Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Christine Barrera
Short Answer:
2. The film Cannibal Tours took a very interesting standpoint on
tourism in Papua New Guinea (PNG) because it made the seemingly cultured
and empathetic Westerner tourists look rather ignorant. It was clear that the
Western tourists felt they were definably more well off and intelligent than
the natives of whom they examined like at a natural history museum. This
point of view is the result of many things, primarily the Colonial ethnocentric
attitude that has remained strong through the years. Westerners do not
realize that there are other ways of thinking and living, and that in other
parts of the world like Papua New Guinea, art is not perceived of in the same
Deborah Root says, “a way of symbolizing the regional character of the area”
(Root, 1996: 68). Even though the tourists are interested in the natives, and
for the PNG natives to sell their art to the Western tourists for many reasons:
tourists have a preconceived idea that art objects should look clean and
mass produced.
Westerners do not buy PNG tourist art because the natives are the
objects of interest, and not necessarily their tourist art. Seeing the natives
and taking their picture and just looking at the tourist art is satisfying. Papua
New Guinean and Western understanding of tourist art is completely
different: the PNGs think that a traditional object is all the Westerners want
when really what they want is an idealized, mass produced object that is
familiar to them, but embodies the appropriated spirit of the PNG native. This
desire is a result of the mass market economy culture the tourists come
The way Westerners perceive tourist art is through the commoditized, and
more familiar versions of native symbols; not the authentic and unfamiliar
object.
specific function that is likely unknown to the Westerner. This can make a
PNG object of art unfamiliar and therefore undesirable to the Western tourist.
Without commoditization of the object, the Westerner will not consume it.
consume the commodities that have come to stand for other cultures is to
order for the mass market consumer to want unfamiliar tourist art, it must be
desires, and when confronted with unfamiliar PNG tourist art, the object does
not seem to have as much value as an object sold through the mass market.
Although the PNG natives feel what they sell is indeed in an economic
according to worth of the object, but they are forced by the tourist to sell it
3.
Photography originated in the 19th century by Daguerre in the West, but this new
invention quickly made its way over to the Colonial territories in Africa and other
Susan Sontag, as discussed by professor Askew, even the simple terminology associated
with photography links it to imperialism. The fact that one “aims” a camera, “shoots” a
subject and “captures” an image can seem violent especially when compared to the simple
and innocent way photography is used in the modern era. The familiar light-hearted hobby is
a contrast to the way photography was used in 19th Colonial empires which certainly aided in
maintaining a power relationship between the Colonialists and the colonized. Images that
Professor Askew shared such as “The Last Tasmanian” and photographs of pygmies from the
groups of people. The “Last Tasmanian” for example, is a historically important portrait of an
individual, but the way she is portrayed in it was decided by the Colonialist who took the
photo. In addition, this picture was only taken as a result of Colonial disregard for native
Tasmanians. The pygmies, on the other hand, were portrayed much more as inferior subjects
than the Tasmanian woman. They were all degraded through unnaturally posed photos in
opposed to Western adults or their own clothing, which obviously shows the perceived
photographer does not end with the Colonial empires, but is maintained in various sorts of
inequality. Patricia Holland writes about inequalities in modern photography, “The father is
least visible, for it remains his role to handle the apparatus that controls the image, to point,
frame and shoot” (Holland, 1991: 7). Whether this was true in the past or is true now, it is
certain that the person behind the camera is the person in control. Is it possible that the
person behind the camera corresponds with the social hierarchy? The colonizer; the male as
head of the family who understands technology the best; and now the relative social balance
between men and women renders photography as a mostly neutral past time. Despite
specific social relationships, the photographer is in control by deciding exactly what the
image will look like by taking a professional standpoint. The photography is framed as
knows what is important to capture at that moment in time, but importance of an image is
based on perception so it can never be clear which “professionally” captured images are
actually the important moments. Anyway, the person with the camera is distinguished from
In the film Photo Wallahs, Indian photographers play the role of a well-trained
professional. Not only do they take the photos, but they direct the subject into elaborate
poses with elaborate costumes which only they know how to wear. In contrast, in Photo
Wallahs, from the photographed subjects perspective, it is very interesting the way in which
the subject of the photo decides how they want to be remembered. Being photographed
portrays the desired relationship of the individual to the world. This is actually kind of sad
because the idealized image of an individual is not of himself, but as someone else who has
photographer and the rest of the group has become more minimal as photography becomes
more accessible and more people gain experience behind the camera. Also, the importance
of a selected image to be captured has lessened as a result of digital photography and the
Longer Essays:
sailors, bikers or other working-class men. And as these men were not
thought well of, or not thought of at all, they used tattoos to distinguish
always been used as a form of rebellion. Marking one’s body is not very
difference in value. This mentality is mostly part of a time gone by, but still
the opposition between people with tattoos and people without tattoos
Rebellion can occur out of opposition of values between young and old,
culture are symbolic within rebellion of subcultures. These are groups like
urban gangs or biker gangs. Tattoos within these groups symbolize an
The Man. When tattooing regained popularity in the 1970s and ‘80s, and the
middle class began to enjoy wearing tattoos, the gap between social classes
asserting that their tattoos were applied in a superior manner, with meaning.
It has become quite common to assume that one’s tattoo would be symbolic
for something or have some other refined aesthetic meaning. DeMello says
tattoos can be related such as self-help, new age and ecology (151).
However, these subcultures are different from bikers and gangs because
they are not associated with rebellion but only affiliation and aesthetic
In the early part of the 20th century, tattoos were not pieces of art, but
a only a very limited number of designs chosen by the tattoo artist. These
example of a man with his friends who had five dollars total and they got
three roses because that is what they could afford. Not only would this
marking define them as working class, but also create a social tie between
the friends.
As seen in the film Tatau: What One Must Do even by the title, it is important
for Samoan people to receive a tatau, like Thomas, who is Samoan but he
grew up in California and missed out on many things of his heritage by not
growing up in Samoa. One year, he decided to visit his family in Samoa and
get a tatau so that he could feel closer to this lost part of his social identity.
So, having the tatau is a norm within the Samoan society, and the
related to the tatau have changed, like the elaborate activities surrounding
the event of a person receiving a tatau. Yet even though there have been
changes to the culture, the element of the tatau remains a rather strong part
of the culture and social identity of the people. Many Samoans who have
moved to other places do not suppress their cultural heritage but spread it to
those who are interested. Samoan tatau has had an interesting relationship
like it, and the appropriation easily works both in Samoa and other cultures.
During WWII, the symbolic American Eagle image was incorporated into a
tatau design. “Samoan tattooists were open to new ideas and readily
social order in Samoa, it is not stagnant and is possibly one of the few native
art forms that is not seen as dead or flat by others. The fact that it is not
secluded in the Samoan island and others have an interest in the tatau keeps
it a lively part of Samoan culture. In fact, “for many young Samoans [like
heritage and an imporant link to what can sometimes seem like a distant
2. Alfed Gell suggests that methodological philistinism is the first step towards an
anthropology of the arts. He means that aesthetic preference must be disregarded and an
indifference towards aesthetic value of arts must be taken (Gell, 1999: 161). However, one
may not go so far as to forget about aesthetics, or the feeling and understanding of beauty.
What is necessary is to consider the characteristics that make an object beautiful without
feeling the pleasure that it can cause. As for understanding what Gell means by the
“technology of enchantment and the enchantment of technology,” he says that the various
forms of art are “essential to the reproduction of human societies” (163). Human society is
only possible as a result of the work of skilled artisans who create beautiful objects. So the
creation of art is a technology just like any other essential trade skill. In addition,
enchantment is the social consequence that is the result of the creation of a piece of art, or,
the result of this technology. The enchantment of technology is seeing the skillfully crafted
art objects through its affective aesthetic qualities. The magical feeling that emanates from
The molimo in Baaka pygmy society is an art object that is highly valued, but not in
the monetary sense (although as a sacred native object it could be). The molimo is highly
valued as a result of the form, content and context within Baaka society. In form, the molimo
is a unique musical instrument vaguely comparable to the didgeridoo of native Australians.
Traditionally it is created out of a hallowed piece of wood from the rainforest in which the
Baaka live. It is a simple instrument and made of a metal drainpipe that modernization has
brought into the rainforest and thereby simplified the technical processes of this art form. In
other words, a technology of modernization that has been brought into the rainforest has
increased the technology of art while simplifying the process of art creation. The context in
which the molimo is brought out of it’s sleeping place in the trees results from the idea that
since the Baaka live in the rainforest, they believe it to be a living thing because it protects
them and provides them with everything they need. In contrast, when they are outside of
the forest, bad things happen to them like death or the cruel initiation lead by the villagers
(who offer relatively little protection.) So if something bad happens to the Baaka it is
because the forest has fallen asleep and is not watching them, so they have to wake it up.
The content that results from the form of the molimo and the context of Baaka society is the
molimo festival. This is a strenuous month long nightly celebration that the males participate
in. Waking the forest up is a technical, serious matter, but coincidentally it is a fine act of
beauty through instrument, song and dance around the kumamolimo (the festival fire).
The object of the molimo is a result of a skilled craftsman who either refines a piece
of wood, or selects a piece of metal drainpipe for technical qualities that are necessary to
produce, through the technology of music, an enchanting sound designed to wake the forest.
The physical molimo object is not sacred or valued although it is respected. The important
technology of the molimo is the sound which it can produce through a skilled artisan. The
sound is magical enchanting, and the molimo is important for that very reason. As the result
of a technical process, the molimo has an enchanting characteristic and this is what Gell
Colonialist misunderstanding of non-Western art. Colin Turnbull, author of The Forest People,
thought that the molimo would be a physically beautiful instrument with otherworldly,
ornate artisan technology as part of the molimo’s physical characteristics. Turnbull was
expecting an enchantment of technology which he did not find through the molimo’s
exterior, but it could be said that he did find it in the otherworldly enchantment of the sound
To examine the art of the molimo and it’s enchanting sound, Gell says that the
aesthetic characteristics must be picked out and understood but not for one’s own pleasure.
In moving away from aesthetics as having the simple function of pleasure, he breaks down
what makes art beautiful. Art is made of a technology of skilled people within a society, and
the enchantment which is the aesthetic or magical effect that the object of technology