Research Essay Assignment Instructions Hinduism Research Essay Assignment Write 6-8+ pages (1500-2000+ words) research essay on a work of art, artifacts, or aspects of material culture, from a local

Research Essay Assignment Instructions

Hinduism

Research Essay Assignment

Write 6-8+ pages (1500-2000+ words) research essay on a work of art, artifacts, or aspects of material culture, from a local museum or art gallery that features or relates to the art from any region associated with Hinduism we have examined in class. Your focus should be primarily on South Asia (India), but could also be from Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Laos), or Iran if related to course material. You may also consider collections of manuscripts or other forms of “material texts.” 

Research should reflect how the chosen work or works relate to themes from the course. The intersection of humanity, animals, and the divine; sacrifice and ritual implements and altars; Epic mythology in art. Are such themes seen in your chosen work or works of art? If so how and in what way?  

You may compare and contrast your material focus (artwork, artifact, manuscript, etc.) with a specific textual source from our course readings (Kumarasambhava, The Rig Veda, Śatapathabrahmana, the Bhagavadgita, Śiva Pūraṇa, etc.). Do the material expressions of religion and culture align with textual sources? Are they different? Do cultures “illustrate” literature, or do something else (eg., create an amulet)? 

NYC has a number of accessible public museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), Brooklyn Museum, Asia Society Museum, and the Rubin. The Met especially has an excellent and wide-ranging collection of art and artifacts from Asia related to class. The Rubin specializes in art from the Himalaya mountains from North India, Nepal, and Tibet. Both these institutions are open to the public with various hours of operation. The Rubin is Free on Friday evenings and have discounted rates for students otherwise. The Met is on a pay-what-you-want admission with valid ID. Check their websites (below) for specifics. If you would prefer to visit a living Hindu Temple, for instance, there are a number in NYC and you could chose to focus on one temple and discuss an image or set of images found in it. For instance, the Ganesh temple in Queens, or the temple in Soho. 

Bibliography:

Your research essay must include a bibliography with at least 5 sources from a trusted academic research database (Jstor is highly recommended) in addition to entries related to the work(s) of art and any curatorial essays or ephemera associated with an exhibition that is published by or available from the gallery or museum. You can use either of the guides listed below for creating your entries. Make sure you are consistent in whatever you choose.  You may use MLA or Chicago style for citing your references but be consistent throughout.

**Internet sources that are not from a trusted academic database (like Jstor) will not be accepted and will decrease your grade. If you are unsure what constitutes a “trusted” database, consult with me.

For general guide on creating citations (MLA style) see: 

https://www.mendeley.com/guides/mla-citation-guide

An example of a citation of a work of art in the MLA style is as follows:

Sher Gil, Amrita. Brahmacharis. 1937. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

Guidelines for citing works at a museum, including the wall cards:

https://libguides.princeton.edu/artfaq/citing

For more on citing original works of art in the MLA style see:

https://library.fiu.edu/c.php?g=346459&p=3848701

Chicago Style citations:

https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html

Citing works of art and images in Chicago Style:

https://libguides.dickinson.edu/c.php?g=56088&p=360209

List of some Museums and Collections you can visit with extensive art, artifacts, and exhibitions:

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions

https://rubinmuseum.org/

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/

https://asiasociety.org/museum (Currently a pan-Asian exploration of Hell)

Additional, searchable resource for South Asian Art:

https://dsal.uchicago.edu/huntington/database.php

Search Engines (suggested):

Jstor

Artstor

Oxford Bibliographies Online

NYU Library

Self-Directed Research Essay Topics

If you would like to determine your own essay topic, you can! However, you will need to have it approved by me first. This will require you to email me your proposed topic and set up a private Zoom meet with me to talk about what you would like to do. The Bibliography requirements will be applicable to this assignment as well (5+ academic resources).