by Charlotte Canning Stephanie Batiste, Darkening Mirrors: Imperial Representation in Depression-Era African American Performance (2012). Batiste explores the ways in which African Americans used performance to construct global identities in the face of US oppression and imperialism. The book argues that claiming agency and empowerment was not impossible in a world of entrenched racism. Donna […]
Art/Architecture
Great Books on Women’s History: Asia
Not Even Past asked the UT Austin History faculty to recommend great books for Women’s History Month. The response was overwhelming so we will be posting their suggestions throughout the month. Here are some terrific book recommendations on women and gender in East Asia and South Asia
My Cocaine Museum, by Michael Taussig (2004)
By Jimena Perry One of Colombia´s most important museums is the Gold Museum, located in Bogotá. It is part of the Bank of the Republic, a state-run central bank. The museum houses approximately 55,000 gold pieces, most of them belonging to Pre-Columbian cultures, and aims to preserve the country´s heritage. Perhaps the most intriguing object […]
Architectural Agents: The Delusional, Abusive, Addictive Lives of Buildings, by Annabel Jane Wharton (2015)
Are buildings alive? Of course, the answer is no, in the technical sense. That question, however, raises another: are buildings agents? In other words, are they active, do they affect and animate the world within which they exist, or are they simply passive structures to be used however their owners might desire?
More to Read about Magnum & Photojournalism
Author of Reading Magnum: A Visual Archive of the Twentieth Century, Steven Hoelscher, recommends more to read about Magnum Photos and photojournalism history. Magnum Stories, edited by Chris Boot. London: Phaidon, 2004. A former bureau chief of Magnum’s London office, Chris Boot presents 61 different “photo stories,” as told by individual Magnum photographers. Magnum Contact Sheets, edited by Kristen […]
Read more about sculpture and Mesoamerica
Want to read more about sculpture and power and society in early Mexico and Central America?
Visible Empire: Botanical Expeditions and Visual Culture in the Hispanic Enlightenment, by Daniela Bleichmar (2012)
by Christina Marie Villarreal The European Enlightenment occurred as an ongoing dialogue of ideas—a discourse composed of voices from around the globe. As Daniela Bleichmar demonstrates, southern Europe, long ignored in scholarship on the Enlightenment, had a crucial voice in the conversation. In Visible Empires, Bleichmar claims that Imperial Spain, more than any other contemporary […]
Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed (2009)
For those watching the financial markets, events in Europe are front and center. Market participants await announcements by government leaders, finance ministers, central bankers, and economists with anticipation.
A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor (2011)
Objects not only inform us about the time and place when they were made, but often have subsequent biographies of use that shed light on later historical developments.
Navajo Arts and the History of the U.S. West
Great books on Navajo arts, commerce, and the US west.