Deena Scarborough: ARH 6930 Fall 2014
Deena Scarborough
ARH6930: Art & Global Diversity
Professor: Dr. Pamela Brekka
Final Project: Annotated Bibliography
Semester: Fall 2014
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abu-Lughod, Lila. 1990. “The Romance of Resistance: Tracing Transformations of Power
through Bedouin Women.” American Ethnologist, 17(1):41-55.

Abu-Lughod writes about the concept of political resistance for females as a diagnostic
for confidence and power. Bedouin women are increasingly becoming more
incorporated into the Egyptian state and economy; women's resistance should not be
romanticized and can reveal much about the historically changing relations of power in
Egypt and beyond.
Belting, Hans. “Contemporary Art as Global Art: A Critical Estimate.” The Global Art World,
Ostfildern, 2009.

Belting discusses the differences between global art and world and the importance of
understanding their diversities in the modern art arena. He describes the changes that
are occurring in the art world today as there is a definitive move toward global art, often
leaving world art in the history books and museums.
Bennett, Tony. 1988. “The Exhibitionary Complex,” New Formations, 4:73-102.

Bennett describes the “exhibitionary complex” as something that emerged during
nineteenth and twentieth century small and large scale displays that created a divide
between the West and the rest of global culture. He claims this exhibitionary complex
“set the exotic Other up as a category of visual spectacle that in turn encouraged an
audience to imagine itself in contrast as European in culture.”
Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Illuminations, H.
Arendt, ed. (New York, 1969), 223.

Benjamin argues that the uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its "being
imbedded in the fabric of tradition." Regarding historical pieces displayed in museums
he writes, “Unapproachability is indeed a major quality of the cult image. True to its
nature, it remains distant, however close it may be."
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Deena Scarborough: ARH 6930 Fall 2014
Branham, Joan R., “Sacrality and Aura in the Museum: Mute Objects and Articulate Space.” The
Journal of the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 52/53 (1994/1995), pp. 33-47.

Branham’s essay describes the suggested and imaginary bridges built to provide more
thorough human understanding of historical cultures and events through the recontextualization of artifacts in museum settings. Branham gives examples of museums
that have (or have not) made efforts to respect art considered sacred by various groups.
Clifford, James. 1988. The Predicament of Culture. Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature
and Art, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Clifford analyzes a critical ethnography of the West and its changing relations with other
global societies. He asserts that the West ‘can no longer present itself as the unique
purveyor of anthropological knowledge about others’ as their critical personal
knowledge and experience is absent and they shouldn’t portray ‘partial truths.’ He
details noted differences between self and other and their many complexities.
Comaroff, Jean, and John L. Comaroff. 2000. “Millenial Capitalism: First Thoughts on a Second
Coming.” Public Culture 12(2):291-343.

The authors of this journal entry have called attention to the ways in which youth of our
world have come "to occupy the innovative, uncharted borderlands along which the
global meets the local.” Comaroff and Comaroff discuss how young artists often become
the focus of art ‘battles’ forged between traditional curators and art scene newcomers,
specifically in northern Africa and Egypt.
Coomaraswamy, A. K. “Visnudharmottara, Chapter XLI,” Journal of the American Oriental
Society, 52 (1932): 13–21.

Coomaraswamy was an art historian trained as a geologist and chose to not enable
scientific methods for studying artifacts in India. He supported cultural nationalism and
tried to set any Euro-colonial misconceptions about Indian art straight, then later
became a transcendentalist.
Dean, Carolyn. “The Trouble with (the Term) Art.” Art Journal 65, no.2 (Summer 2006): 24-32.

Dean discusses the unfairness of comparing art from various cultures and times when
many of the pieces now considered “art” were not made with that intention. Dean is
outspoken and outraged that many European-based art standards are still held as a
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Deena Scarborough: ARH 6930 Fall 2014
comparison tool to decipher and compartmentalize global art. Although I agree with
what she’s presented, I believe Dean could have made a stronger point if she had
ventured out beyond her comfort zone of South and Latin America for examples.
Duncan, Carol. “Art Museums and the Ritual of Citizenship” in Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics
and Politics of Museum Display. Eds. Ivan Karp and Stephen D. Lavine. Washington: Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1991, pp. 88-103.

Duncan’s article discusses the importance of state-founded public museums in our
world today and how they use displayed objects to serve a possible political purpose.
She challenges museum goers to use their critical eye when viewing displays of any kind
and encourages everyone to be aware of potential political brainwashing at the hands of
museum curators and owners.
Elkins, James. “Art History as a Global Discipline,” in: Elkins, Is Art History Global? 2007, 3–25,
22.

In one conversation within his book Elkins describes his theory of “local practices of art
history” that do not follow a single model common throughout the world. He details his
“five arguments” against the idea that art history can be based on one set of Westernbased ideals, when instead it is global in nature.
Errington, Shelly. "What Became Authentic Primitive Art?" Cultural Anthropology 9, no. 2
(1994): 201-203.

The anthropologist introduces the term "art by appropriation," as when westerners call
something from another culture “art” it tends to elevate the estimation held for that
something, especially when encouraged by the desires of the modern Western art
market. Errington also discusses “iconicity” as people finding a resemblance to
something recognizable in natural objects.
Fabian, Johannes. 1991. Time and the Work of Anthroplogy. Critical Essays 1971-1991, Chur,
Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers.

Fabian discusses the intellectual history of anthropology, detailing conceptions of the
‘other’ which often is represented as a negative idea. Oppositions created by
industrialization, bureaucracy and the concept of progress have driven a conceptual rift
between cultural societies and have permanent relational effects.
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Deena Scarborough: ARH 6930 Fall 2014
Fisher, Philip. Making and Effacing Art, 1991; New York, 19.

"Take the crucifix out of the cathedral and you take the cathedral out of the crucifix.”
Fisher refers to the ‘silencing’ of images by placing them in locations other than where
they were meant to be, allowing viewers to “neutrally stand in their presence."
Flood, Finbarr Barry. "Between Cult and Culture: Bamiyan, Islamic Iconoclasm, and the
Museum," The Art Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 4 (Dec., 2002) pp. 641-659.

Flood discusses the unintended effect various pieces of art have had on their respective
communities and the unfortunate defacing incidents that have happened in the name of
religious or personal beliefs. Flood discusses at length the 2001 destruction of large
Buddha figures in Afghanistan, as well as details a variety of other acts of destruction
against artistic pieces from Iran and Iraq.
Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things, 1966; New York: Random House.

A consideration of the art of looking and how things perceived can hold value to
individuals. Those who practice academic disciplines are held accountable in his
discussion as responsible persons who need to find order in related things, through
process of organization, categorization, etc. Foucalt also discusses “normalization”
which he defines as making arbitrary distinctions in things to appear useful.
Foucault, Michel. 1980 Power/Knowledge. Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977,
edited by Colin Gordon, New York: Pantheon Books.

Foucault discusses how power produces pleasure and forms knowledge, which creates
understanding that the production of knowledge is pleasurable in itself. Therefore,
knowledge produces power.
Fried, Michael. "Art and Objecthood," Artforum (June 1967), reprinted in Art and Objecthood
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), 166.

This essay focuses on what makes modern art known as ‘modern’ and not
contemporary art. He discusses how modern art is in its own aura and doesn’t require
anyone to look at it to be considered great.
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Deena Scarborough: ARH 6930 Fall 2014
Gell, Alfred. Art and Agency: An Anrhropological Theory, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.

Gell questions the criteria that gives rank to certain classes of objects in art while leaving
others out, and argues that art theory of today should not be considered as important
as the creation itself. The respected anthropologist also discusses how the act of
making, displaying and writing about art is actually a sort of idolatry.
Gilroy, Paul. Against Race: Imagining Political Culture beyond the Color Line, Cambridge, Mass.:
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000.

Gilroy coined the term “post-racial” in hopes to decenter ethnicity in society. He argues
that a race-focused society has destroyed the “finest promises of modern democracy
and that much that was wonderful about black culture has been sacrificed in the service
of corporate interests and new forms of cultural expression.”
Graham, Mark Miller. "The Future of Art History and the Undoing of the Survey," 1995. Art
Journal, Vol. 54, No. 3, Rethinking the Introductory Art History Survey, pp. 30-34.

Graham offers a new look at the old narratives found in the monotony of the art survey
in this essay. He addresses four structural pieces of the art survey: canonicity,
chronology, closure and subjectivity; he argues against linear art history and encourages
the end of the art survey and the ejection of the canon as we know it.
Greenblatt, Stephen. "Resonance and Wonder," Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of
Museum Display, I. Karp and S. D. Lavine, eds. (Washington, D.C, 1990), 42.

Greenblatt points out several ways in which museums are attempting to exhibit objects
in a surreal experience for their visitors. For example, in many modern museum settings,
items that were intended for ceremonial purposes are reduced to being displayed with
unrelated pieces, detaching the reality and setting it up for entertainment value only.
Hallam, Elizabeth and Brian V. Street, “Introduction.” Cultural Encounters: Representing
‘Otherness.’ London: Routledge, 2000. pp. 1-10.

In this introduction selection, Hallam and Street dive head first into the concept of
‘othering’ which is a growing problem and social trend. The authors set the platform
that will examine “the social, cultural and political institutions and processes through
which ‘otherness’ has been constructed” in the art world and global cultures.
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Deena Scarborough: ARH 6930 Fall 2014
Hallam, Elizabeth, “Texts, Object and ‘Otherness’: Problems of Historical Process in Writing and
Displaying Cultures.” Cultural Encounters: Representing ‘Otherness.’ London: Routledge, 2000.
pp. 260-283.

Hallam wrote her book to highlight the seemingly negative trend many cultural groups
are treated with in the professional communities of ethnographic study. She points out
that using information to reflect ideas of ‘otherness’ does nothing to promote the global
concept of diversity, and can only isolate and separate societal cultures. Hallam offers
real-world examples of how more equalized and respectful interpretations can and
should be offered through various installation methods available to museums today.
Hartt, Frederick. Art. A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, 4th ed. (Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice hall, 1993), 16.

Edition of his art survey text in which Hartt first openly admitted that women had been
errantly been left out of most art history texts, found in the introduction to the section
on “Women in Art.” This is after a first edition in which many art educators did not feel
best suited the needs of their art students, although little was done to change the texts.
Heidegger, Martin. 1977 (1954). The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, New
York: Harper Colophon Books.

A collection of difficult to read essays in which Heidegger discusses the modernization of
society. Heidegger encourages the world to keep art alive as a vital role in our society,
allowing creativity to ‘bring forth’ knowledge; he also questions the darkness of
technology, calling for discretion in its future use.
Karp, Ivan and Corinne A. Kratz, "Reflections on the fate of Tippoo's Tiger: Defining cultures
through public display," 2000.

This essay is a thorough review of how the idea of ‘otherness’ comes full circle when
presented to impressionable audiences and museums’ disregard for the importance of
past human cultures. Karp and Kratz discuss how museums and their ‘glimpses’ into the
lives of cultural ‘others’ on display become too much of an entertainment experience.
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Lidichi, Henrietta. 1997. “The poetics and politics of exhibiting other Cultures,” in S. Hall (ed.)
Representation: Cultural Representaion and Signifying Practices, London: Sage Publications.

Lidchi describes how museum producers are being asked to be more accountable to
cultures whom they represent. Texts in museums and the representations of ‘otherness’
can make authoritative statements regarding the cultural objects and peoples displayed.
Loshitzky, Yosefa. "Orientalist representations: Palestinians and Arabs in some postcolonial film
and literature," in Hallam’s Cultural Encounters: Representing ‘Otherness.’ London: Routledge,
2000. 51-71.

An in-depth review of the ‘othering’ found in film and literature examples, specifically
focusing on orientalist representations of human interaction both physically and
mentally. Loshitzky pushes the idea that women and people of Arabic descent are
socially considered sub-cultural, and is unreasonably specific in detailing her opinions.
Marcus, Julie. "Towards an erotics of the museum," in Hallam’s Cultural Encounters:
Representing ‘Otherness.’ London: Routledge, 2000. 229-244.

This essay chapter mainly discusses the responsibility many museums choose to ignore
when presenting their ‘glimpses of truth.’ Marcus attempts to draw connection between
the desire for accurate societal knowledge and that of human sexual desire, focusing her
examples almost entirely against the Museum of Sydney.
Mukherji, Parul Dave. "Whither Art History in a Globalizing World," 2014. The Art Bulletin, 96:2,
151-155.

In this article, Mukherji personalizes her consistently disappointing experiences
regarding the lack of identity found to properly represent her Indian heritage
throughout the art world, stemming in part from proper lack of support for art studies
specifically at institutions of higher learning.
Pasztory, Esther. "Andean Aesthetics" The Spirit of Ancient Peru: Treasures from the Museo
Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herrera, (New York and London: Thames and Hudson; Fine Arts
Museums of San Francisco, 1997), 60-69.
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
Pasztory’s essay on Andean aesthetics discusses how in the twentieth century the West
turned its focus to abstract art in Europe and America which encouraged many to
reevaluate Andean visual culture, specifically considering abstract Inca forms.
Rabinow, Paul. 1986. “Representations are Social Facts: Modernity and Post-modernity in
Anthropology,” in J. Clifford and G.E. Marcus Writing Culture. The Poetics and Politics of
Ethnography, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Rabinow calls for professional curators to accept their problematic othering and how
skewed their Western practices of cultural representations can be treated with much
more human dignity. He encourages museums to acknowledge their power yet be
properly responsible when presenting anthropologically social information.
Schwarzer, Mitchell. "Origins of the Art History Survey Text," 1995. Art Journal, Vol. 54, No. 3,
Rethinking the Introductory Art History Survey, pp.24-29.

Schwarzer discusses the different approaches of several notable art surveyors in this
article, questioning if the survey text should be left in the past. He reviews a thorough
history of the art history survey text and details its historical progression.
Smith, Terry. "The State of Art History: Contemporary Art," 2010. The Art Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 4
(December 2010), pp. 366-383.

Smith discusses the differences noted between modern and contemporary art, focusing
on the historical use of the idea of ‘contemporaneity.’ Smith defines both modern and
contemporary art and discloses how the contemporary will fall later in the timeline of
history as he points out that in most accepted definitions ‘modern’ is defined as a
“strand within the contemporary, not vice versa,”
Summers, David. Real Spaces: World Art History and the Rise of Western Modernism, Phaidon
Press, London/ New York, 2003.

Summers claims in his book that there is a world-wide understanding and competence
for the Western-based discipline of art history. He also proposes to replace the notion of
the 'visual arts' with that of the 'spatial arts.’
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Deena Scarborough: ARH 6930 Fall 2014
Thomas, Nicholas. 1989. Out of Time. History and Evolution in Anthropological Discourse,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thomas discusses how a "historical perspective" can’t be added to traditional
anthropology. He suggests in his book a need to create a historical study of
anthropology as a profession in order to understand the historical specifics of all
cultures, both Western or ‘other.’
Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Ueber Hubert und Johann Van Eyck (Breslau: Josef Max, 1822), 25.

Waagen wrote this historical art text in 1822. He attempted to understand the art of
early modern Europe based on medieval influences. Waagen also believed in organizing
art works according to time, place and all outside influences. His main focus was to
better understand the works of the Van Eyck brothers.
Winegar, Jessica. “Cultural Sovereignty in a Global Art Economy: Egyptian Cultural Policy and
the New Western Interest in Art from the Middle East.” Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 21, No. 2
(May, 2006), pp. 173-204.

Winegar reviews the struggles which some of today’s rising artists are confronting in the
contemporary world art market and the challenges they face balancing the powers of
local and national curators. Her article focuses on the attempted advances of the
modern Egyptian art culture, and the challenges these Middle Eastern artists, critics, and
curators are facing – while often butting heads and working through a large amount of
governmental red tape. Very specific examples to the Eqyptian art scene.
Winckelmann, Johann Joachim. History of Ancient Art, trans. Alexander Gode, 2 vols. (New York:
Frederick Ungar, 1969), 1:29.

A German art survey text originally written in 1764. Winckelmann believed that the
history of art moved in great cycles. He described a three-stage developmental pattern
for all world art: 1. necessity, 2. progress toward perfect beauty, and 3. decay into
excess. This work focused almost entirely on early historical art and nothing is discussed
past the Roman Empire.
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