There has been a raging debate on the nature and scope of doing anthropology in contemporary times. The debate is more precisely about the politics and poetics inherent in the practice of ethnography contributed by the likes of Clifford Geertz, James Clifford, George Marcus among others. It has posed an imperative for anthropologists in the contemporary world to explore new methods and new sights with a fair sensibility toward the politics of writing culture. This book is a monumental example of a contribution in the light of the novel quests in anthropology. The ethnographic attention is not on the archaic and the exotic in this book which brings about a reflection on the sight of contemporary visual art. It promises and delivers a novel methodological approach for multi-sited ethnography and underscores the politics of culture and culture of politics in the scenario of Sri Lankan art.
Politics and Poetics of Ethnography
Dev N. Pathak
ARTISTS REMEMBER; ARTISTS NARRATE: MEMORY AND REPRESENTATION IN SRI LANKAN VISUAL ARTS by Sasanka Perera Colombo Institute for the Advance Study of Society and Culture, 2013, 150 pp., 800
June 2013, volume 37, No 6