Routledge Alternative Art and Anthropology: Global Encounters

While the importance of the relationship between anthropology and contemporary art has long been recognized, the discussion has tended to be among scholars from North America, Europe, and Australia; until now, scholarship and experiences from other regions have been largely absent from mainstream debate. Alternative Art and Anthropology: Global Encounters rectifies this by offering a ground-breaking new approach to the subject. Entirely dedicated to perspectives from Asia, Latin America, and Africa, the book advances our understanding of the connections between anthropology and contemporary art on a global scale. Across ten chapters, a range of anthropologists, artists, and curators from countries such as China, Japan, Indonesia, Bhutan, Nigeria, Chile, Ecuador, and the Philippines discuss encounters between anthropology and contemporary art from their points of view, presenting readers with new vantage points and perspectives. Arnd Schneider, a leading scholar in the field, draws together the various threads to provide readers with a clear conceptual and theoretical narrative. The first to map the relationship between anthropology and contemporary art from a global perspective, this is a key text for students and academics in areas such as anthropology, visual anthropology, anthropology of art, art history, and curatorial studies. Review "Well known for his extensive work on art and anthropology, and art as anthropology, over the last few years, Schneider, in his recent publication Alternative Art and Anthropology, Global Encounter, presents various voices that engage with the “communication of difference across culturally refracted boundaries of disciplines” (2). In collaboration with anthropologists, artists, and other researches from various geographical and cultural contexts, this book contributes to the long-enduring discussion on the encounter between art and anthropology. - Anthropos This book offers a timely chance to reach to otherness in a world where on the one hand, inclusivity and diversity are constantly called for by individual scholars and institutions, and on the other hand, tensions between differences is rising and the marginalised remains largely silenced. One strength of this book comes from its organisation: each scholar's text is followed by an interview, in which ideas are given clearer shaped through dialogues. - entanglements - Chien Lee Overall, the book is very enjoyable to read and presents a range of new conceptual and practical perspectives ... With its substantial theoretical framework and rich range of empirical examples, this book is a key text for students, academics and practitioners. - Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford For a long time Arnd Schneider has been thoroughly discussing the intricate and manifold relationships between art and anthropology. In this most pertinent book, he opens the discussion away from the hegemonic academic and art worlds to focus on authors who speak from other, very diverse contexts: a global selection of crossed voices. His interviews to some of them are as enlightening as their essays, while adding sharp vivacity to the volume. - Gerardo Mosquera, Independent curator and critic This volume provides a valuable resource for expanding the field of anthropology and contemporary art within academia for students, educators, anthropologists, and art practitioners. - Visual Anthropology Review Certainly, the book fulfills its promise by introducing readers to the work of artists, curators, and scholars outside the gamut of mainstream western attention. It will be of interest to those seeking to broaden their perspectives on the variety of ways the movements between art and anthropology can be configured. - FIELD: A Journal of Socially Engaged Art Criticism" About the Author Arnd Schneider is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is the editor of Contemporary Art and Anth