The aesthetics of 'time-reckoning': a Guna chromatic history

Fortis, P

Abstract

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 perspective to consider how present‐day social relations are the product of long‐term historical transformations. The analysis draws on the relatively overlooked notion of ‘chromatism’ developed by Lévi‐Strauss and subsequently elaborated by Lima as ‘chromatic sociality’. It proposes that ‘chromatism’ is an indigenous category that allows for reckoning with the passing of time and the shifting circumstances of history.

Citation

Fortis, P. (2019). The aesthetics of 'time-reckoning': a Guna chromatic history. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 25(3), 441-466. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13077

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 9, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jun 21, 2019
• Publication Date: Aug 2, 2019
• Deposit Date: Apr 18, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 21, 2021
• Journal: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
• Print ISSN: 1359-0987
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9655
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 441-466
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13077
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1303507