Stella is a really nice professor, but I'm just not interested in this subject.

I took it as an "easy" GE and honestly, it takes more work than I want to put into it. I would say the readings really are mandatory because there's a constant possibility of pop quizzes, both in lecture and discussion. Some of the longer readings can be around 25 pages and you'll be tested on some pretty particular details.

Midterm and final are in class essays and you're given 6 possible prompts ahead of time, from which 2 are picked. Not a lot of outside of class writing, just one paper worth 5% of your grade. Maybe I'm just lazy, but it's really hard to motivate myself to study for this class. If all of this sounds good to you though, go for it.

If you're interested in the subject, I'm sure you'd like it because it's a well-taught class, but if you just want an easy GE, go with Scand 50.

Edit- I’ve now finished the class, so if you do end up taking it:
Since you have to go to class anyways for the quizzes, I’d recommend taking good notes on her lectures- she posts the slides but they’re mostly pictures so you need good notes to go back and know what they’re about. Honestly, I think it’s probably inevitable you’ll fall asleep in this class at least once, but try to make it one of the guest lecturer days, since these seem to be less likely to be related to the exams- the movies are still tested!

Overall, my advice for this class would be to just do the work and be able to answer every part of the questions she gives you to prep for the midterm/final. There's no easy way around it.

the worst class I have ever had in UCLA. don't take it especially for the non art history major student. for art history major student, try to find other class to replace this one. this class is so boring and you have to do lots of things for this class. lots of reading to do and you even need to go back to read the reading again and again. it is not helpful at all. the professor uses the slides but there is no word in the slides just some pictures. it is hard for you to review before the test. lots of unhelpful quizzes and work.

If you're looking for an interesting AND/OR easy this is NOT the class to take.
I regret doing it. She just talks and rambles on about stuff you are supposed to take notes on and then use in your essay questions.

There are quizzes in EVERY lecture based on the readings which are dry and long plus quizzes in discussion section.

PLUS a 5 page paper that is ONLY 5% of your grade due 10th week.

You get 6 questions for the midterm and final, out of which 2 show up for the actual exam.

Waste of effort and time.

This is by far the worst class I've taken at UCLA. Her lectures are beyond boring, her slides pretty much only have pictures on them and she talks really fast so it is impossible to write everything down, which is very important in preparing for the midterm/final. Class and lecture are mandatory as there could be a quiz in each lecture. Preparing for the midterm and final is a huge pain as she gives you 6 essay prompts, 2 of which will be on the exam, but the prompts have about 10 subquestions to go along with the actual question which makes the prompt extremely confusing and difficult. HUGE BS class, definitely do not recommend.

Do not take this class unless you absolutely have to. As someone who isn't an Art History major, I found this class incredibly boring and uninteresting and therefore, it was extremely tough for me to study for this class.
The professor is nice I guess, but I thought she was a bad lecturer. She only shows pictures on her powerpoint slides and talks about them but she talks fast and doesn't slow down, and she doesn't really highlight the main points we have to get down either. She also doesn't post her lectures online. She doesn't mind if you record her lectures though. She doesn't let you into the lecture if you arrive 10 minutes or more after it has begun. Also, once you leave lecture, she doesn't let you back in even if you just needed a quick bathroom break.

Discussion is mandatory and worth 20 percent of your grade so you probably should go. It could at least help your grade.

The midterm and final are pretty much the same, consisting of two essay questions which are both long and confusing (final is longer than midterm). There's a lot of points you have to address. I'm not sure if the professor or TA grades the exams. Honestly, just try and write as much as you can and hope for the best. The grading is pretty damn harsh.

There are pop quizzes both in lecture and discussion that are usually based off of the articles we have to read which are ridiculously boring and usually long. The quizzes are graded by your TA. Luckily my TA, Deglin, was an easy grader so just hope you get a good TA. Again I'm not sure if they are the ones who grade the exams or not though.

One final paper we had to write that was 5 pages long but I think she changes the prompt every quarter. Plus it was literally worth only 5% of your grade. The professor was saying how this was supposed to be a fun easy assignment which it wasn't at all. Also, I met this one person in class who is an art history major, and even she didn't like this class. Overall, I really don't recommend this class, but it's up to you.

This class is my favorite class i've ever taken at UCLA! Even though I took it as GE and am not that into art, it got me so interested in indigenous rights, and prof nair and the book you read for class kind of blew my mind. I wouldn't say it's an easy GE, but if you want to learn about history of indigenous people in the americas, common misconceptions about them, and also the natural spaces around them, HIGHLY recommend. I've never written a bruinwalk review but i had to for this class

The workload for this class was somewhat heavy because we had to do long readings each week and watch two hour recorded lectures, which took up a lot of time. You also can't decide to not read the assigned readings because there's a possibility you'll get a pop quiz each week. Depending on the pop quizzes given by your specific TA, the questions can be pretty easy but the time preparing for the quiz is not worth it. Throughout the quarter, we got points for writing two papers and a couple papers for the final exam (which was take-home), which were not too difficult. We also had to post a comment about the readings each week on Slack for participation points. There's a textbook required but you can find a free pdf for it online. Overall, the class wasn't difficult, but the weekly readings were just time-consuming.

I took this class during covid times and it was super chill. Professor Nair is super caring about her students and about the content. The workload was medium. There were just a lot of readings you had to before discussion and sometimes they would be long or difficult. But I managed to get an A- without doing a single one. Her content is extremely interesting and she isn't boring. I like her very much. My TA was also a gem. The reading assignments would help with quizzes and assignments that would take place during the discussion but they were all fairly easy. They care a lot about participation but as long as you watch the lectures you can get an A in this class easily. The essay assignments were also fairly easy. You just have to know a few cultures (ex. Incan or Mayan) very well in order to ace these papers. There were three papers. A midterm, final paper, and a final test(which was just two essays). I loved this class and highly recommend

I took this class for an easy GE and because I thought it sounded interesting. I was excited to learn about indigenous cultures, but the textbook was very dry If it had actually described indigenous cultures and their art and architecture, I wouldn't have found it so boring. Instead, it dove into random details in way too much depth (often involving Europeans) rather than describing actual culture. The textbook didn't give a lot of applicable information to the class; the articles Professor Nair provided were more related. It was also frustrating to read because it compiled way too many different indigenous cultures into one book - so much so that it didn't really do a good job of adequately describing any particular one. Because of this, I feel like I didn't really learn a lot. Assignments are graded easily and it's pretty easy to get an A, but the workload was a lot. There were two essays throughout the quarter and the final was also two essays. I'm a decent writer and got A+s on the essays, but I hate writing and was already taking a writing II class. This class was way more writing intensive than expected which made the work far from worth it. I wish I could recommend taking this course because I want people to educate themselves on indigenous history, but sadly I cannot.

Super easy class if you just turn in the assignments. Content is simple to understand and the readings do not need to be closely covered. Discussion attendance is important and small group work is done and turned in during discussion. Papers are assigned with a lot of time to complete them and TAs are super helpful, as well as Professor Nair.