Introduction to Part I:

Key Concepts & Foundational Materials

Readings for January 9, 2013
This first portion of the course introduces some key concepts and ideas that will provide the foundation for
discussions throughout the quarter. Of all terms to be used and concepts to be broached, none is so vital
nor so problematic as is the term art. The first three essays in the readerDo Other Cultures Have
Art? (1992) by Richard L. Anderson, The Trouble with (the Term) Art (2006) by Carolyn Dean, and
Objects are Nice, but (1994) by Cecelia F. Kleinall discuss this vexed term as we use it today and as
it has beenand is beingapplied to the visual cultures of societies that did or do not utilize any
equivalent concept. The readings draw attention to the fact that art is a social construction, but arrive at
different conclusions regarding whether art is a universal category of things.
Anderson is an anthropologist who authored a book entitled Calliopes Sisters: A Comparative
Study of Philosophies of Art (1990) in which he examines ideas about art and aesthetics in various cultures
in an attempt to see if it is possible to derive a definition of art that is universally valid. Several scholars,
including art historian Kris Hardin and senior anthropologist Jacques Maquet, wrote scathing reviews of
Andersons book. Hardin criticized the fact that the cultures Anderson uses as his case studies have no
linguistic category for art. Maquet accused Anderson of actually constructing art theories for these
cultures. The essay by Anderson is his response to their criticisms and a defense of his own ideas.
Deans essay discusses the implications of identifying art in societies that did/do not utilize the
term (as is the case with most African, Oceanic, and Native American groups). The author links the
universalizing of art to Europes colonial history, and argues that the identification of art serves to
remake non-European cultures in the image of the West (a European notion that divides the globe into West
[Europe & its cultural relatives], East [Asia], and Everybody Else [Africa, Oceania, native Americas]).
Finally, the Art Bulletin is one of the most important journals in the field of art history. It is also
one of the most conservative. The editors of Art Bulletin occasionally ask a group of important scholars to
write on a short essay on a topic. Cecelia Klein, an expert on Aztec art and a professor emeritus at UCLA,
was asked to write on The Object of Art History. The essay Objects Are Nice, But.contains her
reflections on this topic. All the essays are included in the pdf on eCommons. You are responsible for
reading Kleins essay that begins on p. 401, but I encourage you to read a few of the other responses to help
you understand the range of opinions held by leading experts.
The questions raised in all these essays are unresolved, and there is no one right way of thinking
about these matters. Students should ponder the issues involved and make up their own minds.
Study Questions for Anderson:
1.
How are art and art sans theory different (remember sans means without)? Which does the
Western art world fit into?
2.

How does Anderson define art?

3.

Does the professor think that all cultures have art? How about your TA? Do YOU think that all
cultures have art? Explain your opinion and back it up with facts.

Study Questions for Dean:

1.
Dean argues that there is no globally acceptable definition of art. Do you agree? Explain.
2,

What is the difference between art by intention and art by appropriate? How does it apply to
the visual culture of AOA?

3.

If art is such a problematic term, is there a better term that can replace it?

Study Questions for Klein:

1.
Based on this essay, what is the definition of art within the EuroAmerican tradition?
2.

What examples of significant forms outside of the EuroAmerican tradition does Klein give? Do
they fit into the EuroAmerican definition of art? Why or why not?

3.

What does Klein think should be the object of study in art history?

Readings for January 11, 2013

One of the most important foundational issues for this course concerns the following question:
How did the disparate geographic areas now called Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (often abbreviated
AOA) end up grouped together? They share no common borders, no native languages nor cultural
traditions. The grouping (often glossed by adjectives that imply commonality such as primitive, tribal,
or ethnographic) is, in fact, a consequence of European colonization. Following the essays that deal with
definitions of art are two selections that consider other definitions and representations.
Claire Smith and Martin Wobst edited Indigenous Archaeologies: Decolonizing Theory and
Practice, a book that focuses on the indigenous perspective on archaeology. You have been assigned a twopage reading from the introduction where Wobst defines his terms.
While Wobsts point of view is that of the indigenous person, Christopher Steiner approaches the
problem of representation from the other side of the fence, looking at European images of AOA peoples
between the 15th and 19th centuries. He concludes that the images are homogeneous and stereotyped, done
by artists and consumed by a public who had never been to the areas that were supposed to have been
Questions for Steiner:
1.
How did early anthropologists (19th century) explain the similarities between the peoples of Africa,
the Pacific, and the Americas?
2.

Steiner gives a series of European images of the peoples of Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas,
done over a 250 year period and all of which share uncanny similarities. How does he explain the
similarities? Does his explanation make sense to you?

3.

In ancient travel literature, what was the relationship between image and caption? How did this
encouraging the borrowing of already known imagery to represent unknown areas?

4.

According to Steiner, what is the relationship of allegory and otherness?

Questions for Wobst:

1.
How does Wobst define indigenous? Make a list of the characteristics he assigns to indigenous
peoples.
2.

What are some of the results of colonialism? What differences did it create between peoples?

Introduction to Part 2:
Colonialism as Common Experience
One of the most important foundational issues for this course concerns the following question:
How did the disparate geographic areas now called Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (often abbreviated
AOA) end up grouped together? They share no common borders, no native languages nor cultural
traditions. The grouping (often glossed by adjectives that imply commonality such as primitive, tribal,
or ethnographic) is, in fact, a consequence of European colonization. Here are six selections that consider
the legacy of European colonization.
European ethnocentrism supported and justified the colonization of the Americas, Africa, and the
Pacific Islands; and biases that can be traced to colonial-period interactions between the peoples of Africa,
the Pacific, and the Indigenous Americas still are prominent today. These attitudes are the topic of Africas
Tarnished Name by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian and one of the best-known living African writers and
poets. Achebe authored this essay as a conclusion to a book of his poetry and photography by Robert
Lyons (Another Africa, 1998). He shows us how notions that developed to justify the treatment of
colonized indigenes by colonial authorities persists through the present time and still affects how nonAfricans think about the oldest continent. In Talking about Tribe, Achebes arguments are seen carried
out in the analysis of a single termtribein a co-authored paper written in 1997 but still vitally important
today. The authors encourage the reader to reconsider the use of the term tribe in reference to the African

continentbut the argument holds for all the areas we are discussing. It argues that the term is derogatory
and racist, and promotes the use of terms that are true and accurate. These same ideas also apply to other
terms such as savage, primitive, etc. The last essay in this group examines the reception of African peoples
as they are forcibly moved to the Americas. Professor Smedley, among others, developed the idea that the
race in the US developed in the late 17th and early 18th century as a mechanism to enslave African peoples
and turn them into other.
Moving from African to the Americas, art historian David Bjelajac examines some of the ways
Europeans of the early modern period (16th-18th centuries) thought about and represented America in the
section entitled America and the European Imagination from his book American Art: A Cultural History
(2004). He discusses how Europeans claimed America by the related practices of exploration and mapping;
additionally, he shows that representations of an allegorical America legitimized the seizure of native
American land and subjugation of indigenous populations. Because some understanding of early European
thought is a prerequisite for the discussion of many issues in AOA scholarship that well consider later in
this course, Bjelajacs essay provides us with important foundational material.
Ron Adams, author of European Discovery or Multiple Discoveries (1993) charts the early
history of exploration in the Pacific Basin, an area that was first explored by Europeans in the sixteenth
century, but not colonized until the late eighteenth. Accompanying his essay are three useful documents
dating from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. These three documents demonstrate how
views have shifted over the 200 years of contact between Europeans and Pacific Islanders (specifically the
Maori of Aotearoa-New Zealand). Students should pay particular attention to the significance attached to
the shooting of the Maori warrior at Mercury Bay that is related in all three accounts provided by Adams.
Study Questions:
Africas Tarnished Name, by Chinua Achebe
1.
Why did Europe invent an Africa that was so alien?
2.

How was Conrads Heart of Darkness part of this invention? [if you are not familiar with the
novella, read a summary of it.] Why does Achebe consider this novella to be so dangerous?

3.

What one thing does Achebe demand of himself, his colleague Robert Lyons, and of you and me?

Talking about Tribe

1.
What is wrong with the term tribe?
2.

If tribe is so useless, why is it so common?

3.

If Africans themselves talk about tribes, why do we not use the term?

4.

What other words carry the same connotations and problems as the term tribe?

Origin of the Idea of Race, by Smedley:

1.
Before the 18th century, what was the image of African peoples in the Americas? How and why did
this attitude change?
2.

How and why were physical characteristics linked to race?

3.

How was science used to prove theories of racial superiority and inferiority? What were the
implications of this argument?

America and the European Imagination, by Bjelajac

1.
The Flemish artist Jan van der Straet or Stradanus uses a 16th century visual vocabulary to depict
the Old and New Worlds. In his metaphorical engraving for the title page of Nova Reperta, every part
of the image can be read. What did each element of the work mean? What did it mean as a whole?

2.
Do the same analysis for Amerigo Vespucci awakening America, also a metaphorical
representation.
3.
Frenchman Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues and Englishman John White were among the few
artists to go to North America. How did this affect their representations of America?
4,
In all these representations, how are themes of gender, sex, rape, and sexual desire shown? Why
would these be important to the representations of America?
European Discoveries by Adams and Being Discovered by Qusnchi
See the study questions at the end of each chapter (page 87 and page 99).
Introduction to Part 3:
The Interpretation of Archaeological Materials
Archaeology is often thought of as the excavation of material remains from historical periods. Importantly,
however, it is also the interpretation of those remains. This section of the course focuses on the troubled
history of archaeological interpretation in Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. In particular, we examine
how interpretation is influenced by the precepts, assumptions, and biases of those who do the interpreting.
In general, there are two distinct trends in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century archaeological
interpretation. Both trends stem from the era of European colonization. The firstseen in the early work
on the ruins at Great Zimbabwe in central Africa, on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the eastern Pacific, and at
Maya sites in Central Americadenies indigenous agency. According to this trend, the building of
impressive ruins was credited to non-indigenous groups. The reasoning suggests that the ancestors of
indigenous peoples of these places could not possibly have built the ruins, therefore some other group must
have. We can identify this trend in the interpretation of the archaeological past as alien interpretation
because it credits the archaeological remains to alien groups (whether from outside the immediate region or
even further afield). Because such beliefs deny indigenous groups engineering know-how and ingenuity,
they can be traced back to colonial beliefs in the ignorance and barbarousness of colonized peoples. Heirs
to this way of thinking have even posited that aliens from outer space must be responsible for ancient ruins.
Science fiction writers from Star Trek to Stargate and the latest Indiana Jones movie participate in and
propagate this trend in archaeological interpretation.
The second trend romanticizes the builders of ancient monuments, imagining them to have been
brilliant and nearly superhuman; their civilizations are often described as utopian. Such interpretation
reflects the concept of the noble savage, which also stems from the period of European colonization. Our
examples include early twentieth-century work on Maya ruins and the remains of ancestral Pueblo
(Anasazi) communities in the southwest United States. While romantic interpretations seem kinder and
gentler than the alien interpretations described above, both create a fantastical past divorcing
contemporary indigenes from their ancestral legacy.
There are six articles corresponding to this part of HAVC 80. The first, an excerpt from the book
Indigenous Archaeologies, begins with the heading Indigenous Archaeologies and Power (bottom page
21). Taken from a book that looks critically at the archaeological projects around the world conducted by
indigenous peoples or done as collaborations between archaeologists and indigenous peoples, this section
explores the importance of indigenous involvement in the archaeological process. A second reading from
this book, Rens Maya Archaeology and the Poltiical and Cultural Identity of Contemporary Maya in
Guatamala, examines the responsibilities of the archaeologists to the descendents of the archaeological
communities.
The second, Zimbabwe (1985) by David Phillipson is a section from a book on Africas
archaeological past. In this short selection Phillipson provides a brief overview of the ruins at Great
Zimbabwe, but does not acknowledge the controversy that has surrounded interpretations of the site.
Sinamai, an indigenous archaeologist from Zimbabwe, discusses the way the intangible nature of the sites
result in changes in how they are understood in the appropriately named Cultural Shifting-Sands.
UNESCO defines intangible heritage as being transmitted from generation to generation, and is constantly
recreated by communities and groups, in response to their environment, their interaction with nature, and

their history. It provides people with a sense of identity and continuity, and promotes respect for cultural
diversity and human creativity. Students should notice the ways Phillipsons information about the site of
Great Zimbabwe differs from the perspective presented in the film The Lost City of Zimbabwe that will be
shown in class and in Sinamais article. What evidence has been used to support such dramatically
differing interpretations?
Symbolic Archaeology of Easter Island (1987), by JoAnne Van Tilburg was written to debunk
various theoriesof both the alien and romantic variety that have combined to produce a mythic
Easter Island in the minds of many. Van Tilburgs goal is to replace the myths with something closer to
what the archaeological evidence suggests really happened on the island. The author uses archaeological
evidence to dispel many misconceptions. She uses the term Easter Island when she speaks of the island
in the modern imagination and the term Rapa Nui, the indigenous name for the island, when speaking of
historical interpretation based on the archaeology of the place. Thus for her, Rapa Nui is the historical
place while Easter Island is what outsiders have imagined Rapa Nui to be. Note that the term Rapa Nui
also refers to the people of the island and their culture.
Our third example of archaeological interpretation comes from the southwest United States
(Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico). The Southwest by Janet Catherine Berlo and Ruth B. Phillips
is the first portion of a chapter from a textbook entitled Native North American Art (1998). By looking at
material remainsartifacts and monumental ruinsthe authors present a story of life in the southwest over
a 3,000 year period. They emphasize cultural continuity in the region despite migrations, drought, warfare,
and colonization. One of the results of the apparent cultural continuity is the importance of ethnographic
information from contemporary descendants of the ancestral Pueblo still living in the southwest (Hopi,
Zuni, and other Pueblo peoples). Because of the great continuity of worldview as well as material culture,
present day beliefs and practices have been very successfully employed to interpret ancient remains.
Despite this fact, many questions remain unanswered and romantic narratives have emerged to fill many
of the blanks.
Indigenous Archaeologies by Wobst
1.
Why should indigenous people be involved with archaeological projects?
2.
Describe the decolonizing of archaeology. Why is it important? What new directions would
decolonization encourage archaeology to move in?
Zimbabwe by David Phillipson
1.
What is Great Zimbabwe? When did it flourish? Why did it decline?
2.
After seeing the film The Lost City of Zimbabwe in class, consider the difference in how
Phillipson presents Zimbabwe and how it was presented at the turn of the 20th century. What is the evidence
that Phillipsons interpretation of history is correct? Do you think it is possible that we will change our
minds about this site? In your opinion, what evidence would it take to suggest another interpretation?
Cultural Shifting-Sands: Changing Meaning of Zimbabwe Sites in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and
Botswana, by Ashton Sinamai
1.
How does different management of the Zimbabwe sites change their meaning?
2.

According to the author, what is necessary in the control of an intangible site?

Symbolic Archaeology on Easter Island, by van Tilburg

1.
One of the first myths van Tilburg tries to debunk is that the Rapa Nui came from South America.
Who originated this idea and what is van Tilburgs evidence that the Rapa Nui are Polynesian?
2.

Describe the first colonizers of Rapa Nui.

3.
The monumental sculpture on Rapa Nui has long drawn the attention of Westerners. In the next
section of the article, van Tilburg describes the sculptures and the research being done to create a typology
for them (groupings according to physical characteristics). Why is this an important task? What can van
Tilburg learn about the figures and their use based on the typology?

4.
Archaeological evidence shows that many of the figures were violently toppled, perhaps as a part
of combat. Why does van Tilburg think that this did not necessarily happen at only one time? Why were
some figures abandoned in the quarry or along the road?
5.
How does the construction of large stone figures on ceremonial platforms tie the Rapa Nui to
Polynesia?
The Southwest by Janet Catherine Berlo and Ruth B. Phillips
1.
Define:
Anasazi
Mimbres
Hohokam
Pueblo
Navajo
Apache
kiva
kachina
hogan
sandpainting
Changing Woman
Gaan
2.

The authors suggest that Anasazi architecture is based both on a spiritual model and on very
practical considerations. Explain this and show how it is also true of later Pueblo and Navajo
architecture.

3.

Explain how Mimbres pots are found in archaeological sites. How is ethnographic analogy used to
help us understand what the placement of the pots might mean?

4.

Outline the changes that occurred in the twelth and thirteenth centuries. How did this affect the
peoples living in the Southwest?

5.

What changes in art forms occurred as a result of the Spanish and later American presence?

6.

Who is Changing Woman and how does she relate to Navajo artists?

Maya Archaeology and the Political and Cultural Identity of Contemporary Maya in Guatamala,
by Avexnim Cojti Ren
1.
Who has been writing the history of the Maya?
2.

How has the history of the Maya peoples been colonized?

3.

How does the portrayal of the ancient or classic Maya affect the Maya communities today?

4.

What is your personal reaction to the Ethical Principles of Archaeology towards Indigenous
Peoples?