An Anthropological Gaze at Art: Women, Art Markets, and Urban Space in Amman

Dr. Aseel Sawalha
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow
& Professor of Anthropology at Fordham University
Wednesday 26 October 2016 at 6:00 p.m.
Reception to Follow
About the Lecture:
This talk demonstrates how bringing a cultural anthropology lens to contemporary visual art illuminates the relationship between large-scale regional conflict, economic globalization, urban change, and gender roles.ย Recent changes in Ammanโs cultural scene, such as the proliferating cafes and galleries in Jabal al-Weibdeh, are best understood in relation to the violent conflict and refugee flows in the whole Middle East region, along with the implementation of neoliberal development policies.ย At the same time, a striking feature of the boom in Ammanโs arts and culture is that most projects involve women at their center, who thus are influencing transformations in the cityโs landscape and culture in unprecedented ways.ย I explain how my project draws on various strands of anthropology, especially urban anthropology and the anthropology of art, to examine the convergence of these processesโwar, economics, urban development, and gender rolesโin the rapidly expanding art scene in Amman.
About the Lecturer:
Dr. Aseel Sawalha is a professor of anthropology at Fordham University in New York City and ACORโs 2016-2017 NEH Fellow, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Her research project is titled โAmmanโs Art Scene and the Changing Urban Landscape.โ This autumn she will build on earlier research and interviews with artists, gallery owners and art collectors in Amman.ย Her research explores several dimensions of Ammanโs developing and vibrant art and culture sector as well as the social and economic impact of art culture on the surrounding communities. Dr. Sawalhaโs research intersects urban anthropology, Middle East studies, and gender studies.
Aseel Sawalha earned a B.A. in English Literature (1987) and an M.A. in Anthropology (1991) from Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan.ย She earned a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the City University of New York (2002).ย Please visit her Fordham faculty page or visit her ACOR scholar page to learn more.