Timothy Carroll

Susanne Kuechler

In this book, Susan Kuechler and Timothy Carroll draw on the work of anthropologist Alfred Gell to reinstate the importance of the object in art. Rather than presenting art as a passive recipient of the artist's intention and the audience's critique, this book considers it in the social environment of its production and reception. A Return to the Object introduces the reader to the historical and theoretical framework out of which an anthropology of art has emerged, and examines the conditions under which it has renewed interest. It also shows the reader what art 'does' as a social and cultural phenomenon, and how it can impact alternative ways of organising and managing knowledge. Using ethnography, museological practice, and the intellectual history of the arts and sciences, material studies and intangible heritage, the authors present a case for the re-orientation of current conversations surrounding the anthropology of art. The book will be complemented by a companion website that will contain illustrations and case studies to aid student engagement.

Alfred Gell and the Anthropology of Art

A Return to the Object

Susanne Küchler

This book draws on the work of anthropologist Alfred Gell to reinstate the importance of the object in art and society. Rather than presenting art as a passive recipient of the artist's intention and the audience's critique, the authors consider it in the social environment of its production and reception. A Return to the Object introduces the historical and theoretical framework out of which an anthropology of art has emerged, and examines the conditions under which it has renewed interest. It also explores what art 'does' as a social and cultural phenomenon, and how it can impact alternative ways of organising and managing knowledge. Making use of ethnography, museological practice, the intellectual history of the arts and sciences, material culture studies and intangible heritage, the authors present a case for the re-orientation of current conversations surrounding the anthropology of art and social theory. This text will be of key interest to students and scholars in the social and historical sciences, arts and humanities, and cognitive sciences.

Alfred Gell, Art, and Social Theory

Although much has been written on the making of art objects as a means of engaging in creative productions of the self (most famously Alfred Gell’s work), there has been very little written on Orthodox Christianity and its use of material within religious self-formation. Eastern Orthodox Christianity is renowned for its artistry and the aesthetics of its worship being an integral part of devout practice. Yet this is an area with little ethnographic exploration available and even scarcer ethnographic attention given to the material culture of Eastern Christianity outside the traditional ‘homelands’ of the greater Levant and Eastern Europe. Drawing from and building upon Gell’s work, Carroll explores the uses and purposes of material culture in Eastern Orthodox Christian worship. Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork in a small Antiochian Orthodox parish in London, Carroll focusses on a study of ecclesiastical fabric but places this within the wider context of Orthodox material ecology in Britain. This ethnographic exploration leads to discussion of the role of materials in the construction of religious identity, material understandings of religion, and pathways of pilgrimatic engagement and religious movement across Europe. In a religious tradition characterised by repetition and continuity, but also as sensuously tactile, this book argues that material objects are necessary for the continual production of Orthodox Christians as art-like subjects. It is an important contribution to the corpus of literature on the anthropology of material culture and art and the anthropology of religion.

Timothy Carroll

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