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What is a body, and how do bodies make meaning in art? This course investigates the concept of the body and its expression in Indigenous art from the Ancient Americas. As a site of human experience, a node of relational exchanges, and an expressive and constructive force, the body offers us a window into ways of being and understanding in the Americas. What can the way the body is created, represented, and manipulated tell us about attitudes toward power, religion, and the structure of the world? We will consider case studies from three cultural groups: the Moche, the Maya, and the Aztec. Our investigation is focused on the human body, and explores bodies that are living, dead, gendered, fragmented, multiple, and divine.