Beauty in Context: Toward an Anthropological Approach to Aesthetics - Rilegato

Van Damme, Wilfried

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 9004106081 ISBN 13: 9789004106086

Casa editrice: Brill Academic Pub, 1996

Riassunto

This is the first study to survey the field of the anthropology of aesthetics, which during the last few decades has emerged on the crossroads between anthropology and non-Western art scholarship.
While critically examining the available literature, thereby addressing such basic issues as the existence of aesthetic universals, the author elaborates on a central thesis which concerns the relationship between aesthetic preference and sociocultural ideals. Drawing on empirical data from several African cultures, he demonstrates that varying notions of beauty are inspired by varying sociocultural ideals, thus shedding light on the phenomenon of cultural relativism in aesthetic preference.
Emphasizing unity within diversity, the systematic anthropological approach offered in this volume invites the reader to reconsider aesthetic preference from an empirical, cross-cultural, and contextual perspective.

Su questo libro

L'autore

Wilfried van Damme, Ph.D. (1993), University of Ghent, specializes in the anthropology of art and easthetics. Previous publications include A Comparative Analysis concerning Beauty and Ugliness in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ghent, 1987). He is presently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ghent.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Brill Academic Pub
• Data di pubblicazione: 1996
• ISBN 10: 9004106081
• ISBN 13: 9789004106086
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 400