Alfred Gell

Alfred (Antony Francis) Gell (12 June 1945 – 28 January 1997) was a British social anthropologist whose most influential work concerned art, language, symbolism and ritual.

Works

• Metamorphosis of the Cassowaries: Umeda Society, Language and Ritual, London: Athlone, 1975, x+366 pp. Based on dissertation submitted to the London School of Economics and Political Science (1973).

• "Magic, Perfume, Dream", in Symbols and Sentiments: Cross-cultural Studies in Symbolism, ed. Ioan Lewis, London: Academic Press, 1977, pp 25-38.
  • "Parfum, symbolisme et enchantement", trans. Christine Langlois and Gérard Lenclud, Terrain 47: "Odeurs", Paris, Sep 2006, pp 19-34. (French)

• "Anthropology, Material Culture and Consumerism", Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford 19:1, 1988, pp 43-47.

• "Technology and Magic", Anthropology Today 4:2, Apr 1988, pp 6-9.

• "The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology", in Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics, eds. Jeremy Coote and A. Shelton, Oxford: Clarendon, 1992, pp 40-63; repr. as ch 5 in Gell, The Art of Anthropology: Essays and Diagrams, 1999, pp 159-187.
  • "La tecnologia dell'incanto e l'incanto della tecnologia", in Antropologia, estetica e arte: antologia di scritti, ed. Alberto Caoci, Milan: Angeli, 2008. (Italian)
  • "La technologie de l'enchantement et l'enchantement de la technologie", trans. Yves Citton, in Technologies de l'enchantement: pour une histoire multidisciplinaire de l'illusion, eds. Angela Braito and Yves Citton, Grenoble: Ellug, 2014, pp 35-68. [1] [2] (French)

• The Anthropology of Time: Cultural Constructions of Temporal Maps and Images, Oxford: Berg, 1992, ix+341 pp.
  • Antropologija časa: kulturne konstrukcije časovnih zemljevidov in podob, trans. Tomo Virk, afterw. Karmen Šterk, Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2000, 343 pp. Review: Verdir. (Slovenian)
  • A antropologia do tempo: construções culturais de mapas e imagens temporais, trans. Vera Joscelyne, Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes, 2014, 327 pp. (Brazilian Portuguese)

• "Inter-tribal Commodity Barter and Reproductive Gift-Exchange in Old Melanesia", in Barter, Exchange and Value: An Anthropological Approach, eds. Caroline Humphrey and Stephen Hugh-Jones, Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp 142-168; repr. as ch 2 in Gell, The Art of Anthropology: Essays and Diagrams, 1999, pp 76-106.
  • "Trueque inter-tribal de mercancias e intercambio reproductivo de regalos en la antigua Melanesia", in Trueque, intercambio y valor: aproximaciones antropológicas, eds. Caroline Humphrey and Stephen Hugh-Jones, Quito: Abya-Yala, 1998. (Spanish)

• "Under the Sign of the Cassowary", in Shooting the Sun: Ritual and Meaning in the West Sepik, ed. B. Juillerat, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

• Wrapping in Images: Tattooing in Polynesia, Oxford: Clarendon, 1993, xi+347 pp.

• "The Language of the Forest: Landscape and Phonological Iconism in Umeda", in The Anthropology of Landscape: Perspectives on Place and Space, eds. Eric Hirsch and Michael O'Hanlon, Oxford: Clarendon, 1995, pp 232-254; repr. as ch 8 in Gell, The Art of Anthropology: Essays and Diagrams, 1999, pp 232-258.

• "On Coote's Marvels of Everyday Visions", Social Analysis 38, Sep 1995, pp 18-31; repr. as ch 7 in Gell, The Art of Anthropology: Essays and Diagrams, 1999, pp 215-231.

• "Closure and Multiplication: an Essay on Polynesian Cosmology and Ritual", in Cosmos and Society in Oceania, eds. Daniel de Coppet and André Iteanu, Oxford: Berg, 1995, pp 21-56.

• "Vogel's Net: Traps as Artworks and Artworks as Traps", Journal of Material Culture 1:1, Mar 1996, pp 15-38; repr. as ch 6 in Gell, The Art of Anthropology: Essays and Diagrams, 1999, pp 187-214.

• "Amour, connaissance et dissimulation", trans. Catherine Rouslin, Terrain 27: "L'amour", Paris, Sep 1996, pp 5-14. (French)
  • "On Love", Anthropology of This Century 2, London, Oct 2011, PDF.

• "Exalting the King and Obstructing the State: A Political Interpretation of Royal Ritual in Bastar District, Central India", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3:3, Sep 1997, pp 433-450; repr. as ch 9 in Gell, The Art of Anthropology: Essays and Diagrams, 1999, pp 259-282.

• Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory, Oxford: Clarendon Press, Jul 1998, PDF.
  • Umetnost in delovanje: antropološka teorija, trans. Katarina Žakelj and Tomo Virk, Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2006, 343 pp. (Slovenian)
  • L'Art et ses agents: une théorie anthropologique, eds. Alexandre Laumonier and Stéphanie Dubois, intro. Maurice Bloch, trans. Olivier Renaut and Sophie Renaut, Dijon: Les presses du réel, 2009, 356 pp. [3] (French)
  • Arte y agencia: una teoría antropológica, trans. Ramsés Cabrera, Buenos Aires: SB, 2016, 331 pp. Review: Costa (Caiana). (Spanish)
  • Arte e agência, trans. Jamille Pinheiro Dias, São Paulo: Ubu, 2018, 400 pp. [4] (Brazilian Portuguese)

• "Time and Social Anthropology", in Time, Language and Cognition, ed. Y. Nagano, Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, 1998; repr. in Time in Contemporary Intellectual Thought, ed. Patrick Baert, Elsevier, 2000, pp 251-268.

• The Art of Anthropology: Essays and Diagrams, ed. Eric Hirsch, London: Athlone, 1999, ix+294 pp, PDF.

Literature

• James F. Weiner, "Avoiding the Bewitchments of Language: A Personal Tribute to Alfred Gell", Social Analysis 41:2, Jul 1997, pp 4-8.
• Eric Hirsch, "Alfred Gell (1945-1997)", American Anthropologist 101:1, Mar 1999, pp 152-155. Obituary.
• Christopher Pinney, Nicholas Thomas (eds.), Beyond Aesthetics: Art and the Technologies of Enchantment, Oxford: Berg, 2001.
• Alan MacFarlane, "Alfred Gell (1945-1997)", Proceedings of the British Academy 120, 2003, pp 123-147. Obituary.
• Matthew Rampley, "Art History and Cultural Difference: Alfred Gell's Anthropology of Art", Art History 28:4, Sep 2005, pp 524-551.
• Robin Osborne, Jeremy Tanner (eds.), Art's Agency and Art History, Blackwell, 2007, 241 pp.
• Liana Chua , Mark Elliott (eds.), Distributed Objects: Meaning and Mattering after Alfred Gell, New York: Berghahn, 2013, x+220 pp. Review: Layton (Anthr Forum).
• Anna Kawalec, Osoba i Nexus: Alfreda Gella antropologiczna teoria sztuki, Lublin: KUL, 2016. (Polish)

Links

• Wikipedia