This anthology provides a single-volume overview of the essential theoretical debates in the anthropology of art. Drawing together significant work in the field from the second half of the twentieth century, it enables readers to appreciate the art of different cultures at different times.

Advances a cross-cultural concept of art that moves beyond traditional distinctions between Western and non-Western art.
Provides the basis for the appreciation of art of different cultures and times.

Enhances readers' appreciation of the aesthetics of art and of the important role it plays in human society.

Part I. Framing the Discipline.

Introduction
1. Primitive Art. Franz Boas
2. Split Representation in the Art of Asia and America. Claude Lévi-Strauss
3. Tribes and Forms in African Art. William Fagg
4. Style, Grace, and Information in Primitive Art. Gregory Bateson
5. Tikopea Art and Society. Raymond Firth
6. The Abelam Artist. Anthony Forge

Part II. Primitivism and Art/Artifact.

Introduc Net. Traps as Artworks and Artworks as Traps. Alfred Gelltion
7. Introduction. In "Primitivism" in 20th Century Art. Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern. William Rubin
8. "Primitivism" in 20th Century Art. Arthur C. Danto
9. Histories of the Tribal and the Modern. James Clifford
10. A Case in Point. Sally Price
11. Oriental Antiquities/Far Eastern. Craig Clunas
12. Introduction. In ART/Artifact. Susan Vogel.
13. Vogel's

Part III. Aesthetics Across Cultures.

Introduction
14. Yoruba Artistic Criticism. Robert Farris Thompson
15. Style in Technology. Some Early Thoughts. Heather Lechtman
16. "Marvels of Everyday Vision". The Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes. Jeremy Coote
17. From Dull to Brilliant. The Aesthetics of Spiritual Power Among the Yolngu. Howard Morphy

Part IV. Form, Style and Meaning.

Introduction
18. Visual Categories. An Approach to the Study of Representational Systems. Nancy D. Munn
19. Structural Patterning in Kwakiutl Art and Ritual. Abraham Rosman and Paula G. Rubel
20. Sacred Art and Spiritual Power. An Analysis of Tlingit Shaman's Masks. Aldona Jonaitis
21. To Weave and Sing. Art, Symbol, and Narrative in the South American Rain Forest. David M. Guss
22. Modernity and the "Graphicalization" of Meaning. New Guinea Highland Shield Design in Historical Perspective. Michael O'Hanlon

Part V. Marketing Culture.

Introduction
23. Introduction. In Ethnic and Tourist Arts. Cultural Expressions of the Fourth World. Nelson H. H. Graburn
24. The Collecting and Display of Souvenir Arts. Authenticity and the "Strictly Commercial". Ruth B. Phillips
25. The Art of the Trade. The Creation of Value and Authenticity in the African Art Market. Christopher B. Steiner

Part VI. Contemporary Artists.

Introduction
26. A Second Reflection. Presence and Opposition in Contemporary Maori Art. Nicholas Thomas
27. Representing Culture. The Production of Discourse(s) for Aboriginal Acrylic Paintings. Fred Myers
28. Aesthetics and Iconography. An Artists Approach. Gordon Bennett
29. Kinds of Knowing. Charlotte Townsend-Gault
30. CEW ETE HAW I TIH. The Bird That Carries Language Back to Another. Jolene Rickard
Index