Makeda Best | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

Conflict, Identity, and Protest in American Art explores the powerful relationship between artistic production and cultures of conflict in the United States. Such a theme continues to provoke practitioners and scholars across a range of media and disciplines, especially as definitions of war and protest evolve and change in the twenty-first century. This anthology presents vital discussions of visual works in relationship to national identity, the politics and contexts of artistic production and reception, and the expressive and political function of art within historical periods defined by wars, rebellions, and revolutions. It sheds new light on the shifting nature of identity, and specifically how conflict-armed conflict as well as rhetorical conflict-inspires new identities to emerge. The essays in this volume call upon brand-new scholarship at the leading edge of American art and cultural studies. The contributors embody diverse perspectives, methodologies, and interpretive possibilities in the exciting field of modern and contemporary American art history.
By focusing on the contexts of artworks rather than individual artists' biographies, Conflict, Identity, and Protest in American Art captures remarkable intersections between technology, politics, memorials, community, identity, history, and place. Each essay discusses a specific case study from the First World War to the present, but four broad themes unite the discussions: appropriation, memory, emotion, and civic engagement. Conflict, Identity, and Protest in American Art will appeal to historians of American art and architecture, American studies, cultural studies, and material culture. Its vibrant discussions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality represent the urgency of these topics in modern and contemporary art history. This book is suitable for academics at all levels, from undergraduates through to graduate students and faculty researchers, as well as artists and non-specialised readers.