Cultural Literacy

In developing Cultural Literacy, throughout the year we will be using Six Critical Lenses through which to view culture:

History
Cognitive and Metacognitive Processes / Interpretation / Relevance to Self
Gender
Religion
Philosophy - Ethics
Aesthetics

Bear in mind that using Critical Lenses forces us to slow down and reflect on what we are viewing, reading, etc ...

Our first stop is "100 British Museum Objects" from the BBC where you can take some time to reflect on ONE object ...

Process:

Go to the BBC website of "100 Objects from the British Museum" (linked here) and find a specific object that intrigues you.
Please choose from "Series 1" (up to 300 BC) ... there are 30 objects from which to choose. You may want to look at a number of items before you select your final choice.
After viewing the object carefully and reading its description, do ONE of the following tasks and post the result in the comments box.

- Write from the point-of-view of the artist / craftsman, explaining your work and its role in society.
- The British Museum can't show all the items due to space restrictions. You are the curator. Argue that the item you selected should definitely be displayed to the public.
- Write from the point-of-view of the actual artwork, explaining your "feelings" about your production, use and discovery.

The oldest temple in the world ... 11,500 years ago in Göbekli Tepe.
Could religion actually have prompted farming?

Here are some articles on Cave Art. Choose a couple of them and bear in mind these guiding questions as you read:

What “counts” as Art?
What should be done with paleolithic sites? Who “owns” them?
How and with what purpose is the human form represented in cave art?

"Ozymandias" by P. B. Shelley

What is the central irony of the poem?
How can you apply the ideas of the poem to history? To modern day?
What implications does the poem’s ideas have for ASL and the study of the Humanities?

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.