Syllabus
Pro sylabus semináře viz anglickou anotaci.
Sylabus přednášky 3. října
Děkanské volno - odpadá výuka 10. října představení kurzu; rozvrh semestru; vymezení témat; Alberti a renesanční naturalismus 17. října
Diderot a obraz jako tableau I. 24. října
Diderot a obraz jako tableau II. 31. října
Winckelmann a filhelénismus 7. listopadu
Lessing a estetika média 14. listopadu
Kant a estetické ideje 21. listopadu
Výmarská klasika, raná romantika 28. listopadu
Hegel a dějiny umění jako dějiny ducha 5. prosince
Schopenhauer a objektivace vůle 12. prosince
Baudelaire a moderní malířství I. 19. prosince
Baudelaire a moderní malířství II. 2. ledna
Výhled do 20. stol. 9. ledna
Rekapitulace
Annotation
Aesthetics and the Anthropology of Art - Winter Semester 2013/14
Code: AES100119
Wednesday, 2:10-3:45pm, room C426 (Celetna 20, 4th Floor).
Jakub Stejskal jakub.stejskal@ff.cuni.cz
Office Hours: Thursday, 3:50-5:20pm, room 203/4 (Celetna 20, 2nd Floor)
This course is taught in English.
In this semester-long course, we will be reading a selection of texts that have informed the anthropological study of visual and material objects of art in the second half of the twentieth century. We will be focusing less on the ethnographic content of these essays and more on the concepts and methodologies they are explicitly or implicitly committed to. The topics that will be discussed include: What constitutes the anthropological approach to art and aesthetic phenomena? How do anthropologists define art?; What differentiates the social sciences from the humanities in their treatment of art?; What is the function of art within a society according to anthropologies of art?
Assessment
Participation
Presentation 5 x 1-page-long resumes
Exam
In order to pass the course, each student is required to 1) show up regularly and prepared 2) deliver a 10-15 minutes presentation to the class of one of the texts assigned as required reading or write a short 4-5 pages long summary of one of the texts listed in recommended/further reading. Deadline for the essays is 30 November midnight. 3) write five page-long resumes of the assigned texts. See rules below. Alternatively, if you do not want to have a presentation / write a paper summary, you may chose to write ten page-long resumes. 4) pass the final exam, which will consist of four essay questions (one may be left unanswered).
All the required reading will be made available via moodle (http://dl1.cuni.cz) at the start of the semester. Recommended reading will be periodically uploaded to moodle as we move along. More information and details on the first day of class. If you have any questions regarding anything even vaguely related to the course, contact me via email (see above) or see me in my office hours.
Basic guidelines for writing resumes (READ CAREFULLY!): 1) I accept not more than one resume a week per student, so start soon! 2) I do not accept resumes of texts that have already been discussed in class. 3) Do not worry about the quality of your written English. Just prove to me you have read the text and tried to understand it. 4) Avoid quoting, try using your own words. But if you cite a text, do not forget to use quotes and indicate source.
First week - 2 October
Introduction to the course; what is the anthropology of art?
Second week - 9 October
Art and Structural Anthropology
Required reading:
Claude Lévi-Strauss, ‘Split Representation in the Arts of Asia and America’, in The Anthropology of Art: A Reader, ed. Howard Morphy and Morgan Perkins (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), 56-73.
Third week - 16 October
Art and Social Anthropology I
Required reading:
Raymond Firth, ‘Tikopia Art and Society’, in Anthropology of Art, 91-108.
Fourth week - 23 October
Art and Social Anthropology II
Required reading: Anthony Forge, ‘The Abelam Artist’, in Anthropology of Art, 109-121.
Fifth week - 30 October
Art and Communication
Required reading: Gregory Bateson, ‘Style, Grace, and Information in Primitive Art’, in Anthropology of Art, 78-90.
Sixth week - 6 November
Art and Symbolic Anthropology
Clifford Geertz, ‘Art as a Cultural System’, in Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology (New York: Basic Books 1983), 94-120.
Seventh week - 13 November
Art and Artefacts I
Susan Vogel, ‘Introduction to Art/Artifact’, in Anthropology of Art, 209-218.
Eighth week - 20 November
Art and Artefacts II
Alfred Gell, ‘Vogel’s Net: Traps as Artworks and Artworks as Traps’, in Anthropology of Art, 219-236.
Ninth week - 27 November
Anthropology of the Aesthetic I
Robert F. Thompson, ‘Yoruba Artistic Crticism’, in Anthropology of Art, 242-269.
Tenth week - 4 December
Anthropology of the Aesthetic II
Jeremy Coote, ‘"Marvels of Everyday Vision"’: The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-keeping Nilotes’, in Anthropology of Art, 281-301.
Eleventh week - 11 December
Anthropology of the Aesthetic III
Howard Morphy, ‘From Dull to Brilliant: The Aesthetics of Spiritual Power among the Yonglu’, in Anthropology of Art, 302-320.
Twelfth week - 18 December
Style and Meaning
Nancy D. Munn, ‘Visual Categories: An Approach to the Study of Representational Systems’, in Anthropology of Art, 326-338.
Thirteenth week - 8 January
Recap