| Description |
xv, 220 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology ; 94 |
|
Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology ; 94.
|
| Note |
Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Harvard University, 1990. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-210) and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction: the anthropology of African art in a transnational market -- 1. Commodity outlets and the classification of goods -- 2. The division of labor and the management of capital -- 3. An economy of words: bargaining and the social production of value -- 4. The political economy of ethnicity in a plural market -- 5. The quest for authenticity and the invention of African art6. Cultural brokerage and the mediation of knowledge -- Conclusion: African art and the discourses of value. |
| Summary |
African art in transit is an absorbing account of the commodification and circulation of African objects in the international art market today. Based on extensive field research among art traders in Cote d'Ivoire, Christopher Steiner analyzes the role of the African middleman in linking those who produce and supply works of art in Africa with those who buy and collect so-called "primitive" art in Europe and America. Moving easily from ethnographic vignette to social. |
|
Theory, Steiner provides a lucid interpretation which reveals not only a complex economic network with its own internal logic and rules, but also an elaborate process of transcultural valuation and exchange. By focusing directly on the intermediaries in the African art trade, he unveils a critical new perspective on how symbolic codes and economic values are produced and mediated in the context of shifting geographic and cultural domains. He calls into question. |
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Conventional definitions of authenticity in African art, demonstrating how the categories "authentic" and "traditional" are continually negotiated and redefined by a plurality of market participants spread out across the globe. This book will appeal to anthropologists, art historians, and anyone interested in the production of value in the art world, the mediation of knowledge in transcultural exchange, the invention of traditional aesthetic forms, and the ethnography of. |
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Trade and bargaining in a contemporary African setting. |
| Subject |
Art, Black -- Economic aspects -- Côte d'Ivoire.
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Art, Black -- Côte d'Ivoire -- Marketing.
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Economic anthropology -- Côte d'Ivoire.
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Art and anthropology -- Côte d'Ivoire.
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Art and anthropology. (OCoLC)fst00815390
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Art, Black -- Economic aspects.
(OCoLC)fst00816024
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Art, Black -- Marketing.
(OCoLC)fst00816026
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Economic anthropology. (OCoLC)fst00901586
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Côte d'Ivoire. (OCoLC)fst01219323
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Kunsthandel.
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Kunstvoorwerpen.
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Authentizität. (DE-588)4193985-2
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Kunst. (DE-588)4114333-4
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Subsaharisches Afrika. (DE-588)4053770-5
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Authentizität.
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Kunst.
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Schwarzafrika.
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| Indexed Term |
Visual arts Trades |
|
Africa |
| ISBN |
0521434475 (hardback) |
|
9780521434478 (hardback) |
|
0521457521 (paperback) |
|
9780521457521 (paperback) |
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