Overview

Art as Politics explores the intersection of art, identity politics, and tourism in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Based on long-term ethnographic research from the 1980s to the present, the book offers a nuanced portrayal of the Sa'dan Toraja, a predominantly Christian minority group in the world's most populous Muslim country. Celebrated in anthropological and tourism literatures for their spectacular traditional houses, sculpted effigies of the dead, and pageantry-filled funeral rituals, the Toraja have entered an era of accelerated engagement with the global economy marked by on-going struggles over identity, religion, and social relations. In her engaging account, Kathleen Adams chronicles how various Toraja individuals and groups have drawn upon artistically-embellished """"traditional"""" objects - as well as monumental displays, museums, UNESCO ideas about """"word heritage,"""" and the World Wide Web - to shore up or realign aspects of a cultural heritage perceived to be under threat. She also considers how outsiders - be they tourists, art collectors, members of rival ethnic groups, or government officials - have appropriated and reframed Toraja art objects for their own purposes. Her account illustrates how art can serve as a catalyst in identity politics, especially in the context of tourism and social upheaval. Ultimately, this insightful work prompts readers to rethink persistent and pernicious popular assumptions - that tourism invariably brings a loss of agency to local communities or that tourist art is a compromised form of expression. """"Art as Politics"""" promises to be a favorite with students and scholars of anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, ethnic relations, art, and Asian studies.

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9780824829995

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An anthropology of art for these times, Art as Politics meticulously draws from scholarly works while building on the richness of its own history. -- Jill Forshee

Author Information

Kathleen M. Adams is associate professor of anthropology at Loyola University Chicago and adjunct curator at the Field Museum of Natural History.

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