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Chapter 25
The Arts
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What Is Art?
 Why Do Anthropologists Study Art?
 What Are the Functions of the Arts?
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Art
Most all societies throughout the ages
have used the expression of art- the
creative use of the human imagination
to interpret, express, and enjoy life.
 Western cultures typically feel that art
is purely for aesthetic purposes and
serve no other function.
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Do you think this is true?
Anthropological Study of Art
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Anthropologists are certainly concerned
with the study of art as a reflection of a
culture.
To better understand the art a particular
culture or genre might produce they
examine the aesthetic, narrative, and
interpretive aspects of the work.
Usually art can be broken down into several
categories:
 Visual, Verbal, and Musical.
Visual Art
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Visual art may be representational
(imitating closely the forms of nature) or
abstract (drawing from natural forms but
representing only their basic patterns or
arrangements).
In some of the Indian art of North America’s
northwest coast, animal figures may be so
highly exaggerated it is difficult for an
outsider to identify.
Believed to generally be symbolic in nature
and not purely decorative.
Rock Art
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Paintings, engravings, and carvings on the walls
of caves and rocky shelters or outcrops is a
hallmark of early modern human populations.
This art is generally representative of animals of
the time and hunts of those things.
A variety of color methods were used.
The first true expression of artistic behavior in the
human species.
Thought to be made while in trance.
Iconic Images
These images depicted in rock art are
thought the be culturally specific
people, animals, and monsters that
might be seen in the deepest stages
of trance. Also known as iconic
images.
 Trances might have been drug
induced.
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Verbal Arts
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Verbal arts include narrative, drama,
poetry, incantations, proverbs, riddles, and
word games.
Oral traditions denote a culture’s unwritten
stories, beliefs, and customs.
Folklore is a term coined by 19th-century
scholars studying the unwritten stories and
other artistic traditions of rural peoples to
distinguish between “folk art” and the “fine
art” of the literate elite.
Categories of Narratives
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Myths
 Sacred narratives that explains the
fundamentals of human existence-where
we and everything in our world came
from, why we are here, and where we are
going.
Legends
 A story told about a memorable event or
figure handed down by tradition and told
as true but without historical evidence.
Categories of Narratives
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Epic
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Tales
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Long dramatic oral narrative recounting the
celebrated deeds of a historic or legendary
hero, often sung in poetry.
A creative narrative that is recognized as
fiction for entertainment but may also draw
a moral (motif) or teach a practical lesson.
Motif
• A story situation in a tale
Musical Art
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Beginning in the 19th century with the
collection of folksongs is the study of
ethnomusicology or the study of a
society’s music in terms of its cultural
setting.
Ethnomusicologists like to differentiate
between music and musical.
To be musical there must be a repetition of
sounds most often one thinks of European
music.
Musical Art
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Tonality refers to scale systems and their
modifications. Although these vary cross
culturally as so one group may find a sound
musical and the other annoying.
There may be some natural influence in the
scale development of certain geographical
regions. Some birds pitch their songs to the
same scale as Western music.
Functions of Art
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The function of art can be observed in
several ways. First it can serve as a
mechanism for one to display their social
status, spiritual identity, and political power.
It can also be used to transmit cultural and
ancestral ties through verbal art.
Functions of Music
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The function of music is also one of self
expression, it can be used to pass timepurely entertainment purposes.
May also be used as an identifier- a more
natural role for music similar to the animal
kingdom.
The most obvious being the social function
of song which contains verbal text and can
transmit messages.
Function of Music
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One of the most recent and powerful ways
in which music can be utilized by particular
minority or ethnic groups who might have
previously been under heard.
They can use song/music to express their
plight to those in the larger majority.
Allowing them to give a message and
receive attention they might otherwise have
not had.
Suggested Activity-Verbal
Art
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Have students gather into groups and think
of any myths, legends, epics, or tales that
are central to their culture.
Discuss what the functions are of these
stories, why are they continually passed
down, do they know the origin of the story,
and do they believe them as true?