A Critical Sociological Inquiry Into the Aboriginal Art Phenomenon
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Hope, Ethics and Disenchantment: a critical sociological inquiry into the Aboriginal art phenomenon by Laura Fisher A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD (Sociology) University of NSW 2012 ii PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Fisher First name: Laura Other name/s: Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD (Sociology) School: Social Sciences and International Studies Faculty: Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences Title: Hope, Ethics and Disenchantment: a critical sociological inquiry into the Aboriginal art phenomenon Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art art has come to occupy a significant space in the Australian cultural landscape. It has also achieved international recognition as one of the most interesting aesthetic movements of recent decades and has become highly valuable within the art market. Yet there is much that remains obscure about Aboriginal art. It seems at once unstoppable and precarious: an effervescent cultural renaissance that is highly vulnerable to malign forces. This thesis brings a critical sociological perspective to bear upon the unruly character of the Aboriginal art phenomenon. It adopts a reflexive and interdisciplinary approach that brings into dialogue scholarship from several fields, including anthropology of art, art history and criticism, post-colonial critique, sociology of art and culture, theories of modernity, theories of cross-cultural brokerage and Australian political history. By taking this approach, the thesis is able to illuminate the intellectual and aesthetic practices, social movements and political events that have been constitutive of Aboriginal art‟s meaning and value from the late 19th Century to the present. It foregrounds the various social, political and economic causes to which Aboriginal art has been anchored, and reveals the contingencies of Aboriginal art‟s status as both a genre of fine art and a highly symbolic and commercialized form of visual culture. It also reveals that the entities of the Aboriginal art object and the Aboriginal artist have an extraordinary motility within the clashing frames of the Aboriginal fine arts movement, the speculative Aboriginal art market, and the Aboriginal arts and culture industry. Ultimately the thesis argues that Aboriginal art has been a theatre for the redemptive project pursued by governments and civil society in post-assimilation Australia to repair Indigenous/non-indigenous relations, that it has been a significant medium for transnational post-colonial critique, and that it has resonated strongly with disenchanted perspectives on industrial capitalist modernity. It reveals the myriad ways in which the politics of the Settler State have been refracted through the Aboriginal art arena, and shows that Aboriginal art has been enmeshed within utopian and dystopian currents of thought about art, Indigenous social justice and modernity. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………..……………… ……….……………………...…….… Signature Witness Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS Acknowledgements This thesis was supported by the inaugural Petre Foundation scholarship, and I wish to thank Daniel Petre for his generosity in selecting this project, and for his kind and personable support. I am also indebted to all the people with whom I conducted interviews, listed in Appendix 1. Even though I have not been able to draw upon them all directly, they proved to be invaluable and frequently challenged my assumptions on a range of issues. There are several other individuals with whom I had valuable conversations in which I was able to share my ideas candidly, including Michael Symonds, Chrischona Schmidt, Merryn Schriever, Olivia Bolton, Charlie Cooper, Lisa Stefanoff, Ann Snell, Christine Godden and Margo Neale. John Gardiner- Garden at the Australian Parliamentary Library was kind enough to look over a draft of the policy chronicle (Appendix 2), and I am grateful to him for his comments. I wish also to thank my co-supervisor Claudia Tazreiter for the feedback she provided me on draft chapters and for her always uplifting encouragement. Also deserving a mention are my comrades in the library post-grad lab, who made my final year in particular a surprisingly enjoyable one. In 2008 and 2009 I was fortunate to be able to work on the Storylines Project with Vivien Johnson and Tess Allas. Apart from being able to learn from and share ideas with them both, I know that the thesis was greatly enriched by the fact that the research I conducted as part of Storylines offered me a privileged viewpoint on the biographies and practices of Aboriginal artists from the non-remote regions of Australia. Sections of Chapter 4 were previously published in the article „The art/ethnography binary: Post-colonial tensions within the Field of Australian Aboriginal Art‟ in Cultural Sociology 6(2). I thank the peer reviewers and editor David Inglis for their very helpful feedback which assisted me in refining the arguments presented in that chapter as a whole. Throughout the project I have reflected on my good fortune in having been supervised by Paul Jones. He has always backed the exploratory side of this thesis and encouraged me to maintain a wide scope. I am most thankful for his bird‟s eye perspective on what I was aiming to achieve, his pragmatism and his attention to the minutiae of the project. I have always valued our humorous meandering discussions, with their never distracting digressions, and appreciated the fact that we were able to deal lightly with the heavier issues. This thesis was slowed somewhat by my having a son, Max, in October 2009, but not as much as it might have due to the support I have received from family members. My mother, Wendy Loefler, and mother-in-law, Gillian Roberts, met the challenge as grandmothers and without them I would not have been able to complete this project within a reasonable time frame. Gillian also generously offered to look over several draft chapters, and identified more than a few grammatical errors. I am also grateful to my brother Tom and father Andy for their support, and to Max himself for being such a clear eyed observer of life and a delight to come home to. My final thanks are extended to my husband, Jamie. I am blessed not only that you have embraced your parental role so wholeheartedly, but that you have been my intellectual companion with whom I have always been able to discuss and resolve the problems posed by this project. Not least, the thesis has benefited substantially from your incisive editorial eye. Abstract Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art has come to occupy a significant space in the Australian cultural landscape. It has also achieved international recognition as one of the most interesting aesthetic movements of recent decades and has become highly valuable within the art market. Yet there is much that remains obscure about Aboriginal art. It seems at once unstoppable and precarious: an effervescent cultural renaissance that is highly vulnerable to malign forces. This thesis brings a critical sociological perspective to bear upon the unruly character of the Aboriginal art phenomenon. It adopts a reflexive and interdisciplinary approach that brings into dialogue scholarship from several fields, including anthropology of art, art history and criticism, post- colonial critique, sociology of art and culture, theories of modernity, theories of cross- cultural brokerage and Australian political history. By taking this approach, the thesis is able to illuminate the intellectual and aesthetic practices, social movements and political events that have been constitutive of Aboriginal art‟s meaning and value from the late 19th Century to the present. It foregrounds the various social, political and economic causes to which Aboriginal art has been anchored, and reveals the contingencies of Aboriginal art‟s status as both a genre of fine art and a highly symbolic and commercialized form of visual culture. It also reveals that the entities of the Aboriginal art object and the Aboriginal artist have an extraordinary motility within the clashing frames of the Aboriginal fine arts movement, the speculative Aboriginal art market, and the Aboriginal arts and culture industry. Ultimately the thesis argues that Aboriginal art has been a theatre for the redemptive project pursued by governments and civil society in post-assimilation Australia to repair Indigenous/non-indigenous relations, that it has been a significant medium for transnational post-colonial critique, and that it has resonated strongly with disenchanted perspectives on industrial capitalist modernity. It reveals the myriad ways in which the politics of the Settler State have been refracted through the Aboriginal art arena, and shows that Aboriginal art has been enmeshed within utopian and dystopian currents of thought about art, Indigenous social justice and modernity.