Indigenous Aesthetics: Native Art, Media, and Identity

by Steven M. Leuthold

Overview

What happens when a Native or indigenous person turns a video camera on his or her own culture? Are the resulting images different from what a Westernized filmmaker would create, and, if so, in what ways? How does the use of a non-Native art-making medium, specifically video or film, affect the aesthetics of the Native culture?

These are some of the questions that underlie this rich study of Native American aesthetics, art, media, and identity. Steven Leuthold opens with a theoretically informed discussion of the core concepts of aesthetics and indigenous culture and then turns to detailed examination of the work of American Indian documentary filmmakers, including George Burdeau and Victor Masayesva, Jr. He shows how Native filmmaking incorporates traditional concepts such as the connection to place, to the sacred, and to the cycles of nature. While these concepts now find expression through Westernized media, they also maintain continuity with earlier aesthetic productions. In this way, Native filmmaking serves to create and preserve a sense of identity for indigenous people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292747036
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	08/01/1998
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Steven M. Leuthold, PhD, is a professor of art and design history at Northern Michigan University. He previously taught art and design theory at Syracuse University and, as a doctoral candidate, courses in aesthetic and political communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Leuthold's research concerns global art and design history and comparative aesthetics. His most recent book is Beauty and Power: Global Design, 1840-1914. Leuthold's first book was Indigenous Aesthetics: Native Art, Media, and Identity; it was followed by Cross-Cultural Issues in Art: Frames for Understanding. He has published in academic journals such as The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Art Criticism, Ethnohistory, Multicultural Education, and Film Criticism. Leuthold is also a practicing artist and musician. Some of his creative work can be viewed at stevenmleuthold.com.

Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• One. Aesthetics and the Expression of Identity
• Two. Representation and Reception
• Three. Is There “Art” in Indigenous Aesthetics?
• Four. Native American Identities and Media
• Five. Expressive Antecedents of Native American Documentary
• Six. An Indigenous Media Aesthetic?
• Seven. Visual Arts Documentaries
• Eight. Performance Contexts and Collective Identity
• Nine. Indigenous Aesthetics of Place
• Notes
• Filmography
• Bibliography
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Tom Holm

L euthold has captured an understanding of Native life that is rarely presented to the outside world. . . . His book is a real 'eye-opener' for those who love but don't really understand artistic creativity. It is an equally significant introduction to Native American filmmaking and to Indian art in general.
— Tom Holm, Professor of American Indian Studies, University of Arizona