Aborignal Art & Society

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Perth course number ANTH 2224 - This unit is offered in partnership with the Berndt Museum of Anthropology and the School of Indigenous Studies. It introduces students to the anthropology of Australian Aboriginal visual art, focusing on various anthropological approaches to understanding the productions of individual artists within their respective socio-cultural contexts. Frameworks derived from the sub-disciplines of visual anthropology, cultural anthropology, the new museology and the anthropology of art provide analytical structure for approaching an understanding of Australian Aboriginal art within the broader Australian post-colonial setting. Several local Aboriginal artists and commentators participate in the unit as guest lecturers. Topics addressed may include rock art as a living tradition; regional perspectives and stylistic values; art and the transmission of culture; art and its relationship to land; cultural creativity and the maintenance of religious knowledge; art and the emergence of new identities; respecting cultural values; and appropriation and copyright. Perth course ANTH 2902: This unit introduces students to the anthropology of Australian Aboriginal visual art, focusing on various anthropological approaches to understanding the productions of individual artists within their respective sociocultural contexts. Frameworks derived from the sub-disciplines of visual anthropology, cultural anthropology, and the anthropology of art provide analytical structure for approaching an understanding of Australian Aboriginal art within the broader Australian postcolonial setting. Topics addressed may include art and its relationship to place; cultural creativity and the maintenance of religious knowledge; color and aesthetics; contemporary art; regional perspectives and stylistic values; appropriation, copyright and intellectual property. Students are able to (1) demonstrate an understanding of key concepts within the anthropology/sociology of art and Aboriginal art in particular; (2) demonstrate understanding of analytical approaches to an anthropology of art; (3) demonstrate an ability to understand the role of art in the transmission and maintenance of cultural knowledge and values and the emergence of new ideas, and apply this insight to the role of art as a marker of cultural process; (4) demonstrate an ability to understand the nature and characteristics of regional perspectives and stylistic values and apply this insight to the categorization of styles in Aboriginal art; and (5) demonstrate an ability to communicate anthropological and sociological ideas, principles and knowledge to specialist and non-specialist audiences using a range of formats (written, oral, visual etc.), and to understand issues of appropriation, copyright and intellectual property as these pertain to Australian Aboriginal art.