Please write a “Research paper/virtual field trip ” for the HA -126 Islamic Art and Civilization online class. I will also post some of the textbooks that we used in this class.

Please write a “Research paper/virtual field trip ” for the HA -126 Islamic Art and Civilization online class. I will also post some of the textbooks that we used in this class. The research paper has to be more than 3 pages.

overview
Unit Overview: This is your chance to summarize and respond to what you have learned this semester in one of two ways, outlined below in your written assignment.

Assignments: A written critique comparing either two museum web sites that offer online Islamic art collections/information OR a critique of the textbooks we used this semester OR a review of the “new” Islamic art galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York.

Written Assignment
I wanted to give you a chance to bring together all the various aspects of what you’ve thought and read about Islamic art this semester, and I decided to give you a choice of three possible assignments.

1. Write a critique/review of the two textbooks you were required to read for this class. In an online class there is much heavier reliance on written texts than in a conventional classroom-based class, so many of you have become intimately familiar with the Bloom/Blair and Hillenbrand texts. How do these texts try to present the study of Islamic art and how successful are they? In other words, think about the way the material was presented in each book, how it was arranged and the approaches that were used. You can obviously compare/contrast, but this assignment is much more than a simple “I liked Bloom/Blair but found Hillenbrand too difficult” evaluation. You are thinking about how one presents a complex subject like Islamic art with all its variables and permutations. How do these texts work, particularly for someone being exposed to Islamic art for the first time?

2. More and more museums are presenting their collections on the web and allowing virtual visitors access to the objects in their collections. Look at the web sites for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (www.metmuseum.org) and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (www.vam.ac.uk). Assess the information on the web sites that presents Islamic art. What sort of information is presented and how is it presented? Do these museum sites offer just an introduction to Islamic art and architecture or do they attempt to be more comprehensive? Again you may compare and contrast but try to imagine you are visiting the site as a newcomer to Islamic art; what impression would you come away with? You may comment on the design of the web sites, the arrangement of information, whatever you think is relevant.

3. If you are in the New York area, visit the new (as of late 2013) galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the arts of the Islamic lands and write a review of the installation as if you’d been sent by a newspaper or magazine to cover the new galleries. What are the highlights? How does the MMA present its collection? Are the galleries used more as an educational tool or a traditional museum showplace? Make sure to be as specific as possible in your analysis/critique.

Please choose one of these options. Your paper should be the equivalent of a three-page paper with standard margins and spacing.

Class Textbook