Sally K. May - Böcker

Presenting a story of art and artists in Gunbalanya, western Arnhem Land between the years 2001 and 2005, this book explores the artistic community surrounding the primary place of art creation and sale in the region, Injalak Arts, an art centre established in the remote Aboriginal community of Gunbalanya.Using a variety of disciplinary approaches including archaeological analysis and material culture studies, anthropology, historical research, oral histories, and reflexive ethnography, the social context of art creation is explored. May argues that Injalak Arts as a place activates and draws together particular social groupings to form a sense of identity and community. It is the nature of this community, or "Karrikadjurren" in the local dialect, that is the primary focus of this book, with the artworks painted during this period providing unique insights into art, identity, community, and innovation.This book will be of most interest to those working in or studying archaeology, material culture studies, museum studies, anthropology, sociology, Aboriginal studies, art history, Australian studies, rock art, and development studies. More specifically, this book will appeal to scholars with an interest in the archaeology or anthropology of art, ethnoarchaeology, and the nature and politics of community archaeology.

The development of complex cultural behaviour in our own species is perhaps the most significant research issue in modern archaeology. Until recently, it was believed that our capacity for language and art only developed after some of our ancestors reached Europe around 40,000 years ago. Archaeological discoveries in Africa now show that modern humans were practicing symbolic behaviours prior to their dispersal from that continent, and more recent discoveries in Indonesia and Australia are once again challenging ideas about human cultural development. Despite these significant discoveries and exciting potentials, there is a curious absence of published information about Asia-Pacific region, and consequently, global narratives of our most celebrated cognitive accomplishment — art — has consistently underrepresented the contribution of Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. This volume provides the first outline of what this region has to offer to the world of art in archaeology. Readers undertaking tertiary archaeology courses interested in the art of the Asia-Pacific region or human behavioural evolution, along with anyone who is fascinated by the development of our modern ability to decorate ourselves and our world, should find this book a good addition to their library.

In February 1948, a team of Australians and Americans embarked upon one of the largest scientific expeditions that had ever taken place in Australia. Seventeen men and women journeyed across northern Australia for nine months, investigating the people and environment of the remote region known as Arnhem Land. Today, the Arnhem Land Expedition remains one of the most significant, most ambitious, and least understood expeditions ever mounted. Collecting Cultures draws together diverse strands of evidence to investigate the events and consequences of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition. In the wake of the expedition came volumes of scientific publications, kilometers of film, thousands of photographs, tens of thousands of scientific specimens, and a vast array of artifacts and artwork from across Arnhem Land. Collecting Cultures explores the complex and, at times, contentious legacy of this ethnographic fieldwork and artifact collection, revealing how the cross-cultural encounters transformed and continue to transform our understanding of people and places.

The rock art of Australia is among the oldest, most complex, and most fascinating manifestations of human creativity and imagination in the world. Aboriginal people used art to record their experiences, ceremonies, and knowledge by embedding their understanding of the world in the landscape over many generations. Indeed, rock art serves as archives and libraries for Australia's Indigenous people. It is, in effect, its repository of memory. This volume explores Indigenous perspectives on rock art. It challenges the limits and assumptions of traditional, academic ways of understanding and knowing the past by showing how history has literally been painted 'on the rocks'. Each chapter features a biography of an artist or family of artists, together with an artwork created by contemporary artist Gabriel Maralngurra. By bringing together history, archaeology, and Indigenous artistic practice, the book offers new insights into the medium of rock art and demonstrates the limits of academic methods and approaches.

Presenting a story of art and artists in Gunbalanya, western Arnhem Land between the years 2001 and 2005, this book explores the artistic community surrounding the primary place of art creation and sale in the region, Injalak Arts, an art centre established in the remote Aboriginal community of Gunbalanya.Using a variety of disciplinary approaches including archaeological analysis and material culture studies, anthropology, historical research, oral histories, and reflexive ethnography, the social context of art creation is explored. May argues that Injalak Arts as a place activates and draws together particular social groupings to form a sense of identity and community. It is the nature of this community, or "Karrikadjurren" in the local dialect, that is the primary focus of this book, with the artworks painted during this period providing unique insights into art, identity, community, and innovation.This book will be of most interest to those working in or studying archaeology, material culture studies, museum studies, anthropology, sociology, Aboriginal studies, art history, Australian studies, rock art, and development studies. More specifically, this book will appeal to scholars with an interest in the archaeology or anthropology of art, ethnoarchaeology, and the nature and politics of community archaeology.

The development of complex cultural behaviour in our own species is perhaps the most significant research issue in modern archaeology. Until recently, it was believed that our capacity for language and art only developed after some of our ancestors reached Europe around 40,000 years ago. Archaeological discoveries in Africa now show that modern humans were practicing symbolic behaviours prior to their dispersal from that continent, and more recent discoveries in Indonesia and Australia are once again challenging ideas about human cultural development. Despite these significant discoveries and exciting potentials, there is a curious absence of published information about Asia-Pacific region, and consequently, global narratives of our most celebrated cognitive accomplishment — art — has consistently underrepresented the contribution of Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. This volume provides the first outline of what this region has to offer to the world of art in archaeology. Readers undertaking tertiary archaeology courses interested in the art of the Asia-Pacific region or human behavioural evolution, along with anyone who is fascinated by the development of our modern ability to decorate ourselves and our world, should find this book a good addition to their library.

This international volume draws together key research that examines visual arts of the past and contemporary indigenous societies. Placing each art style in its temporal and geographic context, the contributors show how depictions represent social mechanisms of identity construction, and how stylistic differences in product and process serve to reinforce cultural identity. Examples stretch from the Paleolithic to contemporary world and include rock art, body art, and portable arts. Ethnographic studies of contemporary art production and use, such as among contemporary Aboriginal groups, are included to help illuminate artistic practices and meanings in the past. The volume reflects the diversity of approaches used by archaeologists to incorporate visual arts into their analysis of past cultures and should be of great value to archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians. Sponsored by the World Archaeological Congress.

This international volume draws together key research that examines visual arts of the past and contemporary indigenous societies. Placing each art style in its temporal and geographic context, the contributors show how depictions represent social mechanisms of identity construction, and how stylistic differences in product and process serve to reinforce cultural identity. Examples stretch from the Paleolithic to contemporary world and include rock art, body art, and portable arts. Ethnographic studies of contemporary art production and use, such as among contemporary Aboriginal groups, are included to help illuminate artistic practices and meanings in the past. The volume reflects the diversity of approaches used by archaeologists to incorporate visual arts into their analysis of past cultures and should be of great value to archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians. Sponsored by the World Archaeological Congress.