The Arts

Art is an integral part of religious, social and political life What is art? Art is an integral part of religious, social and political life It expresses and evokes both feelings and ideas in a variety of different ways—drawing, painting, carving, weaving, body decoration, music, dance, and story. Art excites the senses and produces feelings of pleasure, awe, repulsion, and sometimes fear. It communicates to the observer.

Body Decoration and Adornment Decorations can be both temporary (paint, feathers, jewelry) and permanent (scars, tattoos, changes in the shape of a body part) Forms of decoration depend on cultural traditions. Pierced noses of women in India Elongated necks of the Mangebetu in Central Africa Tattooing of men and women in North America Body painting of the Caduveo of South America

Body Decoration and Adornment…cont’d Decorations can sometimes be used to delineate social position, rank, sex, occupation, identity, religion within a society, and social declaration. Symbolic halo on king’s head, scarlet hunting jacket of the English gentlemen, eagle feathers of Native Americans, gold-embroidered jacket of the Indian rajah—represents high status.

Top: Karo families in Africa Bottom left: Karo man ready for ceremony Bottom right: african man’s headpiece

Lip Plate After Lip Plate Before Also called Labrets Found in tribes in Africa and South America (ex: Sara People & Mursi People) Used to show either economical or social importance to the tribes and their members Some are used as desired Lip Plate Before Lip Plate After

Visual Arts Materials can be limited in a cultural society. Some used include stone, wood, bones, clay, sand, shells, horns, tusks, gold, and copper. Artistic differences… Egalitarian society- repetition of simple elements, more empty space, symmetrical design, unenclosed figures. Stratified societies- integration of unlike elements, little empty space, asymmetrical design, enclosed figures. Kalamkari cloth from India (Stratified society) Lakota skin bag from N. America (Egalitarian Society)

Music Music and instruments vary widely in style from society to society Studies made by music theorists Alan Lomax and co-researchers—theory that music styles vary with cultural complexity and discovery of a relationship between polyphony Barbara Ayres—suggested that the importance of regular rhythm in the music of a culture is related to the rhythm’s acquired reward value (feelings of security or relaxation).

Dance Similar to art and song, dance styles also seem to reflect social complexity. Ex: less complex societies—everyone participates in dances in the same way, as in the Huli of New Guinea. More complex societies—leading and minor roles in dances, as in a Japanese Geisha show.

Folklore Broad category compromising all the myths, legends, folktales, ballads, riddles, proverbs, and superstitions of a cultural group. Transmitted orally and also written. It is constantly created by an social group that has shared experiences. Folklore contains various themes…some anthropologists have identified basic themes, including Clyde Kluckhohn—five themes suggested: catastrophe, monster slaying, incest, sibling rivalry, and castration. Reflects the feelings, needs, and conflicts that people acquire as a result of growing up in the culture.

Art today... Art is constantly changing and effecting today’s world. With the decline of many indigenous groups, many areas have lost some of their artistic traditions. The selling of arts and crafts has become large in today’s society