Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 37, No. 115.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
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Date: 2023-06-19 20:53:26+00:00
From: Ken Friedman <ken.friedman.sheji@icloud.com>
Subject: Aesthetic Anthropology and Marilyn Ekdahl Ravicz
Dear Colleagues,
A few days ago, I shared copies of a 1974 doctoral dissertation by Marilyn
Ekdahl Ravicz titled Aesthetic Anthropology: Theory and Analysis of Pop and
Conceptual Art in America. It is available from my Academia page at:
https://www.academia.edu/103470189/Ravicz_1974_Aesthetic_Anthropology
Several people have written to me requesting more information on Aesthetic
Anthropology and its author.
This is a fascinating and important work. If more people had read it in the
1970s, art history might have been written in a very different way.
Unfortunately, there was little interest in contemporary art among
anthropologists in those days, while art historians and art critics had little
interest in the social sciences. As a result, the thesis went unread. Shortly
after finishing her PhD, Marilyn Ravicz took a position developing an
extraordinary experimental college. While her work in education was quite
remarkable, it took her away from anthropology for many years.
The thing I keep in mind in reading this project now is that the research was
done in the late 1960s and early 1970s for a project completed 50 years ago.
While the concepts and scholarship remain lively and first rate, anthropologists
had no language for this kind of work when it was written half a century ago.
For example, Ravicz describes the concepts and ideas of relational aesthetics,
but the vocabulary of relational aesthetics only came decades later. The same is
true for performance studies and even for some aspects of conceptual art.
Marilyn and I were in touch from time to time over the years. She started to
write once again about art, anthropology, and culture, and she published several
books in the past decade. You can find several of her books on Amazon. I was
hoping that she might return to the dissertation to update it and publish it as
a book. Or at least, she might have revised it with new thoughts. A short while
back, Marilyn’s family contacted me to let me know that she died. I asked their
permission to circulate the dissertation.
Aesthetic Anthropology is interesting as an historical document, but there is
more to it than history. After all these years, I’m hoping that that someone
will examine this dissertation more deeply to write an article or an essay on
the ideas of this adventurous anthropologist.
Marilyn Ravicz was indeed adventurous, as a thinker and as a person. Among other
things, she studied theology with Paul Tillich at Harvard and she studied
Tibetan religion in Ladakh. She once rode a camel across the Sahara desert to
visit Timbuktu, a remarkable journey for anyone.
Again, you can download Aesthetic Anthropology here:
https://www.academia.edu/103470189/Ravicz_1974_Aesthetic_Anthropology
Warm wishes,
Ken
Ken Friedman, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal
of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in
Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-
journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation
| Tongji University | Shanghai, China | Email ken.friedman.sheji@icloud.com |
Academia https://tongji.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
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