Islamic, African, Aboriginal, and Oceanic

What concept connects Yoruba rulers, Kente cloth, and Moai?

STATUS/POWER. Yoruba royal imagery establishes authority, Kente can communicate prestige and identity, and Moai demonstrate the importance and authority of ancestral lineages.

What concept connects Asmat spirit poles, Māori meeting houses, Aboriginal Dreaming, and Moai?

ANCESTORS. All demonstrate ways communities connect the living to ancestors, spirituality, identity, and/or land.

What concept connects Aboriginal art and Micronesian navigation charts?

GEOGRAPHY AND CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE. Both can encode knowledge about people's relationships with their physical environment

Why shouldn't we judge these works only by how they look?

CONTEXT. Many were functional, ceremonial, religious, political, or communal objects. Their original use and cultural beliefs are essential to understanding their meaning

What are the three Pacific regions I need to distinguish?

Melanesia → includes Papua New Guinea/Asmat
Micronesia → includes Marshall Islands/navigation charts
Polynesia → includes Māori New Zealand and Rapa Nui/Moai

What should I discuss when analyzing STYLE?

• Formal elements: line, color, composition, scale, etc.

• Abstract, naturalistic, or idealized?

• How is the subject depicted?

• Where does the style come from?

What should I discuss for FUNCTION/SYMBOLISM?

• What was it used for?

• Why was it made?

• Sacred or secular?

• What message does it communicate?

• What does it symbolize?

What should I discuss for CULTURAL CONTEXT?

• What was happening historically/religiously/politically/socially?

• What did this culture value or believe?

• How did those beliefs affect the artwork?

• Connect those cultural facts back to something you can see in the art.

What is ethnocentrism?

Judging another culture according to the standards and values of one's own culture.

Give an art-history example of ethnocentrism.

Evaluating another culture's art according to Western artistic standards instead of understanding the artwork within its own cultural context.

What is “otherness”?

Treating a group or culture as fundamentally different or outside one's own group, often reinforcing an “us vs. them” distinction.

What is primitivism?

A Western tendency to characterize non-Western cultures and their art as supposedly simple, undeveloped, exotic, or closer to nature. This can distort the complexity and meaning of those cultures.

How can context help prevent ethnocentric interpretations of art?

Understanding an artwork's original beliefs, function, users, and cultural setting allows us to interpret it according to its own culture rather than our assumptions.

What are the three African regions geographically

Saharan, Sub-saharan/ tropical, Southern

What was the effect of the diverse land on African Culture?

very diverse regions

What was a result of the natural materials used in African Art

The artwork ruined over time

What led to the prosperity of Western and Central Sudan (tropical/subsaharan region)

Control of gold

Matriarchal

Woman led society

Matrilineal

Rule in order of lineage (queen’s mother picks who is fit to be king

Which of the Oceanic Social life centers on status that is not inherited

Melanesia

How can status be earned in Melanesia

• leadership

• participation in mens' societies

• relations with the dead/ supernatural forces

• accumulation of wealth/ pigs

What are the main formats of Melanesian art

• ceremonial

• performance

• sculpture