Suchergebnisse

Examines how the case of artist Marie Laurencin reveals limitations in feminist theories of avant-gardism, focusing on her relation to the cubist avant-garde & how signs of her femininity were mobilized by the artist as well as her colleagues, critics, & patrons. It is observed that current feminist theories of avant-gardism either celebrate Laurencin as an example of transgressive femininity or criticize her as an example of a modernist construction that works to exclude women. Here, it is shown that Laurencin's femininity was at times wielded as an exception to prove the rule that women were not serious avant-garde painters & at others was considered disconcertingly feminist. Drawing on Michel de Certeau's (1984) account of the oppositional practices of everyday life, it is argued that Laurencin's relationship to cubist avant-gardism was at once enabling & alienating, as the unstable modernist discourses of the early 20th century opened a space in which even someone as relatively disadvantaged as Laurencin was able to maneuver. 9 Figures. D. M. Smith

Investigates the survival of various forms of traditional, "prenational" performing arts in the postcolonial societies of Southeast Asia, focusing on the influence of national government cultural policy & structures. Arguing against the view that traditional forms of culture have primarily been redefined & commodified by outside forces, it is suggested that the state has played quite an active role in local culture. It is shown that, once free of colonial rule, the governments of Southeast Asia were quick to establish administrative structures either strictly for culture or to place culture as part of a "portfolio" within specific government ministries. The relationship between government policies, structures, & funding for the performing arts across different countries is shown to be quite similar; regional variations in the pairing of culture with education, information, or tourism are identified & related to differences in funding & development priorities. The contemporary relationship between government & culture is described as "symbiotic," with each helping shape & being shaped by the other; it can also be seen as an inherited form of patronage, with state cultural agencies bestowing funds for artistic projects. The government's position toward performers & the role of subsidy in the maintenance of traditional forms of performing arts are reviewed, along with the perpetuation of the highly structured role of the audience in these performances. 19 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Investigates the survival of various forms of traditional, "prenational" performing arts in the postcolonial societies of Southeast Asia, focusing on the influence of national government cultural policy & structures. Arguing against the view that traditional forms of culture have primarily been redefined & commodified by outside forces, it is suggested that the state has played quite an active role in local culture. It is shown that, once free of colonial rule, the governments of Southeast Asia were quick to establish administrative structures either strictly for culture or to place culture as part of a "portfolio" within specific government ministries. The relationship between government policies, structures, & funding for the performing arts across different countries is shown to be quite similar; regional variations in the pairing of culture with education, information, or tourism are identified & related to differences in funding & development priorities. The contemporary relationship between government & culture is described as "symbiotic," with each helping shape & being shaped by the other; it can also be seen as an inherited form of patronage, with state cultural agencies bestowing funds for artistic projects. The government's position toward performers & the role of subsidy in the maintenance of traditional forms of performing arts are reviewed, along with the perpetuation of the highly structured role of the audience in these performances. 19 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

An autobiographical narrative draws on Maria Lugones's (1992) notion of a "new mestiza consciousness" to describe the experiences of a woman who considers herself neither completely inside, nor completely outside, conventional mainstream categories. The focus is on being a person of mixed heritage who occupies the "in-between" space of both a professional philosopher & embryologist, as well as the unique space of a semiprofessional artist & ballroom dancer. It is contended that being trained as both a philosopher & scientist, coupled with having the experiences of an artist, have permitted bypassing many disciplinary, intellectual, & institutional boundaries, while also integrating pragmatic issues concerning gender & science into the practice of teaching & research. The incorporation of scientific materials like the evolving nature of Darwinism into an introductory philosophy class is described, along with how both science & art can be integrated into epistemology & metaphysics; & how tensions stemming from being an insider-outsider serve to empower the reworking of professional, institutional, gendered, & racial borders. 12 References. J. Lindroth

Imagines what Alexis de Toqueville, in his analysis of the growth of democracy in the US, might have thought about the contemporary relationship between the press & the arts. De Toqueville's comparison of the US & French democratic enterprises is reviewed, focusing on the practice of the arts & arts education. Regarding the extension of opportunities for artistic expression to the masses, Toqueville argued that art became trivialized, pursued for utilitarian & monetary reasons rather than its inherent beauty. These views are applied to recent controversies surrounding support by the US government to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). K. Hyatt Stewart

The Christoph Schlingensief performance with the refugee container in front of Vienna State Opera touched and moved people, angered them, or inspired them to reflect critically on their own prejudices and preconceptions. By choosing a central locus in the heart of Vienna, frequented daily by numerous tourists, Christoph Schlingensief managed to attract considerable attention with his artistic-political initiative. Moreover, some tourists thought the performance was the implementation of an actual public initiative to arbitrarily deport as many refugees as possible. Subsequently, Schlingensief was either verbally attacked on television, completely ignored or even derided as politically corrupt, someone who had been 'bought and paid for'. Forcefully engaging with this 'predetermined breaking point', the artist disrupted the power of the asylum dispositif, at least for a brief interval.

Argues that early Greek & Roman terminology & attitudes regarding blacks were not colored by racism. Although the first European accounts of African peoples often used a color-term to designate blacks, it is contended that the term "Ethiopian" carried no stigma of inferiority. The circumstance in which Greco-Romans encountered blacks was frequently within the military arena &, therefore, the image of the black as a warrior (vs savage) was reflected in the literature from Homer to the sixth century AD. It is argued that many scholars have misinterpreted the classical artist's interest in Negroid types in failing to accept that Greek & Roman artists regarded skin color as nothing more than a geographic accident. It is asserted that blacks faced no institutional barriers within the Greco-Roman world & were welcomed as priests & Monks in both Isiac & Christian worship. 34 References. M. Greenberg

Looks at the emergence of "Casual Fridays" in the workplace as part of a new managerial ethos that claims to empower workers, undo rigid bureaucratic constraints, & eliminate workplace hierarchies. Americans were again encouraged to find their identities in work rather than in leisure time or consumption. Diminishing boundaries between work & leisure are exemplified by New York's "Silicon Alley," where workplace environments include communal spaces, game rooms, gyms, & other amenities. It is maintained that these environments are the ultimate physical embodiment of the "flexibility" discourse that has recently dominated corporate culture. The decline in steady full-time jobs between 1973 & 1993 & the rise in free agents, or independent contractors, are explored. It is contended that the "liberated" artists/writers who work on one side of the professional divide are counterbalanced by low-wage contingent employees who are exploited by cost-cutting managers. The conflicts created by placing principles of public interest or creative expression above the pursuit of material security in a labor environment dominated by neoliberal business models are discussed. J. Lindroth

W. E. B. Du Bois's novel Dark Princess (1928) is given a sympathetic reading that illuminates his spiritual concerns for the culture of black Americans, & his hope that the black race would make some great contribution to world civilization. This novel has typically been interpreted as an attempt by Du Bois to reassert his authority over the young authors of the Harlem (NY) Renaissance, whose artistic expressiveness came at the expense of radical political purposiveness. Asserting that all art is propaganda, Du Bois wrote this novel about the duty of the black American artist. Du Bois is linked with the transcendentalist movement that included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, & Walt Whitman. The novel's narrative of the relationship between an Indian princess & a black American is recounted, & the comparison of the black man's & Indian's culture is shown to relate to Du Bois's concern for the capacity of the black race for cultural achievement. It is argued that the novel is about the spiritual virtues & values necessary for the development of culture. H. von Rautenfeld

The nature & implications of the consumption & leisure patterns of Algerian male youth during the 1980s are discussed in an analysis of rai music: a mixture of Western & traditional styles performed predominantly by young male artists. Rai music seems to reflect male youths' desires & difficulties coming to terms with new love relationships & with adulthood. The central themes of this musical form were love, lust, emphasis on traditional family relationships with a caring mother & respected father, glorification of Islam, association of women with sorcery, & concern regarding women's entrance into recently male-dominated realms of society. However, the extent to which different individuals accepted these diverse beliefs was highly variable. Rai frequently expressed the desire for young males to create their own social sphere separate from the parent generation. Relationships with females were seen as an entrance into the adult world; however, these relationships were complicated by the gender division in leisure activities & consumption, & concern regarding women's emerging social freedoms. It is concluded that rai is reflective of the major crisis in modern Algerian culture -- the conflict between young men's movement toward Islam & the Westernization of culture. 55 References. T. Sevier

"Hip Hop movements based on Rap music are spread all over the globe and are also very popular in Africa south of the Sahara. Their contribution to the political change of power in Senegal (2000) as well as in Kenya (2002) is uncontested and well documented. This contribution is going to discuss Hip Hop movements in Africa based on the analysis of Hip Hop lyrics and written documents. It views the Hip Hop movements as parts of African civil societies. While at the beginning the Hip Hop movements were dominated by the children of the urban petty bourgeois in the environment of universities and secondary schools, the social base has extended to the urban lower classes, thus conserving the urban bias (as well as its gender bias). The Hip Hop movements are protest movements of young urban (male) Africans. Although Hip Hop movements are less instrumentalized by the neopatrimonial state than many NGOs, they are threatened as well, as they also depend on economic resources and as one can hardly survive on music in Africa. Especially in French speaking countries, the French Cultural Centers representing the dominant culture, offer foreign assistance. Likewise sometimes other development agencies involve Rap music to raise awareness for their topics. African Rap music is also under pressure to fit into the folkloristic 'world music' scene if the artists want to sell their music abroad; the local market is not sustainable due to low income and piracy. Critical content is restricted in many mass media run by the state, although there is a growing number of private media offering more open platforms. At the moment, the Hip Hop movements are powerful in raising protest, but generally limit themselves to this critical corrective function. Although the stand for different values and norms, they do not present a counter-concept to the neopatrimonial state and are unlikely to become the bases of an alternative society." (author's abstract)

"Hip Hop movements based on Rap music are spread all over the globe and are also very popular in Africa south of the Sahara. Their contribution to the political change of power in Senegal (2000) as well as in Kenya (2002) is uncontested and well documented. This contribution is going to discuss Hip Hop movements in Africa based on the analysis of Hip Hop lyrics and written documents. It views the Hip Hop movements as parts of African civil societies. While at the beginning the Hip Hop movements were dominated by the children of the urban petty bourgeois in the environment of universities and secondary schools, the social base has extended to the urban lower classes, thus conserving the urban bias (as well as its gender bias). The Hip Hop movements are protest movements of young urban (male) Africans. Although Hip Hop movements are less instrumentalized by the neopatrimonial state than many NGOs, they are threatened as well, as they also depend on economic resources and as one can hardly survive on music in Africa. Especially in French speaking countries, the French Cultural Centers representing the dominant culture, offer foreign assistance. Likewise sometimes other development agencies involve Rap music to raise awareness for their topics. African Rap music is also under pressure to fit into the folkloristic 'world music' scene if the artists want to sell their music abroad; the local market is not sustainable due to low income and piracy. Critical content is restricted in many mass media run by the state, although there is a growing number of private media offering more open platforms. At the moment, the Hip Hop movements are powerful in raising protest, but generally limit themselves to this critical corrective function. Although the stand for different values and norms, they do not present a counter-concept to the neopatrimonial state and are unlikely to become the bases of an alternative society." (author's abstract).