1st Edition
Methodology, Ideology and Pedagogy of African Art Primitive to Metamodern
This edited volume, including contributions from scholars with different areas of specialization, investigates a broad range of methodologies, ideologies and pedagogies focusing on the study of the art of Africa, using theoretical reflections and applications from primitivism to metamodernism.
Chapters break the externally imposed boundaries of Africa-related works beyond the conventional fragments of traditional, contemporary and diaspora. The contributions are significantly broad in their methodologies, ideologies and pedagogical coverage; yet, they all address various aspects of African artistic creativity, demonstrating the possibilities for analytical experiments that art history presents to scholars of the discipline today. The Ìwà (character) of each approach is unique; nevertheless, each is useful toward a fuller understanding of African art studies as an independent aspect of art historical research that is a branch or bud of the larger family of art history. The volume respects, highlights and celebrates the distinctiveness of each methodical approach, recognizing its contribution to the overall character or Ìwà of African art studies.
The book will be of interest to students in undergraduate or graduate, intermediate or advanced courses as well as scholars in art history and African studies.
1. On the Invention of "Traditional" Art
John Picton
2. Sensiotics or the Study of the Senses in Material Culture and History in Africa and Beyond
Henry John Drewal
3. Dancing Nkhoba: The Flow of Sound and Healthy Bodies in the West Usambara Mountains of Tanzania
Marguerite E.H. Lenius
4. African Meanings, Western Words
Barry Hallen
5. Chwuechology: Indigenous African Art Education
Akinyi Wadende
6. Azande and Mangbetu Artists as Social Critics in the Belgian Congo 1909–1915: What Are the Implications for Contemporary Artists and Museums Today?
Nancy Pauly
7. Cloth as Metaphor in Egungun Costumes
Bolaji Campbell
8. Conflict and Peace: Gender and Spiritual Dimensions of Eguìnguìn Performance
Funmi Saliu Imaledo
9. IÌbaÌ Fuìn Obinrin: Monochromatic Mythography of Yoruba Female Power
Kehinde Adepegba
10. Creativity and Identity Construction in Contemporary Yoruba Art
Michael Olusegun Fajuyigbe
11. African Art, the Venice Biennale, and the Politics of Visibility
Janine A. Sytsma
12. The Spirit of Fi Yi Yi and the Mandingo Warriors: Africa in New Orleans
Cynthia Becker
13. Speaking into Being: The Resonance of Empathy in the Work of Elizabeth Catlett
Melanie Anne Herzog
14. Sacred Spaces: Antonius Roberts and Public Sanctuaries
Moyo Okediji
15. Reflections and Reminiscences Revisited: Indigenous Knowledge Systems, African-Based Worldviews, and Cross-Cultural Diasporic Connections
Andrea E. Frohne
16. Akwaaba/Continuum: Manifesto of an African Artist
Rikki Wemega-Kwawu
17. Èṣù Ẹlẹgba Agency in the Critical Imagery of African American Artist John Yancey
Christopher Adejumo
18. Toward a Sonic African Diasporic Re-Membering
Jacqueline Cofield
Biography
Moyo Okediji is Professor of African Art History at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
