Anthropology Concepts 1-5
by merina valenzuela
1. Ch.1 the origins of art
1.1. the concept of art originates from Europe.
1.2. many europeans believed art started in Paleolithic cave paintings.
1.3. age of discovery was age of revision of mediteranean culture.
1.4. royal courts of 1400-1800 created value system of art
2. Ch.1 industrial and intellectual revolutions
2.1. Shelly Errington 18th Century fine arts seperated: paintings, scultputres, architecture, music and dance.
2.2. Carl Linnaeus hierarchy of the world.
2.3. age of discovery develops feeling.
3. Ch. 2 Obsession with ancient Greece
3.1. French Napoleonic Wars challenged Ottoman power.
3.2. British expelled French from region of the Ottoman Empire.
3.3. Allowed British to take hundreds of chunks of sculptures.
3.4. 1802, British Ambassador, Lord Elgin. Shipped sculptures back to London. Entrusted to the British Museum Parliament “salvaged” and saved art from “barbarous” Turks.
3.5. Greek reimagines Parthenon marbles
4. Ch. 2 Ancient Mesopotamia
4.1. Europeans in Mesopotamia Investigated sites to corroborate biblical accounts. Tower of Babel Babylon Nineveh
4.2. Intellectual approach biased due to biblical accounts. Desert kingdoms fallen due to corruption. Based on colonial aspirations in the region. Assyrian sculptures compared negatively to ancient Greece.
4.3. Henry Rawlinson, British consul-general at Baghdad, Officials described as: “crude and stiff, the execution careless” “grouping confused and fantastic” “overestimate their importance”
5. Ch. 2 How did Hegel theory change artistic thinking?
5.1. Art and art historians changed their way of thinking about classics and contemporary art forms.
5.2. Art is a continuous flow of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis
5.3. Analysis should not be concerned with the rise and fall of civilization
5.4. Art reflected culture, spirit, worldview, of a society. Historical particularism -Franz Boas
6. Ch. 4 Development of primitive and savage concepts.
6.1. Colonized people are childlike and instinctual
6.2. Incapable of self-development.
6.3. Racially inferior
6.4. Need control and guidance
6.5. Inherently conservative resistant to change.
6.6. Represent primitive stage of society
7. Ch. 4 Invention of the primitive man
7.1. Contrast of “civilized” societies. European ethnocentric. olonial self-interest. Developed theories of contrasting societies
7.2. Political: How were people ruled without rulers or government. Power analysis of society.
7.3. Belief or Religious life: Belief in supernatural forces. Artistic expression: Variations of visual forms. Origins of the art forms.
7.4. Europe classification and development:Analysis developed into disciplines.Ethnology, ethnography, socio-cultural anthropology
8. Ch. 4 A glimpse into the past
8.1. European believed “primitive” societies represent window to their own origins
8.2. Two different perspectives:Crude and impoverished people saved by civilization. Idealized past before the traps of modern civilization
8.3. Anthropologist speculated about the development of “primitive” cultures.
8.4. Unilineal cultural evolution
8.4.1. all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages from simple to complex.
8.5. Speculative theories
8.5.1. Higher cultures influenced lower. Higher cultures degenerated from exposure
8.6. Typology
8.6.1. arranging artifacts from around the world in sequence.
8.7. Survivals
8.7.1. simple forms that survive or slowly change due to items suited to their environment.
9. Ch. 3 orientalism
9.1. A way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient's special place in European Western Experience. Expresses and represents that part culturally and even ideologically as a mode of discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrines, and even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles.
9.2. Clash of civilizations Enemy of Europe Egyptians and Babylonians oppressed Israelites Greeks fought off Persians Crusader fought off Muslims Contemporarily Western global hegemony challenged by Islamic Resistance.
9.3. 8th century and Orientalism Scholars searched for origins of human culture. Was it Hebrew, Egyptian, Greeks, or Asian? Europe believed it was Greek culture
9.4. Hegel believed Asian and European had distinct “world spirit.” Asian less developed Lacking self awareness Art spirit of the culture. Asia and Indian art viewed unfavorably.
10. Ch. 3 European art classification of Asian art
10.1. Despite the unfavorable view of Asian art it was collected and exhibited
10.2. Asian artifacts identified in unique category.
10.3. Art historians believe they produced little fine ar
10.4. Decorative art.
10.5. John Ruskin
10.5.1. Art from Indian, Saracen, Byzantines, Moorish, Indian, Chinese, and South Sea Islanders viewed as ethnographic. Ornamentation of that lower kind. Delight of cruel nations Lines without natural forms. inheritance of ignorance and cruelty
11. Ch. 5 Discovering Antiquity
11.1. Roots of the concepts of European origins: Based records on documents collected from Greeks and Romans. King James Bible Old Testament Archbishop James Ussher calculated world had been created in 4004 B.C.E.
11.2. Origin theories17th and 18th century Antiquarian combined with other disciplines known as “Natural philosophy” Researched God’s work and based chronology on Bible and Greek and Roman documents
11.3. Chronology of dates gathered:Times inscribed on Greek and Roman structures, sculptures, coinsOther material culture in Unite d Kingdom was not considered in dating and timeline of humanity. Celtic and Druids history disavowed.
11.4. 17th century soil stratification and older objects Discovered connection to Biblical flood Once mythical objects: Thunderbolts Fairy arrowheads Remanence of older humanity
12. Ch. 5 The Dawn of Art
12.1. Some connections can be made if culture is similar to others. Some interpretation obvious: Cooking pots Axes
12.2. Remains found make bias assumptions about another cultures. Discredited by most Paleo-archeologist some of these analogies become popular in society
12.3. During last Ice Age people of last stone age 20,000 to 10,000 BCE
12.4. Believed Native Americans were culturally analogous to their experience. Labeled them hunters and gatherers. Believed European antiquities should have been the same because of the analogy to the Native populations.
13. Ch. 5 Prehistoric myths: Stonehenge
13.1. Created 5,000 years ago Associated with Druid culture. Researchers focused on solar alignments, but lunar alignments more important.
13.2. Gendered research emphasized solar vs. lunar elements. Marked the years longest night.
13.3. Lunar focus meaning on menstrual cycle and female needs. Solar focus orients herding, usually male activities.
13.4. Women first owned artistic and ceremonial powers. Artistic and ceremonial world taken from women. Abelam society demonstrates a separation of certain artistic styles. Paleolithic cave paintings may have been separated by gender. Does not mean all artist are male.
14. Ch.1 collecting and classifying
14.1. 1801 Dept. of Antiquities created.
14.2. collection acquired during colonial period included: egyptian sculpting, Romans sculpting, Greeks sculpting.
14.3. 1812 Bullocks museum.
14.4. 1824 National Gallery of distinction between fine art and collections.
15. Ch. 2 World Art
15.1. Western European has claimed affiliation and reverence to Greek and Roman society.
15.2. Western Europeans believed Greece and Rome represented “Classical expression” of European art forms.
16. Ch. 2 Biblical Antiquity
16.1. Christianity is founded in the Middle East. Interest in these regions increased as relics to religious heritage.
16.2. Two areas: -Ancient Egypt -Ancient Mesopotamia
16.3. France invaded Egyp
16.4. Assembled a collection of antiquities Collection confiscated by British during Napoleonic War. Egyptian revival including Rosetta Stone
16.5. French and English competed for in acquiring and replicating Ancient Egyptian style.
16.6. halls and temples Crystal Palace Great Exhibition
17. Ch. 2 Classical Art History
17.1. Hellenomania
17.1.1. Fetishism of ancient Greek art. European represented next stage in the cycle of progressive civilizations. Eurocentric ownership of art and arts direction.
17.2. German philosopher, Hegel dialectic analysis. All things change but why? What causes social change? Thesis + antithesis= synthesis
17.3. Zeitgeist
17.3.1. spirit of the age, spirit of a culture
17.4. The spirit of any age is created in struggle of competing forces. Each era has important elements of humans experience.
17.5. Hegel believed: Art should idealize nature Art should not portray it exactly
18. Ch. 4 Savages and Anthropologist
18.1. Theories on the origins of humanity of the 1800s: Claimed all humanity came from single origin. Humanity and races evolve like other species.
18.2. Some races develop more than others. Historians, philosophers believed Western society was the pinnacle of all humanity. less complex societies believed to represent window into past or less evolved. Colonizer and colonized dichotomy
18.3. Savage and barbarous societies
18.3.1. -Africa -The Americas -Pacific Islands -Any regions far from Europe. -Weak political organization. -Chiefdom or tribe
18.4. Primitive used by British to describe Aboriginal peoples. Represent primal stage in human evolution. Western cultures describe them in condescending ways
18.5. Ancient Greeks described neighbors as incomprehensible barbarians. Christians described non-Christians as heathens
19. Ch. 4 perspectives from Anthropology
19.1. Eurocentric and ethnocentric ideology: Societies may reject foreign influence.
19.2. Their own way of life may be better for them and the environment
19.3. Did not consider connection with larger confederations. Rise and fall or ebb and flow of social complexity.
19.4. Europeans willfully ignorant to indigenous history.
19.5. Characteristics of small societies Structural limitations. - No powerful rulers or elite. - No large state like society. - Division created varied local artistic expressions. - Large-scale trade sometimes absent: - Luxury items support elite classes. - Egalitarian societies - Exploitive behavior is anti-social. - Exploitive class not encouraged.
20. Ch. 4 Evolution, diffusion, and speculation
20.1. Pitt Rivers Savage races cultural material: Evolution of clubs and shield from Australia and Pacific Islands. follows the pattern of typologies. Grouped by functional type rather than by cultural or historical category.
20.2. Exotic peoples global borrowing of art forms and motifs. Popular from 1930-1960s Diffusion of alternative to evolutionist theories. Elliot-Smith of Univ. of London traced non-Western style back to Ancient Egypt. Regardless of distance.
20.3. Exotic peoples global borrowing of art forms and motifs. High culture spread forms but deteriorated style Low culture enriched by diffusion.
20.3.1. Curvilinear style -diffused from Solomon Islands to Papuan people and Trobriand island Tami style-Diffused from Melanesia to Melanesia and New Guiana Beak style-originated from Hindu Elephant God, Ganesh via Indonesia New Guinea and Solomon Islands Korwar style-Originated from Cambodia to New Guinea Malanggan style – Originated in Indian Hindu temples to Papua and Melanesesia
20.4. Exotic peoples global borrowing of art forms and motifs. Heraldic Woman Mother goddess Southwest Asia origins-Iran Afghanistan Etruscans in Italy Asian forms Pacific Islands Would require a drastic degree of convergence to interpedently develop idea
21. Ch. 4 Identifying cultures areas and styles
21.1. 20TH Century anthropologist collected empirical facts among colonized Native North Americans, Africans, and Pacific Islanders.
21.2. Franz Boa
21.2.1. Advocated analysis of unique historical experienc
21.2.2. Protested against German anti-Semitism and American racism.
21.2.3. Rejected unilineal cultural evolution
21.2.4. He denied naïve diffusionism claiming cultural traits survived or died.
21.2.5. Cultures no static, but dynamic.
21.3. Historical particularism
21.3.1. the concept that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique historie
21.4. Clark Wissler
21.4.1. Developed unique cultural traits Features Social practices Mapped out culture
21.5. complexes/culture areas
21.5.1. traits that coincided with each other in certain regional environments.