A Antropologia da Arte, a Antropologia – história, dilemas, possibilidades

Abstract

In this essay, I first aim to pinpoint the factors that have historically marginalized art within anthropological thought. I propose that this marginalization stems from two main influences: the aesthetic conception of art and the metaphysical underpinnings of the social sciences, which suggest that art must be understood through theoretical frameworks. Drawing on phenomenology and following Heidegger’s seminal essay The Origin of the Work of Art, I assert that art’s role in establishing and navigating the metaphysical coordinates of a community, guiding its historical course, should be central to anthropological inquiry. I argue thus for an anthropological approach to art that prioritizes its ontological potentiality, thereby enabling us to appreciate the generative aspects of what we call society and culture. This approach invites a dialogical engagement with the world’s great artworks, fostering a relationship marked by interpretive reciprocity among the works, their creators, and interpreters