Week 1 | Induction with Prof Neil Mulholland
17 January 2022
This is the first session of this course. Professor Neil introduce the course philosophy, course structure and other thing we need to know.
Before this course began, I had no expertise in anthropology.
After reading the course philosophy I was still full of doubts although I understood that this was a new interdisciplinary discipline mixing art and anthropology. Because I thought that art itself was part of anthropology, so why did we need a hybrid discipline about them? (I later realised that there might have been a small misunderstanding about the translation of the term, or that I had misunderstood the relationship between them.)
After reading ‘Two Anthropological Turns’ I have a brief new understanding of Anthropology and Ethnography, but I can’t say I understand them. I have to say that I did not immediately understand the meaning of these specialist texts, even if they were written in my native language. However, reading the relevant articles recommended by Professor Neil, such as Tim Ingold’s ‘Anthropology is not ethnography’, helped me to understand these areas which I had never encountered before (again, I still know very little about these areas). And I think I need more time to get to know the Turn in the article about these fields.
In the three mandatory readings I read, I was agreement with one of Sansi’s points, in ‘Introduction: after the Ethnographic Turn’ in ‘The Social In ‘Introduction: after the Ethnographic Turn’, Sansi says that there are some artists who define their work as ‘social practice’ and they are not interested in forms of self-expression, but rather want to use art to address politically relevant issues.
I think I am one such being, and my decision to return to school and study art is a result of my desire to use art to explore social issues (such as feminism).
I’m looking forward to this course now!
A good starting point Shuwen. I wonder if you can elloborate on this “might have been a small misunderstanding about the translation of the term”. Which term is the one that is likely to be mistranslated and why? Say more on this as it throws up some light on the issue of what these words mean when you look at translations.
A good starting point Shuwen. I wonder if you can elloborate on this “might have been a small misunderstanding about the translation of the term”. Which term is the one that is likely to be mistranslated and why? Say more on this as it throws up some light on the issue of what these words mean when you look at translations. Also, what does Ingold mean when he states that ethnography does = anthropology? You need to develop these lines of inquiry further. Remember also to provide full references + a bibliography just as you would in an essay.