9/16 Guest Lecture Notes

• What is South Sotho?

  1. Culture that lived in southern Africa, hadn’t been studying much before

  2. No art history study done before Riep

• Literary review: drawbacks

  1. Authors might have their own motive and bias (could even be malicious)

• Field Research Plan:

  1. Formal Analysis - studying art and notes from museums

  2. Contextual Data Collection

     1. Interviews - always figure out a good target audience. Found artists and stakeholders who are involved in the arts. Who has the authority to speak on behalf of an entire culture? Acknowledge biases, ensure transparency, communicate inclusively and effectively, informed consent, establish clear research protocols.

     2. Video Documentation - creates an archive of different processes of creating art. More accurate record than just written text (includes body language, etc).

     3. Participant Observation - study the particular culture from inside that community. Can be time consuming and can take a lot of time to gain the trust of the culture but it allows for greater insights into the culture. You also see all of the culture, not just what has been written about them before. Make sure you are not disrupting the culture.