Aesthetic Realism
On this site you are be learning the crucial place of aesthetics in anthropology and sociology
Anthro TECH Site of the Month Award
 
   
Dissertation Extracts:   1   2    3    4    5   6
Selection 6 
Oskapmin Society and World View 
by Arnold Perey, Ph.D. 
Columbia University, 1973
bullet for Aesthetic Realism dissertation in anthropology
Note: for this website I am reprinting short selections of my doctoral dissertation and giving a descriptive heading to each excerpt. - A.P.
 
from Chapter 10
Art and the Organization of Society
     In Oksapmin art we have "figures without enclosures" which Fischer (1961) correlates with egalitarian societies and Kavolis (1965:12) correlates with "indistinct social barriers." We do have egalitarianism and indistinct social barriers in Oksapmin.  However we also have the opposite tendencies in both art, and society: thus Oksapmin society is both egalitarian and has rank, has indistinct social barriers but also some rather clear ones. And in Oksapmin art figures without enclosures often have similar figures with enclosures inside them or close to them. (p. 267) 
 
Representative Arrow Shaft Carving
from Chapter 6
Beauty in Oksapmin Arrows
 [Note: The philosophic structure of the world, the opposites--difference and sameness, junction and separation, for example--is composed on these slim pieces of wood.] 

     [A. Difference and Sameness.]  In the foreshaft carving shown in Figure 20 [below], every line or edge, with very few exceptions, is a diagonal.  One can see also that the wood carver was interested in putting forms within forms similar to them, but differing in a variety of ways.  This is typical of Oksapmin foreshaft design. 

     [B. Standing Free (or Separation) and Junction.]  In the carving of Figure 20, there are varieties of diamond shapes within diamond shapes.  And these diamond shapes either stand free--as they do in the bottom row and in an upper row--or join each other. 

 
Figure 20.  Rubbing of foreshaft of carved arrow.
 
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Aesthetic Realism, the philosophy founded by Eli Siegel in 1941, is taught in classes, public seminars & presentations, and consultations at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York City. Nationwide outreach includes speakers from the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, consultations by telephone outside New York City and internationally, and the work of the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company. The Class Chairman, Ellen Reiss, teaches the classes for Aesthetic Realism associates and consultants in which I study. I am proud to say that as a consultant on the Foundation's faculty I teach anthropology, teachers' workshops, and am an instructor in consultations for individuals who want to learn the aesthetic way of seeing the world and themselves.  More links are provided below so you can find out more.