What is art? Or, what does art do? In this course we will try to answer these questions by surveying works of art from a range of different cultures across the globe that represent tens of thousands of years of human history. The majority of our time will be spent studying non-western art and art created by historically marginalized artists and communities. This class will be divided into modules centralized around important themes in art history that will allow us to consider why art is made, how art is made, and why art is so important to human history.