Arts and Aesthetics in a Globalizing World

310 Pages·2014·5.82 MB·English

by  Raminder Kaur

Arts and Aesthetics in a Globalizing World
ASA Monographs
ISSN 0066–9679
The Relevance of Models for Social Anthropology, ed M. Banton
Political Systems and the Distribution of Power, ed M. Banton
Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion, ed M. Banton
The Social Anthropology of Complex Societies, ed M. Banton
The Structural Study of Myth and Totemism, ed E. R. Leach
Themes in Economic Anthropology, ed R. Firth
History and Social Anthropology, ed I. M. Lewis
Socialization: The Approach from Social Anthropology, ed P. Mayer
Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations, ed M. Douglas
Social Anthropology and Language, ed E. Ardener
Rethinking Kinship and Marriage, ed R. Needham
Urban Ethnicity, ed A. Cohen
Social Anthropology and Medicine, ed J. B. Loudon
Social Anthropology and Law, ed I. Hamnett
The Anthropology of the Body, ed J. Blacking
Regional Cults, ed R. P. Werbner
Sex and Age as Principles of Social Differentiation, ed J. La Fontaine
Social and Ecological Systems, ed P. C. Burnham and R. F. Ellen
Social Anthropology of Work, ed S. Wallman
The Structure of Folk Models, ed L. Holy and L. Stuchlik
Religious Organization and Religious Experience, ed J. Davis
Semantic Anthropology, ed D. Parkin
Social Anthropology and Development Policy, ed R. Grillo and A. Rew
Reason and Morality, ed J. Overing
Anthropology at Home, ed A. Jackson
Migrants, Workers, and the Social Order, ed J. S. Eades
History and Ethnicity, ed E. Tonkin, M. McDonald and M. Chapman
Anthropology and the Riddle of the Sphinx: Paradox and Change in the Life Course,
ed P. Spencer
Anthropology and Autobiography, eds J. Okely and H. Callaway
Contemporary Futures: Perspectives from Social Anthropology, ed S. Wallman
Socialism: Ideals, Ideologies and Local Practice, ed C. M. Hann
Environmentalism: The View from Anthropology, ed K. Milton
Questions of Consciousness, eds A. P. Cohen and N. Rapport
After Writing Culture: Epistemology and Praxis in Contemporary Anthropology, eds
A. James, A. Dawson and J. Hockey
Ritual, Performance, Media, ed F. Hughes-Freeland
The Anthropology of Power, ed A. Cheater
An Anthropology of Indirect Communication, ed J. Hendry and C. W. Watson
Elite Cultures, ed C. Shore and S. Nugent
Participating in Development, eds P. Sillitoe, A. Bicker and J. Pottier
Human Rights in Global Perspective, ed R. A. Wilson and J. P. Mitchell
The Qualities of Time, eds W. James and D. Mills
Locating the Field: Space, Place and Context in Anthropology, eds S. Coleman and
P. Collins
Anthropology and Science: Epistemologies in Practice, eds J. Edwards, P. Harvey
and P. Wade
Creativity and Cultural Improvisation, eds E. Hallam and T. Ingold
Anthropology and the New Cosmopolitanism: Rooted, Feminist and Vernacular
Perspectives, ed P. Werbner
Thinking Through Tourism, ed J. Scott and T. Selwyn
Ownership and Appropriation, eds V. Strang and M. Busse
Archaeology and Anthropology, ed D. Shankland
The Interview: An Ethnographic Approach, ed J. Skinner
Living Beings: Perspectives on Interspecies Engagements, ed Penelope Dransart
ASA Publications Officer and Series Editor
James Staples (Brunel University, UK)
All chapters accepted for inclusion in ASA volumes are sent out for peer review
to two or more reviewers in addition to the volume editor. The ASA draws on the
expertise of its Editorial Board – appointed from the ASA membership – in selecting
appropriate peer reviewers.
Editorial Board
Aleksandar Boskovic (University of Belgrade, Serbia); Glenn Bowman (University
of Kent, UK); Pat Caplan (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK); Emma Crewe
(SOAS, University of London, UK); Geert De Neve (University of Sussex, UK);
Wenzel Geissler (University of Oslo, Norway, and London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine, UK); John Gledhill (University of Manchester, UK);
Andrée Grau (University of Roehampton, UK); Jakob Klein (SOAS, University
of London, UK); Chris Knight (Radical Anthropology Group); Roland Littlewood
(UCL, UK); Nayanika Mookherjee (Durham University, UK); Julie Scott (London
Metropolitan University, UK); Mitch Sedgewick (Oxford Brookes University, UK);
Jonathan Skinner (Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland); Marilyn Strathern
(University of Cambridge, UK); Christina Toren (University of St Andrews,
UK); Maya Unnithan (University of Sussex, UK); Pnina Werbner (University of
Manchester, UK); Gisa Weszkalnys (LSE, UK).

Arts and Aesthetics in a
Globalizing World
Edited by
Raminder Kaur and Parul Dave-Mukherji
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published 2014
© The Association of Social Anthropologists, 2014
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-1930-6
PB: 978-1-4725-1931-3
ePDF: 978-0-8578-5759-0
ePub: 978-0-8578-5547-3
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A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Notes on Contributors xi
Foreword xiv
1 Introduction 1
Raminder Kaur, University of Sussex and Parul Dave-Mukherji,
Jawaharlal Nehru University
2 Of Mockery and Mimicking: Gaganendranath Tagore’s Critique of
Henri Bergson’s Laughter (1911) 21
Emilia Terracciano, Courtauld Institute of Art and University College
London
3 The Return of the Aura: Anish Kapoor: The Studio and the World 39
Denis Vidal, IRD/Paris Diderot/EHESS
4 The Practice of Art: An Alternative View of Contemporary Art-making
in Tehran 61
Leili Sreberny-Mohammadi, New York University
5 Art under Siege: Perils and Possibilities of Aesthetic Forms in a
Globalizing World 73
Patricia Spyer, Leiden University
6 Hot Bricolage: Magical Mimesis in Modern India 85
Christopher Pinney, University College London
7 Rethinking Waste: Time, Obsolescence, Diversity and Democracy 99
Shiv Visvanathan, O.P. Jindal Global University
8 Slaps, Beatings, Laughter, Adda, Puppet Shows: Naxal Women
Prisoners in Calcutta and the Art of Happiness in Captivity 119
Atreyee Sen, University of Manchester
vii
viii • Contents
9 Rwanda: Healing and the Aesthetics of Poetry 135
Andrea Grieder, University of Zurich and EHESS Paris
10 The Aesthetics of Diaspora: Sensual Milieus and Literary Worlds 153
Pnina Werbner, Keele University and Mattia Fumanti, University of
St Andrews
11 For Love’s Sake? Changing Landscapes of Sonic and Visual Aesthetics
of Weddings in the Kathmandu Valley (Nepal) 169
Christiane Brosius, University of Heidelberg
12 The Aesthetics of Pirate Modernities: Bhojpuri Cinema and the
Underclasses 185
Akshaya Kumar, University of Glasgow
13 Intimacy Out of Place: On the Workings of Smell in an Exhibition on
Human Sexuality 205
Susanne Schmitt, University of Munich
14 Consuming Culture: The Refiguration of Aesthetics in Nagaland
Cultural Tourism in India’s North East 221
Soumendra Mohan Patnaik, University of Delhi
15 Reflections upon the Meaning of Contemporary Digital Image-making
Practices in India 241
Giulia Battaglia, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris and Paolo Favero,
University of Antwerp
16 Reflections 259
Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge
Index 265
List of Illustrations
Plates
1 Faith Ringgold, Picasso’s Studio, 1991.
2 Raqs Media Collective Installation view with Raqs Media Collective, The
Great Bare Mat, 2012; and The Vinegar Tasters, Japan, Kanō School, 17th
century.
3 Sheba Chhachhi’s The Winged Pilgrims, 10 moving image light boxes
(digital print on dura trans), 5 Silk and fibreglass Robe objects with motion
lamps, sound, 2006–8.
4 Francesco Clemente (in collaboration with an Oriya artist), Story of My
Country – I, pigment on rag board, 23 × 40 cm.
5 ‘Terribly sympathetic’, The Realm of the Absurd, lithograph, by
Gaganendranath Tagore, Calcutta, 1917.
6 ‘Astronomical scream. The first Bengali Governor. Where is H.E.?’,
watercolour on postcard, preparatory sketch for lithograph, by
Gaganendranath Tagore, Calcutta, 1919.
7 ‘Premier scream, Montford in labour – behold the outcome’, Reform
Screams, lithograph, by Gaganendranath Tagore, Calcutta, 1921.
8 Cloud Gate, Millennium Park, Chicago.
9 Sky Mirror, by Anish Kapoor. Kensington Gardens, London.
10 Cloud Gate’s ‘Omphalos’, Millennium Park, Chicago.
11 John Yesayas, billboard of Jesus overlooking Ambon Island, Ambon, 2006.
12 John Yesayas, billboard at the entrance to a Christian neighbourhood,
Ambon, 2011.
13 John Yesayas, painting after a mural: Jesus overlooks the destruction of the
Silo church, 2005.
14 Aj ke Dhritarashtra (Today’s Dhritrashtra). A Photoshopped placard
displayed at the Ramlila Maidan protest. Mother India is shown being
disrobed in the centre of the image, Anna Hazare appears incarnated as
Krishna on the left and a blind Manmohan Singh (the Prime Minister)
appears on the right above Salman Kalmadi and A. Raja.
15 A modern Karni Bharni image showing actions and their punishments in
hell. Photographed in rural Madhya Pradesh in 2011.
ix