Q Week 4 DQ 2 : Cultures in Conflict [WLO: 2] [CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4] Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read the articles “Images of Power in Contemporary Nigerian Paintings Download Images of Power in Contemporary Nigerian Paintings,” and “Gregg Hertzlieb on Sadao Watanabe: Listening (Links to an external site.),” and the webpage How to Look at a Painting (Links to an external site.). In addition, watch the short video Art Prints of Watanabe Sadao (Links to an external site.), and explore the webpage Sadao Watanabe (Links to an external site.) from the Bowden Collections website. Finally, read the essays “This Must Be the Place” and “Individualism as an American Cultural Value” in your course text, and the short literary works “My Name,” from the webpage House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros: 2 Stories (Links to an external site.), and “Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan (Links to an external site.).” The required readings and resources for this week emphasize the intersections between cultures that have become increasingly apparent in global society. For example, in “This Must Be the Place,” Firmat discusses his identity as a Cuban American and the pull he feels from both cultures. In “Mother Tongue,” Tan also considers the melding of her Chinese and American identities and how her dual identity has shaped her relationship with her mother, her peers, and even her career. For this discussion, you will expand your exploration beyond written texts to examine how the intersection of cultures is portrayed in visual art, considering the visual artists highlighted in this module: Japanese artist Sadao Watanabe and the Nigerian painters working at the end of the 20th century and the early 21st century. Sadao Watanabe adopted the Christian faith at a time when Japan resisted outside Western influences. Watanabe used the mingei tradition of folk art to portray biblical stories and themes, thus bringing together Japanese artistic styles and values with Western religious values and themes. As you look at his work, reflect on this clash of cultural and religious values. Is it apparent in the works? Or does this embrace of opposing values and identities work to create something new, unique, and affirming? The Nigerian artists profiled in the article “Images of Power in Contemporary Nigerian Paintings” seek to depict power and power relations between the culturally and ethnically diverse peoples of modern Nigeria. Moreover, these artists remain aware of a history of colonial rule, and the conflicts between native communities and their colonial oppressors. As you look at their works, consider how they depict cultural identity, and how images of power or power relations are presented through subject, setting, style, and composition. Choose one literary work and at least one work of visual art, and discuss where you see the intersections of cultures. In your initial posting, answer the following questions: Where do you see the coming together of cultures, and how is that intersection represented? How do the conventions of genre help the writer or artist to represent that intersection? (For example, word choice, imagery, symbolism and style in a literary work; composition, subject, light vs. dark, style in a work of visual art.) What are the results of this interaction? (For example, does the work represent the connections between cultures as bringing conflict, harmony, confusion, excitement, possibility, or something else?) Does the meeting of cultures raise issues about tradition, or about personal or cultural identity?If conflict arises in the work you have chosen, how does that tension arise, and to what extent is that tension resolved or unresolved?