When Notre Dame’s new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art opened last month, two Keough School faculty were among the first to bring their students through its doors. Ellis Adams convened his Environmental Policy class around Yinka Shonibare’s mixed media sculpture “Earth Kid,” a work that explores climate change, fragile global environments, histories of western colonization, and the impact of climate change on young people. Iris Ma brought the 40 undergraduates in her Introduction to Global Affairs and Integral Human Development course to explore similar themes through a viewing and discussion of “Earth Kid.”
Because global affairs is an interdisciplinary course of study, art can serve as a valuable inroad for approaching global issues such as climate change, said Adams, associate professor of geography and environmental policy at the Keough School.
“Art can shed more light on the concepts in my course,” he said. “A sculpture like ‘Earth Kid’ can help prompt discussion on pollution, the impact of wealthier countries’ consumption on poorer countries, the legacy of colonialism—we can connect it to the different issues we’ve covered in class.”
Read more at https://keough.nd.edu/teaching-global-affairs-in-the-gallery/
Originally published by Renée LaReau at https://keough.nd.edu on December 07, 2023.
Originally published by at arts.nd.edu on January 25, 2024.