Here is part two of a two-part excerpt from my PhD dissertation "Between National and Market: Art and Society in 20th Century Jamaica" (Emory University, 2011). The excerpt is from the Introduction. Part one can be found here. (c) Veerle Poupeye, al rights reserved Partha Chatterjee has pointed out that the challenge facing anticolonial cultural... Continue Reading →
From the Archives: Ideas about Art and Postcolonial Society – Part 1
While I work on some urgent publication deadlines and some new blog posts (and mark papers!), here is another text from my personal archives: the first of a two-part excerpt from my PhD dissertation "Between National and Market: Art and Society in 20th Century Jamaica" (Emory University, 2011). The excerpt is from the Introduction. Part... Continue Reading →
The Wheels of History: Museums, Restitution and the Caribbean – Part 1
This is the first of a two-part post on the restitution debate and its significance to the Caribbean. This first part explores the general context and the second part specifically looks at the Caribbean. It is a time of reckoning for museums: museums are increasingly pressured to come to terms with their historical origins,... Continue Reading →
Taming the Lion? A Few Thoughts on the International Reggae Poster Contest
The International Reggae Poster Contest, which was launched in 2011, was the brainchild of the Jamaican poster artist and designer Michael Thompson “Freestylee”. His vision was quite specific and went beyond his obvious desire to celebrate the international cultural impact of reggae through a poster competition. He saw it as a platform to promote the... Continue Reading →
The Elephant in the Museum
Late last month, on December 28 to be precise, I visited what is now branded as the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, a suburb of Brussels. My visit, during a family vacation to Belgium, came just a few weeks after the museum had reopened, after being closed for about five years for extensive renovations. The 86 million... Continue Reading →
Fashioning Exhibitions: Some Thoughts on “Beyond Fashion”
I had initially decided not to review the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ)’s Beyond Fashion exhibition, which opened on September 30. There were several reasons for that decision. One is that I have written quite a bit about the NGJ, recently, and felt that I needed to step back for a bit. I can hardly... Continue Reading →