Contesting Art: Art, Politics and Identity in the Modern World

by Jeremy MacClancy (Editor)

Overview

Art is a major political weapon of our times. Today, peoples around the world use art to boost their own identity and to attack the ways others represent them. At a time of increasing intercultural exchange, art has become a primary means through which groups reinforce their challenged sense of culture.This pioneering book breaks with the tradition of the anthropology of art as the depoliticized study of aesthetics in exotic settings. Transcending artificial distinctions between the West and the Rest, it examines the increasingly significant relations among art, identity and politics in the modern world.Among the themes investigated by the contributors: - how African painters undermine racist stereotypes yet remain dominated by the Western art market - the role of anthropology museums in the perpetuation of the Western market in 'tribal art' - the internal and external political disputes underlying the 'repatriation' of cultural property.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781859731345
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/01/1997
Series:	Ethnicity and Identity , #6
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jeremy MacClancy Oxford Brookes University

Table of Contents

Contents: Jeremy MacClancy, Anthropology, Art and Contest — Maruska Svasek, Power, Identity and Style: Defining Self and Other through Ghanaian Art — Barbara Saunders, Contested Ethnie in two Kwakiutl Museums — A. David Napier, Losing One's Marbles: Cultural Property and Indigenous Thought — Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Art, Argument and Anger on the Northwest Coast — Jeremy MacClancy, Negotiating ‘Basque Art' — Ian Fowler, Tribal and Palatine Arts of the Cameroons Grassfields: Elements for a ‘Traditional' Regional Identity — Murray Satov, Catalogues, Collectors, Curators: The Tribal Art Market and Anthropology

Editorial Reviews

Here we have an interesting collection of new ethnographic studies examining the nexus between art, politics and cultural identity.. . . Economically priced, well indexed and adequately illustrated, Contesting Art makes a fine contribution to the growing literature in this field.” —Canberra Anthropology

“[This book] finds its unity by focusing on the use of art as a means of creating and affirming identity in multicultural contexts. . . [an] excellent book.” —American Anthropologist

“Contesting Art is written in a lucid style which makes it accessible and useful. It is also noteworthy for examining Western art anthropologically, not only focusing on societites outside the West.” —Ethnos

“The range of questions raised here is astonishing and the controversies are endlessly provocative.” —Jourbanal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“Important and interesting issues of art,empowerment,and advocacy in a changing and increasingly interconnected world....Contesting Art is written in a lucid style which makes it accessible....It is also noteworthy for examining Western art anthroplogically, not only focussing on societies outside the West.” —Ethnos

From the Publisher

The range of questions raised here is astonishing and the controversies are endlessly provocative.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Important and interesting issues of art,empowerment,and advocacy in a changing and increasingly interconnected world....Contesting Art is written in a lucid style which makes it accessible....It is also noteworthy for examining Western art anthroplogically, not only focussing on societies outside the West.

Ethnos

[This book] finds its unity by focusing on the use of art as a means of creating and affirming identity in multicultural contexts. . . [an] excellent book.

American Anthropologist

Here we have an interesting collection of new ethnographic studies examining the nexus between art, politics and cultural identity.. . . Economically priced, well indexed and adequately illustrated, Contesting Art makes a fine contribution to the growing literature in this field.

Canberra Anthropology