most important modernist artists of the first part of the twentieth century. We will explore the work of male and female artists and also consider how gender structures representation and art practice. The module provides an opportunity to reconsider key works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Suzanne Valadon, Hannah Hoch and Claude Cahun, amongst others.

RACE AND VISUAL CULTURE ACROSS ATLANTIC WORLDS

Code AMAA6142B

Credits 30

Recent movements such as #RhodesMustFall and #BlackLivesMatter have connected activists across Africa, Europe and the Americas around issues of race and representation. This paper will explore the development of racial formations across Atlantic Worlds through the medium of Visual Culture - images and artworks depicting racialised bodies circulating since Portuguese voyages in the wider Atlantic during the fifteenth century. Broadly chronological, the paper will develop multiple perspectives on Atlantic histories, considering African, European and American made images in a range of media, from performance, painting and sculpture to print media, photography and film, ending with the contemporary circulations of digital images through social media.

THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

Code HIS-6098B

Credits 30

‘The mother of our own’: that was how nineteenth-century historian Jacob Burckhardt described the culture of the Renaissance in Italy. Without a doubt the Italian Renaissance remains one of the most celebrated movements in European cultural history, a byword for ‘genius’, with a place in public consciousness so dominant for so long as to be intimidating, and surely ripe for questioning. For, to our modern eyes, the Italian Renaissance can look distinctly strange. Humanists saw in the reform of the language they spoke and wrote the path to a reform of society. Painting (but also architecture, sculpture, and even metalworking) sought to attain the status of literature, and all these arts grappled with the competing urges to emulate antiquity and imitate nature. Scholars and even priests sought to get closer to the One through the esoteric philosophy that they believed had come to them from Ancient Egypt and could even be found in hieroglyphs. Citizens and statesmen reconsidered their fate as soldiers and courtiers, as the Italian peninsula became the battlefield of Europe at the same time as it influenced the entire continent. Cities alternately incorporated and rejected communities of Greeks, black Africans, and Jews. Meanwhile, writers sought to understand and explain the contemporary political problems they faced through the study and writing of history. Students will grapple with this fascinating and contradictory period (c. 1425 – c. 1550) through the treatises and histories of Machiavelli and Guicciardini, the poetry of Poliziano, Ariosto, and Vittoria Colonna, the (auto-)biographies of Vasari and Cellini, and the works of artists including Titian, Leonardo, and Michelangelo.

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Entry Requirements

A Levels

ABB or BBB with an A in the Extended Project

BTEC

DDM. Excludes BTEC Public Services, BTEC Uniformed Services and BTEC Business Administration

Scottish highers

AAABB

Scottish highers advanced

BCC

Irish leaving certificate

3 subjects at H2, 3 subjects at H3

Access course

Access to Humanities & Social Sciences pathway. Pass the Access to HE Diploma with Distinction in 30 credits at Level 3 and Merit in 15 credits at Level 3

European Baccalaureate

75%

International Baccalaureate

32 points

GCSE offer

You are required to have Mathematics and English Language at a minimum of Grade C or Grade 4 or above at GCSE.

Additional entry requirements

If you do not meet the academic requirements for direct entry, you may be interested in one of our Foundation Year programmes.

If you do not meet the academic and or English requirements for direct entry our partner, INTO University of East Anglia offers guaranteed progression on to this undergraduate degree upon successful completion of a preparation programme. Depending on your interests, and your qualifications you can take a variety of routes to this degree:

International Foundation in Business, Economics, Society and Culture
International Foundation in Humanities and Law

Alternative Qualifications

UEA recognises that some students take a mixture of International Baccalaureate IB or International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme IBCP study rather than the full diploma, taking Higher levels in addition to A levels and/or BTEC qualifications. At UEA we do consider a combination of qualifications for entry, provided a minimum of three qualifications are taken at a higher Level. In addition some degree programmes require specific subjects at a higher level.

Students for whom english is a foreign language

We welcome applications from students from all academic backgrounds. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading):

IELTS: 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each component

We also accept a number of other English language tests. Please click here to see our full list.

Interviews

Most applicants will not be called for an interview and a decision will be made via UCAS Track. However, for some applicants an interview will be requested. Where an interview is required the Admissions Service will contact you directly to arrange a time.

Gap year

We welcome applications from students who have already taken or intend to take a gap year. We believe that a year between school and university can be of substantial benefit. You are advised to indicate your reason for wishing to defer entry on your UCAS application.

Intakes

This course is open to UK, EU and International applicants. The annual intake for this course is in September each year.

Admissions Live Chat

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

The Sainsbury Centre is one of the most prominent university art galleries in Britain, and a major national centre for the study and presentation of art.

LEARN MORE >

Ask a Student

This is your chance to ask UEA's students about UEA, university life, Norwich and anything else you would like an answer to.

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UEA Award

Develop your skills, build a strong CV and focus your extra-curricular activities while studying with our employer-valued UEA award.

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Course Reference Number: 1545993

BA ARCHAEOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY AND ART HISTORY