Premium
The aesthetics of ‘time reckoning’: a Guna chromatic history ★
Author(s) -
Fortis Paolo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9655.13077
Subject(s) - indigenous , sociality , aesthetics , perspective (graphical) , ethnography , security token , sociology , clothing , history , art , visual arts , anthropology , computer science , computer security , archaeology , ecology , biology
Abstract This is a study of time and aesthetics through an ethnographic analysis of an indigenous visual system. Looking at historical changes in women's clothing and village patterns among Guna people (Panama), the article shows that images and artefacts are key to shedding light on indigenous historicities. Core visual and material processes encapsulate and manifest biographical and group time. By the same token, such processes provide a privileged perspective to consider how present‐day social relations are the product of long‐term historical transformations. The analysis draws on the relatively overlooked notion of ‘chromatism’ developed by Lévi‐Strauss and subsequently elaborated by Lima as ‘chromatic sociality’. It proposes that ‘chromatism’ is an indigenous category that allows for reckoning with the passing of time and the shifting circumstances of history.