Kleiners Gardners Art Through the Ages a Global History 16th Edition
The Asmat people, who live in what is now the Papua province of Indonesia, go along to face social and economic hardship. They have suffered under many governments including the Dutch and the Indonesian. The presence of Freeport McMoRan, a multinational corporation that established the Grasberg Mine, has and continues to bring environmental destruction to the region.
Gardner'southward contributes to the marginalizing of Asmat people by repeatedly using the term "headhunting" when covering Asmat culture. When readers enter "headhunting" into the search field, they learn, this racist term is applied merely to Asmat culture and it is used xvi times. That'due south a lot of times.
People need to sympathise that the term "headhunting" is a loaded, biased, and racist term that does not accurately reflect a practice that ended decades ago. Likewise people need to sympathize the damage this label continues to have, and how privileged individuals including the writer Carl Hoffman, have profited past portraying the Asmat this way. Hoffman wrote the 2014 publication,Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller'southward Tragic Quest for Primitive Art.This book builds on sensational accounts of the death Governor Nelson Rockefeller's son Michael Rockefeller – the family believes Michael drowned and they did speak out against the volume. National Geographic as well promotes an image of Asmat people being violent.
The first use of the term "headhunting" appears in "Contents" for the affiliate, "Oceania earlier 1980."
Note, "Asmat Headhunting…" is the just time a vehement action is listed in the "Contents." For this 19-folio chapter, information technology is used to inform a sacred artwork. For the much longer, 56-page chapter, "The Roman Empire," the Art and Lodge department is titled "Spectacles in the Colosseum." Why non "Slaughter in the Colosseum"? Keep it consistent. And if Bisj Poles must be associated with headhunting, should human sacrifice exist used to innovate the crucifix? Again, if a publication is going to pull this kind of treatment with one culture, be consistent.
The other outcome is implying that all Asmat communities create Bisj Poles. They don't. It'due south not a single, compatible civilization.
The 2nd reference to headhunting is on page xxv – under Chapter-by-Affiliate Changes to the 16th Edition:
:
Showtime – why in this incredibly skimpy xix-folio chapter on "Oceania before 1980," did editors decide it was so necessary to include an essay on "Asmat Headhunting and Bisj Poles." We are talking ALL of Oceania from the beginning of art making to 1980. But retrieve near that.
To acquaintance Bisj Poles exclusively with "Headhunting" is inaccurate, and again it reinforces the idea that the Asmat people are exceptionally violent – it's racism.
Bisj feasts continue. They are a time of gathering and coming together. There is as well an account of a beautiful adult female who was named Bisj. Some believe the Bisj Pole reflects part of this story where Bisj is rolled into a mat. None of this information is included in the Gardner's analysis.
The third reference takes readers to theArt and Society section, page 116. It features the Bisj Poles that Michael Rockefeller nerveless. These are now part of the MET drove.
Loftier-level, so much of the meaning behind these works such as community engagement, participation of women, feasting, and connexion with the ancestral earth is lost in Gardner' analysis. Khan Academy provides much more than comprehensive coverage of these Bisj Poles at the MET.
Super problematic statements in Gardners include:
Today, bisj poles are displayed as "artworks" in European and American museums, such every bit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Why must things e'er go dorsum to Europe and America? At that place are bisj poles in the Asmat Museum of Civilization and Progress in the Asmat city of Agats. At that place are also bisj poles in Jakarta. Merely more importantly, Asmat artists continue to carve bisj and bring new significant to the form. Alfons Pirimapun and Stefanus Akanmor carved the bisj pole at an effect in Melbourne that was focused on peace.
Which leads to another obvious bespeak – no Asmat artists are acknowledged. No Asmat artists are quoted. The text on pages 116-117 nearly Asmat fail to include any information that comes directly from an Asmat person. This matters because it implies there are no known Asmat artists. Sadly too many fine art history texts promote the idea that artists outside of Europe and N America are anonymous – unknown. It's 2020, this is non ok. It never was.
Problematic information on folio 117 also includes:
Living forth the southwestern coast of New Republic of guinea, the Asmat of Papua province eke out their existence by hunting and gathering the varied flora and animate being constitute in the mangrove swamps, rivers, and tropical forests.
While subsistence economies continue to exist, Asmat people work every bit teachers, medical professionals, computer experts, leaders. Many participate in the cash or subsistence-cash economies. Currently, Asmat people hold the highest offices in the Asmat Regency – Elisa Kambu is the Regent, and Thomas Safanpo is the Vice Regent.
The decision of the section, reveals Gardner'due south ongoing obsession with "headhunting"
As a event of European efforts, headhunting ceased by the 1960s, and many traditional beliefs about life and expiry have yielded to modern ideas.
Wow. So hard to actually fifty-fifty address this. The implication – with outside intervention all is well. All is not well. And there is little coverage considering foreign journalists take a hard time getting in to it. In 2018, the area of Asmat made the news because Indonesia efforts to gainsay measles somehow failed in this part of the country more that in other areas. The BBC written report about this and the economic inequality in the region is worth the read.
Finally, I would like to annotation I had no direct influence on the content of Asmat fabric in the 16th edition of Gardner's. I underscore this considering for some unknown reason I am listed in the Acknowledgements section. I believe of all of the people listed, I am the only i who has worked in Asmat. If someone else in the Acknowledgements section has worked in Asmat please let me know.
I have no idea why I am listed. I received no communication from Cengage. The post-obit appears earlier a list of names:
Cengage has enlisted dozens of art historians to review every chapter of Art through the Ages in order to ensure that the text lives up to the Gardner reputation for accurateness as well as readability.
To be crystal articulate, the information nigh Asmat in Gardner's Fine art Through the Ages a Global Historyis inaccurate, biased, and I believe information technology contributes to ongoing racism and marginalization. The term "headhunting" reflects more about how colonizers framed the cultures that they abused. Applying information technology once, or worse 16 times, frames and further marginalizes. Cengage should effect a articulate statement to all of the educators who are using this book. The statement should address the reality that the text is extremely Eurocentric and that coverage of cultures outside of Europe may be biased and racist.
Source: https://julierisser.wordpress.com/2020/06/22/the-absolutely-unacceptable-portrayal-of-asmat-culture-in-gardners-16th-edition/
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