Blog – Page 2287 – ArtsJournal Wayback

The Problem With The Idea Of Cultural Appropriation

So, what is cultural appropriation and why has it become such a contentious issue? Susan Scafidi, professor of law at Fordham University, defines it as ‘taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artefacts from someone else’s culture without permission’. This can include the ‘unauthorized use of another culture’s dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc.’ But what is it for knowledge or expression or a cuisine to ‘belong’ to a culture? And who gives permission for someone from another culture to use such knowledge or forms?

What Translators Do For Us

Translating literature is not always more difficult than translating other texts—tourist brochures, technical manuals, art catalogues, sales contracts, and the like. But it does have this distinguishing characteristic: its sense is not limited to a simple function of informing or persuading, but rather thrives on a superabundance of possible meanings, an openness to interpretation, an invitation to measure what is described against our experience. This is stimulating.

The Woman Who Should Lead NY City Ballet

I suddenly found myself getting giddy with the thought that a woman might lead New York City Ballet. I pictured a former NYCB principal coming in and calming the dancers down, respecting them, inspiring them, treating them like adults, listening to them and encouraging communication between all factions of the company.

Call To Action: An American Culture War?

Not mincing her words, Anne Pasternak, the director of New York’s Brooklyn Museum, was quick to narrow the focus to the US. “There is a war on culture in this country. There is a war on people of colour, on immigrants and on women,” she said. “Art Basel feels like the party before the apocalypse.”

So You’re An Arts Philanthropist. Where Should You Invest?

“To be a philanthropist, whether the money is yours or simply has been entrusted to you, is a remarkable privilege in every sense of the word. The world is probably never going to see the day when literally everyone seeking to make the world a better place through the arts does so strategically and wholly without regard to self-interest. But the more we can nudge individuals, organizations, and actions in that direction, the more meaningful all of our work will become.”

British Pantos Change Routines This Year

Turns out that, in the wake of all of the sexual harassment accusations, at least one sketch just isn’t that funny. However: “Do you believe you are going to come to the Palladium and see Dick Whittington and not have a joke about dick? That would be a sad day I think, as you can’t get too hung up on it.”

A Magazine For Southeast Asia’s Literary Scene Strives To Produce Sharp Political Commentary – And Avoid Censorship

The Mekong Review is published out of Sydney, partly to avoid some censorship, and despite a tiny staff and a patchy delivery system, it’s doing well: “The magazine punches above its weight: Its contributors include some of the best-known authors, journalists and academics who follow the region, including Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, and Emma Larkin, the pseudonym for a Bangkok-based American writer who has published several nonfiction books on Myanmar.”

A Study Says Reading Aloud Usually Helps Humans Remember Better

Involving more senses probably helps. “The authors suggest that reading things aloud involves different types of processing, which makes it more active and engages us more than reading silently.”

Did The Crown Prince Of Saudi Arabia Buy That Leonardo, Or Not?

Well … here’s the official explanation (disputed by U.S. intelligence experts): “Disputing reports that the 32-year-old Saudi crown prince had bought the painting through a little-known distant cousin, an embassy spokeswoman said in a statement that the cousin had instead acted as an agent for the ministry of culture of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The painting will hang there in a newly opened branch of the Louvre.”