Classes You Didn't Know You Could Take: Learning from the Borderlands

In this series, we’ve asked instructors to talk about their new, unusual, or little-known PSFA classes that you can take in Fall 2021.

Q&A with Amy Sanchez Arteaga

PSFA 320: Learning from the Borderlands

Units: 3

Are there any Prerequisites?: No

Online or Face to Face: Synchronous Online Course

How I would describe this class to someone I met in line at the coffee cart:

In PSFA 320: Learning from the Borderlands we look at case studies in cultural production (with a focus on performance, film, and conceptual art) created in border contexts. We think about how we can apply strategies from these case studies to our own work and life. The class is part Art History and part US/Mexico Border History course. We will think about different scales of border that we navigate on the level of nation, community, interpersonally, and even personally/internally.

Who should definitely take this class?

Anyone who is looking to expand their knowledge of cultural production in our region (San Diego/Tijuana), or has curiosity about how contemporary artists, filmmakers, and theorists have responded to the different issues/conflicts/polemics that borders present.

Who should not take this class?

Anyone who prefers in-person instruction, since the class will be online, students who prefer courses structured around fewer high-stakes assignments, since in our course we will do several reflection/writing assignments (some are creative!), instead of just a traditional midterm/final/paper structure.

Why I’m enthusiastic about teaching this class:

When I am not teaching at SDSU I am a practicing artist, and I think a lot about the issues that I present in the course in my own work, so it’s really meaningful to me to be able to share that context and history with my students.

Why I love this subject:

I have worked in the field of Contemporary Art (art made by living artists) in one form or another for more than a decade and I think the propositions that artists make through their work are incredible examples for how we might begin to imagine more equitable, humane, creative, and joyful worlds that can become manifest through our production as Artists and Scholars!

How I’m preparing for this class:

I’m re-reading and re-watching films that we will be looking at together in the class, and reaching out to colleagues to do some guest lectures during the course!

Three things you’ll learn/do in this class:

• Explore lots of artworks (including painting, sculpture, film, sound, performance, and more).
• Participate in discussion around the strategies these Artists implement with your classmates and me.
• Learn more about the Contemporary Art History of our region.

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.