ANTH V02- Cultural Anthropology

Lecture: CULTURE & COMMUNICATION: ART & CULTURE

Aesthetic

“The aesthetic impulse is basic to all of us as human beings” Franz Boas

Understanding Art in Culture

•NOT an “art for art’s sake” concept

•Embedded in all aspects of culture

•Inseparable from other activities

Art

Forms of creative expression- imagination, skill, style

Art

•Aesthetic principles

–Taste

–No universality

–May be tied to Tradition

3 Types of Art

•Performance

–Sound & movement

•Visual

–Material objects

•Body

–Physical Alterations

Communication through Art

•Educate

–Performance Art

•Bali: Wayang

•Unite/Separate

–Visual art

•Africa: Lukasa

•Australia: Aboriginal rock art

•Identification

–Body art

•Borneo: tattoos

•Functions within the Cultural Context

–Cultural Identity

•Remember the Northwest Coast: totem poles

–Gender identity

•Middle Eastern Dance: raqs sharqui

Performance Art: Music, song, dance, theater, drama, pageants, etc…

Performance Art: Drama

•Wayang

–Balinese Shadow Puppets

•Stories, Myths, History, Current Events

Visual Art:

•Material

•Religious or Secular

•Baskets, ceramics, textiles, painting, etc.

Visual Art: The Luba

•Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire)

•Colonial Influences

–Britain

–France

–Belgium

The Luba: Pre-Colonial Times

• 17^th -19^th Century

–Large influential kingdom

–Art affiliated with royalty, chiefs and courts/ status

–Origin stories

Art, Ritual and History
History without Writing

•Memories kept alive through oral traditions

•How????

The Lukasa: Memory device

•Bringing the Past Alive

Reading the Lukasa

•The Mbudye: a Man of Memory

•Teaching about:

–Cultural heroes

–Clan migrations

–Sacred kinships

–Courts

Visual Art: Prehistoric Art

•Australian Aboriginal Rock Art

–Origin myths, cultural identity

Australian Aborigines

•Clans

–Dreamtime Origin

–Visual Representation in Rock Art

Dreamtime Beings: Creator Beings, Oral Narratives, Fertility Figures

Australian Aboriginal Art: Tourist Market (didgeridoos)

Body Art

•Body as the first canvas?

•Otzi- 5000 year old Ice Man

Body Art as Visual Language

•Physical Alterations: Body Painting, Makeup, Hair, Body Shaping Body Painting, Tattooing, Scarification and Piercing

Body Art: Tattoo

•Identity

–Status

–Rite of Passage

–Group or Individual

•Text Example:

–Body Art as Visual Language

•Video Example:

–Iban of Malaysia

Art in a Cultural Context ( i.e. Cultural Identity, Gender, Religion, Status, etc)

Gender in Performance Art

•Raqs Sharqui

•Exotification of the Orient

–Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt

•Paris World Fair 1889

Birthing Practices

Childbirth, Women’s Folk Dance, Wedding