Course description
In most contexts aesthetics relates to the study of the beauty. In this seminar we follow a broader understanding of the term, based on Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1717-1762). In his view, aesthetics is the perception of sensuous forms and the basis of knowledge. The new phenomenology and the anthropology of everyday-aesthetics follow this line and investigate in the connectivity of knowledge and the culturally informed perception of aesthetic forms. Humans attach meaning to what they see, hear, smell, taste and touch. The production of aesthetic forms extends beyond art-forms and is found in consumer goods, religions and political ideologies. Social hierarchies, gender relationships, territorial claims and environmental concerns are produced in visible and audible products.
These products travel worldwide via trade lines, tourist routes and the world-wide-web. They are bound to their materiality, but the local perception of their aesthetic forms, the valuation and the association with meaning depends on local contexts. A religious artefact might turn into a secular object for decorative purpose, local food becomes exotic culinary art, and a German automobile brand preferred by businessmen and politicians becomes the almost exclusive choice of mafia bosses in Japan (but black models only!), and a North American fast-food chain addressing low-budget customer turns into a fashionable and air-conditioned place for upper-middle-class youth elsewhere. The term glocalisation (Roberts 2013) describes the creative re-interpretation of global products. The study of this process demonstrates the loose bond of object and meaning. The same holds true for cultural practices like yoga or eastern martial arts, which will be included here in our discussion of aesthetic forms. Glocalisation also includes the appropriation of technologies, especially when objects are used for different purposes. For example, in some African countries the re-charge (top-up) of mobile phones is transferred to traders in remote areas and used as a substitute banking system.

Course organization
Every week, one text from a reader will be read to prepare for the next session. All students will be expected to fulfil each of the following tasks once during the semester:
(1) write the minutes of a single session,
(2) read one additional text on a specific theme and make a 10 minutes presentation in the classroom,
(3) write a 10-12 pages paper on a chosen topic.
In the second half of the seminar, students will form small groups (2-4 persons), search for examples of glocalisation and appropriation of objects or practices and prepare for a presentation in the last two weeks of the semester. Each group will present their findings in the classroom.

Syllabus

Week 1: Approaches in New Phenomenology and the New Aesthetics
Readings: Böhme, Gernot. 1993. "Atmosphere as a Fundamental Concept of a New Aesthetics." Thesis Eleven 36: 113-26.

Week 2: The Sociology and Anthropology of Atmospheres
Readings: Sumartojo, Shanti, and Sarah Pink. 2019. Atmospheres and the Experiental World. London: Routledge: 1-14.

Week 3: Everyday Aesthetics and the Globalisation of Visual Forms
Readings: Ratio, Dan Eugen. 2017. Everyday Aesthetic Experience, in: Friberg, Carsten, and Raine Vasquez. Experiencing the Everyday. Aarhus: MNSU Press: 22-92

Week 4: The Mobility of People and Goods
Readings: Fuchs, Christian. 2020. "Global Communication and Imperialism." In Communication and Capitalism, edited by Christian Fuchs. London: University of Westminster Press: 259-90.

Week 5: The Social Practice of Communication
Readings: Miller, Daniel, and et al. 2016. How the World changed Social Media. London: University College London: 1-8.

Week 6: Global Goods and Consumption
Readings: Graeber, David. 2011. "Consumption." Current Anthropology 52 (4): 489-511.

Week 7: The Production and Experience of Exoticism
Readings: Forsdick, Charles. 2001. "Travelling Concepts: Postcolonial Approaches to Exoticism." Paragraph 24 (3): 12-29.

Week 8: The Mobility of People and Films
Readings: Iwabuchi, Koichi. 2010. "„China“, Japan´s Chimera , and Media Cultural Globalisation." Cinema Journal 49 (3): 149-53.
Ahmed, Rafiq, and Anne Hertzog. 2020. "Tourism, Memory and Place in the Global World." Tourism and Hospitality Research 16 (3): 201-05.

Week 9: Tourism and Exoticism
Readings: Crick, Malcom. 1989. "Representation of International Tourism in Social Sciences." Annual Review of Anthropology 18: 307-44.

Week 10: The Changing Face of Tourist Mobility
Readings: Rinder, Lawrence. 2020. "Hippie Modernism." In Contemporary Modernism in China and the United States, edited by Jian Zhang and Bruce Robertson, Santa Barbara: Punctum Books: 511-19.

Week 11: Martial Arts on the Move
Readings: Mullis, Eric. 2016. "The Martial Arts, Culture, and the Body." Journal of Aesthetic Education 50 (4): 114-24.

Week 12: A Review on Glocalisation and Globalisation
Readings: Guttal, Shalmali. 2007. "Globalisation." Development and Practice 17 (4-5): 523-31.

Bibliography
Ahmed, Rafiq, and Anne Hertzog. 2020. "Tourism, Memory and Place in the Global World." Tourism and Hospitality Research 16 (3): 201-05.
Böhme, Gernot. 1993. "Atmosphere as a Fundamental Concept of a New Aesthetics." Thesis Eleven 36: 113-26.
Crick, Malcom. 1989. "Representation of International Tourism in Social Sciences." Annual Review of Anthropology 18: 307-44.
Forsdick, Charles. 2001. "Travelling Concepts: Postcolonial Approaches to Exoticism." Paragraph 24 (3): 12-29.
Friberg, Carsten, and Raine Vasquez. 2017. Experiencing the Everyday. Aarhus: MNSU Press.
Fuchs, Christian. 2020. "Global Communication and Imperialism." In Communication and Capitalism, edited by Christian Fuchs. London: University of Westminster Press.
Graeber, David. 2011. "Consumption." Current Anthropology 52 (4): 489-511.
Iwabuchi, Koichi. 2010. "„China“, Japan´s Chimera , and Media Cultural Globalisation." Cinema Journal 49 (3): 149-53.
Miller, Daniel, and et al. 2016. How the World changed Social Media. London: University College London.
Mullis, Eric. 2016. "The Martial Arts, Culture, and the Body." Journal of Aesthetic Education 50 (4): 114-24.
Rinder, Lawrence. 2020. "Hippie Modernism." In Contemporary Modernism in China and the United States, edited by Jian Zhang and Bruce Robertson, 511-19. Santa Barbara: Punctum Books.
Sumartojo, Shanti, and Sarah Pink. 2019. Atmospheres and the Experiential World. London: Routledge.

Further Readings
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined Communities. Reflection on the origin and spread of nationalism. London (Verso).
Appadurai, A. (1991). Global ethnoscapes. Recapturing Anthropology. R. Fox. Santa Fe, School of American Research Press: 191-210.
Cohen, R. (1997). Global Diasporas. An Introduction. London (UCL Press).
Grieser, Alexandra and Jay Johnston (eds.). 2017. Aesthetics of Religion. A Connective Concept. Berlin and Boston (DeGruiter).
Robertson, Roland. 2013. Globalisation. Social Theory and Global Culture, London (Sage).

Last updated: July 3, 2023