Paolo Fortis
Biographic Data
| ID | 3580969 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paolo Fortis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paolo |
| FAMILY NAME | Fortis |
| SIGNATURE | FORTIS P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Too many meanings: "Reading "Piro designs
This paper explores the notion of painting as meaningful action (Gow 1999) and highlights the productivity of the idea as emerging from, and dovetailing, different strands of thought on the nature of symbols and actions. Bringing together Lévi-Strauss’ intuition on the dynamism and generativity of graphic systems, phenomenological studies on meaning making, and ethnographic analyses of Amazonian theories of corporeality and sociality, Gow has sho…
Frequency, modulation, and time in Amerindian art
Previous articleNext article FreeBook SymposiumFrequency, modulation, and time in Amerindian art Fausto, Carlos, 2020. Art effects: Image, agency, and ritual in Amazonia. Translated by David Rodgers. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Paolo FortisPaolo FortisDurham University Search for more articles by this author Full TextPDF Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Cod…
Time and Its Object: A Perspective from Amerindian and Melanesian Societies on the Temporality of Images
This chapter explores the politics of visuality in the context of the lives of the Nalik people of northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea that is sympathetic to the ‘complexity and reality of people’s lives and thoughts’. It investigates how ubiquitous technologies such as the internet and digital heritage technologies impact visual systems in a Melanesian society, a region where traditional image-making itself is considered under threat of loss …
On the multiple temporalities of Guna woodcarving
Cet article explore les notions de temporalité qui se dégagent de l'étude ethnographique de la sculpture rituelle sur bois chez les Guna du Panama. S'appuyant sur le concept de « cartes du temps » d'Alfred Gell, il montre que la sculpture sur bois des Guna est un outil de navigation temporelle qui permet d'accéder à de multiples images du temps grâce aux qualités de ces artefacts qui acquièrent un sens à travers les relations intersubjectives. Le…
The aesthetics of 'time reckoning: A Guna chromatic history★
This is a study of time and aesthetics through an ethnographic analysis of an indigenous visual system. Looking at historical changes in women's clothing and village patterns among Guna people (Panama), the article shows that images and artefacts are key to shedding light on indigenous historicities. Core visual and material processes encapsulate and manifest biographical and group time. By the same token, such processes provide a privileged pers…
Iconography and Style
Iconography deals with the study of meaning in art objects, and style deals with formal resemblances and variations. The relationship between iconography and style has prompted lively debates in anthropology on issues of continuity and change and on the relations between form and meaning. Over the years, anthropologists have explored the perspectives of style and iconography to study social forms and social change, relations between technical ski…
Celebration: Photographs of the Guna Chicha By JamesHowe. Panama: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute/Congreso General de la Cultura Guna, 2016
General MacArthur among the Guna: The Aesthetics of Power and Alterity in an Amerindian Society
This article deals with issues surrounding the study of indigenous appropriations of symbols of military power. It focuses on the case of Guna people from the San Blas Archipelago of Panama who, in the 1940s, carved some wooden figures in the likeness of General Douglas MacArthur and used them as auxiliary spirits in collective healing rituals. By appealing to anthropological reflections on the notion of style, the article suggests a correlation …
Kinship in Anthropology
Images of person in an Amerindian society. An ethnographic account of Kuna woodcarving
This article offers an ethnographic account of Kuna woodcarving (mola making and nuchu-carved wooden figures). It focuses on the relationship between person and image among the Kuna Indians of Panama. The author argues that nuchu and mola, although considered as "art" in Western societies, are perceived by the Kuna as images of persons, and therefore endowed with a specific agency. By exploring the social life of these wooden figures, the author …
The occult life of things: Native Amazonian theories of materiality and personhood - Edited by Fernando Santos-Granero
The birth of design: A Kuna theory of body and personhood
This article explores the concept of 'design' (narmakkalet) held by the Kuna people of Panamá. It demonstrates that the native concept of design and its relation to the human body is central to Kuna ideas concerning personhood. The main argument is that design is an attribute of the body which enables the creation of persons through the transformation of their relationship with animal entities. Through analysing the particular case of 'amniotic d…
The birth of design: A Kuna theory of body and personhood
This article explores the concept of 'design' (narmakkalet) held by the Kuna people of Panamá. It demonstrates that the native concept of design and its relation to the human body is central to Kuna ideas concerning personhood. The main argument is that design is an attribute of the body which enables the creation of persons through the transformation of their relationship with animal entities. Through analysing the particular case of 'amniotic d…
General MacArthur among the Guna: The Aesthetics of Power and Alterity in an Amerindian Society
This article deals with issues surrounding the study of indigenous appropriations of symbols of military power. It focuses on the case of Guna people from the San Blas Archipelago of Panama who, in the 1940s, carved some wooden figures in the likeness of General Douglas MacArthur and used them as auxiliary spirits in collective healing rituals. By appealing to anthropological reflections on the notion of style, the article suggests a correlation …
The aesthetics of 'time reckoning: A Guna chromatic history★
This is a study of time and aesthetics through an ethnographic analysis of an indigenous visual system. Looking at historical changes in women's clothing and village patterns among Guna people (Panama), the article shows that images and artefacts are key to shedding light on indigenous historicities. Core visual and material processes encapsulate and manifest biographical and group time. By the same token, such processes provide a privileged pers…
Images of person in an Amerindian society. An ethnographic account of Kuna woodcarving
This article offers an ethnographic account of Kuna woodcarving (mola making and nuchu-carved wooden figures). It focuses on the relationship between person and image among the Kuna Indians of Panama. The author argues that nuchu and mola, although considered as "art" in Western societies, are perceived by the Kuna as images of persons, and therefore endowed with a specific agency. By exploring the social life of these wooden figures, the author …
The birth of design: A Kuna theory of body and personhood
This article explores the concept of 'design' (narmakkalet) held by the Kuna people of Panamá. It demonstrates that the native concept of design and its relation to the human body is central to Kuna ideas concerning personhood. The main argument is that design is an attribute of the body which enables the creation of persons through the transformation of their relationship with animal entities. Through analysing the particular case of 'amniotic d…
The occult life of things: Native Amazonian theories of materiality and personhood - Edited by Fernando Santos-Granero
Images of person in an Amerindian society. An ethnographic account of Kuna woodcarving
This article offers an ethnographic account of Kuna woodcarving (mola making and nuchu-carved wooden figures). It focuses on the relationship between person and image among the Kuna Indians of Panama. The author argues that nuchu and mola, although considered as "art" in Western societies, are perceived by the Kuna as images of persons, and therefore endowed with a specific agency. By exploring the social life of these wooden figures, the author …
Kinship in Anthropology
General MacArthur among the Guna: The Aesthetics of Power and Alterity in an Amerindian Society
This article deals with issues surrounding the study of indigenous appropriations of symbols of military power. It focuses on the case of Guna people from the San Blas Archipelago of Panama who, in the 1940s, carved some wooden figures in the likeness of General Douglas MacArthur and used them as auxiliary spirits in collective healing rituals. By appealing to anthropological reflections on the notion of style, the article suggests a correlation …
Celebration: Photographs of the Guna Chicha By JamesHowe. Panama: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute/Congreso General de la Cultura Guna, 2016
Iconography and Style
Iconography deals with the study of meaning in art objects, and style deals with formal resemblances and variations. The relationship between iconography and style has prompted lively debates in anthropology on issues of continuity and change and on the relations between form and meaning. Over the years, anthropologists have explored the perspectives of style and iconography to study social forms and social change, relations between technical ski…
The aesthetics of 'time reckoning: A Guna chromatic history★
This is a study of time and aesthetics through an ethnographic analysis of an indigenous visual system. Looking at historical changes in women's clothing and village patterns among Guna people (Panama), the article shows that images and artefacts are key to shedding light on indigenous historicities. Core visual and material processes encapsulate and manifest biographical and group time. By the same token, such processes provide a privileged pers…
Frequency, modulation, and time in Amerindian art
Previous articleNext article FreeBook SymposiumFrequency, modulation, and time in Amerindian art Fausto, Carlos, 2020. Art effects: Image, agency, and ritual in Amazonia. Translated by David Rodgers. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Paolo FortisPaolo FortisDurham University Search for more articles by this author Full TextPDF Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Cod…
Time and Its Object: A Perspective from Amerindian and Melanesian Societies on the Temporality of Images
This chapter explores the politics of visuality in the context of the lives of the Nalik people of northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea that is sympathetic to the ‘complexity and reality of people’s lives and thoughts’. It investigates how ubiquitous technologies such as the internet and digital heritage technologies impact visual systems in a Melanesian society, a region where traditional image-making itself is considered under threat of loss …
On the multiple temporalities of Guna woodcarving
Cet article explore les notions de temporalité qui se dégagent de l'étude ethnographique de la sculpture rituelle sur bois chez les Guna du Panama. S'appuyant sur le concept de « cartes du temps » d'Alfred Gell, il montre que la sculpture sur bois des Guna est un outil de navigation temporelle qui permet d'accéder à de multiples images du temps grâce aux qualités de ces artefacts qui acquièrent un sens à travers les relations intersubjectives. Le…
Too many meanings: "Reading "Piro designs
This paper explores the notion of painting as meaningful action (Gow 1999) and highlights the productivity of the idea as emerging from, and dovetailing, different strands of thought on the nature of symbols and actions. Bringing together Lévi-Strauss’ intuition on the dynamism and generativity of graphic systems, phenomenological studies on meaning making, and ethnographic analyses of Amazonian theories of corporeality and sociality, Gow has sho…
Art (7 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (6 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Anthropology (5 works) · History (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Art history (4 works) · Epistemology (4 works)