Art and Cultural Identity
Anthropology 37 Visiting Prof. Carol Solomon Kiefer
Fayerweather 117 MW 2:00-3:20
This interdisciplinary course examines issues of art and cultural identity. We will consider strategies employed by artists from the nineteenth century to the present who negotiate the terrain of cultural identity in their work. Key theoretical texts by Stuart Hall, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, and others will inform discussions on the definition of cultural identity, competing claims of place and time, national, regional, religious, geographic, and ethnic identity. We will consider the experience of exile, displacement, diaspora, alienation, hybridity, and in-betweeness. Other topics include cultural imperialism, orientalism, and cultural property debates. Student papers will focus on works by contemporary artists in the spring 2008 exhibition at the Mead Art Museum entitled The Third Space: Cultural Identity Today. Several artists represented in the show will visit the class.
No prerequisites
Enrollment limited to 15
Art and Cultural Identity
Anthropology 37 Prof. C. Solomon Kiefer
Fall 2007 Office: Mead Art Museum MW 2:00-3:20 Office Hrs MW 3:30-4:30 Fayerweather 117
REQUIRED TEXTS
To purchase – Available at Jeffery Amherst College Bookstore
(Also on reserve at Frost Library- see Reserve List below)
Bayoumi, Moustafa and Andrew Rubin. The Edward Said Reader, New York: Vintage
Books, 2000 (ISBN 0-375-70936-3)
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture, London and New York: Routledge, 2006
(1994) (ISBN 0-415-33639-2)
Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.,
1999 (ISBN 13: 978-0-395-92720-5)
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis, New York: Pantheon Books, 2003 (ISBN 0-375-71457-X)
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2, New York: Pantheon Books, 2004
(ISBN 0-375-71466-9)
Course Packet of required articles - Pick up in Anthropology Office, 205 Morgan Hall
(See attached list of contents) (indicated as CP)
Articles available on line (JSTOR) (See attached list)
Supplemental References on reserve at Frost Library (See attached list)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Regular attendance, required readings, active participation in discussion (20%)
2. Take Home Exam (20%)
3. Short written paper (5 pp) related to group presentation (20%)
4. Major oral and written presentation (12-15pp) (40%) (Paper due Dec. 12)*
*Penalty for papers submitted after due date w/o permission of professor
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
W 9/5 Introduction, Overview
Questions of Cultural Identity
Cultural Identity – Then and Now – Defining Terms – Exile, Diaspora, Globalization, Cosmopolitanism
M 9/10 Assignment: Reflection on Cultural Identity – Interview a friend, fellow
student, or family member with multiple cultural ties, roots, or living
experiences. How does this person define his/her cultural identity? How has the person’s life been informed/ changed/ affected by his/her cultural identity?
Read: Stuart Hall, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” in Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman, eds. Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader, New York: Columbia University Press, 1994, 392-403 (CP); Edward Said, “Reflections on Exile,” in Edward Said, Reflections on Exile and Other Essays, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 2000, 173-186 (CP)
W 9/12 Read: Jhumpa Lahiri, “My Hyphenated Identity,” Newsweek, Mar. 6,
2006, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11569225/site/newsweek/page/o/
Jhumpa Lahiri, “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,” “Interpreter of
Maladies,” “Mrs. Sen’s,” and “The Third and Final Continent,” in
Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1999
Constructing Cultural Identity: Edward Said, Orientalism, and Cultural Imperialism; Napoleon; Artist Lalla Essaydi
M 9/17 Read: Edward Said, from Orientalism(1978) in The Edward Said Reader,
63-113; Linda Nochlin, “The Imaginary Orient,” in Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeannene M. Przyblyski, The Nineteenth-Century Cultural Reader, New York and London: Routledge, 2004, 289-298 (CP)
W 9/19 Read: Edward Said, “Jane Austen and Empire,” from Culture and
Imperialism (1990) in The Edward Said Reader, 347-367
Cultural Property: Who Owns the Past? The Bamiyan Buddhas; Iraq
M 9/24 Read: Zainab Bahrani, “Iraq’s Cultural Heritage: Monuments, History, and Loss,” Art Journal, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Winter 2003), 10-17. (JSTOR)
Finnbarr Barry Flood, “Between Cult and Culture: Bamiyan, Islamic Iconoclasm, and the Museum,” Art Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 4 (December 2002), 641-659 (JSTOR)
The Elgin Marbles
W 9/26 Read: John Henry Merryman, “Introduction,” in John Henry Merryman, ed., Imperialism, Art and Restitution, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 1-14 (CP); Kate Fitz Gibbon, “The Elgin Marbles, A Summary,” in Kate Fitz Gibbon, ed., Who Owns the Past? Cultural Policy, Cultural Property, and the Law, New Brunswick, NJ and London: Rutgers University Press, 2005, 108-121 (CP)
Assignment of sides for debate on “The Return of the Elgin Marbles”
M 10/1 Read: John Henry Merryman, “Whither the Elgin Marbles?” Chapter 5 in
John Henry Merryman, ed., Imperialism, Art and Restitution, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 98-113 (CP)
W 10/3 DEBATE on the Elgin Marbles
M 10/8 No Class –Mid Semester Break
W 10/10 Field Trip - Global Feminisms Exhibition – Davis Museum and Culture Center, Wellesley College
Take home exam due
Art and Cultural Identity: Late 19th and Early 20th Century
M 10/15 Cézanne’s Provençal Identity
Read: Philip Conisbee, “Cézanne’s Provence,” in Conisbee, Philip and Denis Coutagne with contributions by Bruno Ely et al. Cézanne in
Provence, Exh. Cat., Washington, Paris, Aix-en-Provence: National Gallery of Art, Réunion des musées nationaux, Musée Granet, 2006,
1-25 (on reserve) xND553.C33A4 2006
W 10/17 Paul Gauguin and Primitivism
Read: Abigail Solomon-Godeau, “Going Native: Paul Gauguin and the Invention of Primitivist Modernism,” in Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, eds., The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History, New York: Harper Collins, 1992, 312-329 (CP)
M 10/22 Frida Khalo’s Mexican Identity
Read: Janice Helland, “Culture, Politics, and Identity in the Paintings of Frida Kahlo,” in Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, eds., The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History, New York: Harper Collins, 1992, 396-407 (CP)
W 10/24 Liminality, Hybridity, and the Location of Culture; The Impact of Globalization
Read: Homi Bhabha, from The Location of Culture, London and New York: Routledge, 2006 (1994), 1-56; Amor, Monica, et al., “Liminalities: Discussions on the Global and the Local,” Art Journal, Vol. 57, No.4 (Winter 1998) 28-49 (JSTOR)
M 10/29 GLOBAL/LOCAL : Art and Cultural Identity Today
Read: Jean Fisher and Gerardo Mosquera. “Introduction” in Gerardo
Mosquera and Jean Fisher, Over Here: International Perspectives on Art
and Culture, Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press, 2004, 2-9 (CP); Nikos Papastergiadis, “The Limits of Cultural Translation,” in Gerardo Mosquera and Jean Fisher. Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture, Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press, 2004, 330-347 (CP)
The Third Space: Cultural Identity Today –
W 10/31 Zoulikha Bouabdellah, Mona Hatoum, Hung Lui, Maria Magdalena
M 11/5 Campos Pons, Shirin Neshat, Daniel Kojo Schrade, Jaune Quick-To-
See Smith, Entang Wiharso and others
Read: Homi Bhabha, “Another Country,” in Fereshteh Daftari, Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking, exh. cat., New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2006, 30-35 (CP)
W 11/7 Artist Visit
M 11/12
W 11/14 Artist Visit
M 11/19 No Class Thanksgiving Recess
W 11/21 No Class Thanksgiving Recess
M 11/26 Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis, Persepolis 2
Read: Persepolis, Persepolis 2
W 11/28 Student presentation
M 12/3 Student presentation
W 12/5 Student presentation
M 12/10 Student presentation
W 12/12 Last Class – Conclusion
READING LIST AND SUPPLEMENTAL RESERVE
Articles available on line (JSTOR)
Amor, Monica, et al. “Liminalities: Discussions on the Global and the Local,” Art
Journal, Vol. 57, No.4 (Winter 1998) 28-49 (JSTOR)
Bahrani, Zainab. “Iraq’s Cultural Heritage: Monuments, History, and Loss,” Art Journal,
Vol. 62, No. 4 (Winter 2003), 10-17 (JSTOR)
Flood, Finbarr Barry. “Between Cult and Culture: Bamiyan, Islamic Iconoclasm, and the
Museum,” Art Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 4 (December 2002), 641-659 (JSTOR)
Lahiri, Jhumpa. “My Hyphenated Identity,” Newsweek, Mar. 6, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11569225/site/newsweek/page/o/
Contents of Course Packet
Bhabha, Homi. “Another Country,” in Fereshteh Daftari, Without Boundary: Seventeen
Ways of Looking, exh. cat., New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2006, 30-35
Fisher, Jean and Gerardo Mosquera. “Introduction” in Gerardo Mosquera and Jean
Fisher. Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture, Cambridge,
MA and London: The MIT Press, 2004, 2-9
Gibbon, Kate Fitz. “The Elgin Marbles, A Summary,” in Kate Fitz Gibbon, ed. Who
Owns the Past? Cultural Policy, Cultural Property, and the Law, New
Brunswick, NJ and London: Rutgers University Press, 2005, 108-121
Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” in Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman,
eds. Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader, New York:
Columbia University Press, 1994, 392-403
Helland, Janice. “Culture, Politics, and Identity in the Paintings of Frida Kahlo,” in
Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, eds., The Expanding Discourse: Feminism
and Art History, New York: Harper Collins, 1992, 396-407
Helly, Denise. “Diaspora: History of an Idea,” in Haideh Moghissi, ed. Muslim
Diaspora: Gender, Culture and Identity, London and New York: Routledge,
2006, 3-22
Merryman, John Henry. “Introduction and Chapter 5, “Whither the Elgin Marbles?” in
John Henry Merryman, ed. Imperialism, Art and Restitution, Cambridge and
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 1-14; 98-113 (K 3788.I47 2006)
Nochlin, Linda, “The Imaginary Orient,” in Vanessa R. Schwartz and Jeannene M.
Przyblyski, The Nineteenth-Century Cultural Reader, New York and London:
Routledge, 2004, 289-298
Papastergiadis, Nikos. “The Limits of Cultural Translation,” in Gerardo Mosquera and
Jean Fisher. Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture, Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press, 2004, 330-347
Said, Edward. “Reflections on Exile,” in Edward Said, Reflections on Exile and Other
Essays, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 2000, 173-186
Solomon-Godeau, Abigail. “Going Native: Paul Gauguin and the Invention of Primitivist
Modernism,” in Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, eds., The Expanding
Discourse: Feminism and Art History, New York: Harper Collins, 1992, 312-329
On Reserve
Alcoff, Linda Martin and Eduardo Mendieta, eds. Identities: Race, Class, Gender, and
Nationality, Malden, MA and London,: Blacwell, 2003 HM753.I33 2003
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina Maria. Cézanne and Provence: The Painter in His
Culture, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2003
ND553.C33 A88 2003
Bayoumi, Moustafa and Andrew Rubin. The Edward Said Reader, New York: Vintage
Books, 2000 PN51.E393 2000
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture, London and New York: Routledge, 2006
(1994) PN 761 H43 1994
Braziel, Jana Evans and Anita Mannur, eds. Theorizing Diaspora A Reader, Malden, MA
and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003 JV6032.T44 2003
Broude, Norma and Mary D. Garrard, eds., The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art
History, New York: Harper Collins, 1992 N72.F45 E96 1992
Conisbee, Philip and Denis Coutagne with contributions by Bruno Ely et al. Cézanne in
Provence, Exh. Cat., Washington, Paris, Aix-en-Provence: National Gallery of
Art, Réunion des musées nationaux, Musée Granet, 2006 xND553.C33A4 2006
Daftari, Fereshteh. Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking, exh. cat., New York:
Museum of Modern Art, 2006 SC Neilson N6497.D3
Gibbon, Kate Fitz, ed. Who Owns the Past? Cultural Policy, Cultural Property, and the
Law, New Brunswick, NJ and London: Rutgers University Press, 2005
UMASS AM221 W48 2005
Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.,
1999 PS3562.A316 158 1999
Merryman, John Henry, ed. Imperialism, Art and Restitution, Cambridge and New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2006 K 3788.I47 2006
Merryman, John Henry. Thinking About the Elgin Marbles: Critical Essays on Cultural
Property, Art, and Law, The Hague, London, Boston: Kluwer Law International,
2000 K3701.M47 2000
Mosquera, Gerardo and Jean Fisher. Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and
Culture, Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press, 2004 N72.S6093 2004
Nochlin, Linda. “The Imaginary Orient,” in The Politics of Vision: Essays on
Nineteenth-Century Art and Society, New York: Harper & Row, 1989, 33-59
N72.S6N63 1989
Reilly, Maura and Linda Nochlin. Global Feminisms: New Directions in Contemporary
Art, London and New York: Merrill, 2007 xN8354 G56 2007
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis, New York: Pantheon Books, 2003
PN6747.S245 P47 2007
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2, New York: Pantheon Books, 2004
PN6747.S245P4913 2004
Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993
PN 761 S28 1993
Said, Edward W. Orientalism, New York: Vintage Books, 1979 (1978)
D512.S24 2003
Said, Edward W. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays, Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2000 PN 98.P64 S35 2000
Schwartz, Venessa R. and Jeannene M. Przyblyski, The Nineteenth-Century Cultural
Reader, New York and London: Routledge, 2004, 289-298.
Williams, Patrick and Laura Chrisman, eds. Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial
Theory: A Reader, New York: Columbia University Press, 1994
Hampshire JV51.C73 1994
Young, Robert J. C. Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 2003 UM DuBois JV51. Y67 2003