Borderline by Randa Hadi

BORDERLINE

CONTâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

W H AT IS...

II IX 14 CULTURE

346284 ART

GEOGRAPHY

IDENTITY

ENTS

PR E FAC E The idea of this book stemmed from my passion and curiosity in art and culture and how each country has a different expression depending on their geographical location. This passion arose the second I laid my hands on Neo Japanesque Graphics, there was something so captivating and interesting about the details within it that almost seemed like I was being transported to Japan. Suddenly, a sea of possibilities started to flow but only one of them stuck out: this notion that geography influences culture and culture shapes art and they all determine identity. This book is meant as an exploratory and experiential device that takes you on a series of adventures from culture, art and geography to identity through a set of images and readings that communicate and tell a story about their origins. The purpose of the book is to look at different cultures around the world through an artistic lens and compare them based on their geographical location. The world has more to offer than just political boundaries, topography and oceans; this book tries to combine some of those elements in order to create a bigger picture. Culture, the arts and customs of people, is based on their country’s history. Through culture you get to see how it has shaped art by incorporating some elements that are derived from each country. When you visualize cultures in proximity, it is like looking at different parts of the world. Art is a form of visual expression that often tells a story. It showcases some art from around the world and the different media that are being used. Each country uses their own “color palette” depending on where they are located, which gives it a sense of uniqueness. Geography is the study of physical features of the world, where it’s located and its neighboring countries. Within each country there’s influence but countries can influence each other as well. Depending on where the county’s are located on the map, they might have similarities in art and culture and this depends on proximity. Identity takes the complexities of culture, simple forms of art and geographical regions and combines it to define who we are and what we are. Identity is almost like the end of an equation where culture + art + geography = identity. When these elements are combined you gain insight into a person’s identity. It is easy to see individual elements as separate. But once they are organized to compare elements from one culture with another’s, a new lens becomes available, which can widen people’s understanding of what it really means to experience the world. This book tries to steer away from a standard atlas and showcases the artistic aspects of each country.

INTRODUCTION “Map-making is almost as old as human beings… No one knows where or for what purpose someone got the first idea to draw a sketch to communicate a sense of place, some sense of here in relation to there. It must have been many millennia ago, probably before written language.” —John Noble Wilford, Mapmakers Maps have been around for many years and have evolved from hand drawing 3D modeling maps to traveling through them digitally. Maps are meant to be used as tools, whether for exploration, to learn about neighbors, or to guide you. What if we took this a step further? A “standard” map would never show you what type of culture or art exist within a country or region and how they are related in terms of geography. When you take into consideration —culture, art, geography and identity—and add them together they form an identity. This book tries to imagine what it would be like to create a new type of map, a new kind of reinterpretation and experimentation. This creates a diverse type of map, which creates a different type of experience. The text within this book is culled from different people from all around the world as they try to define each concept and what it means to them. By doing so, not only do you have diversities in culture but diversities in writing and art. By visualizing the art from the different areas of the world you get to experience the diversity in their drawing techniques. How do we related this back to geography? Neighbouring countries share more in common than those that are separated. For instance, India and the Middle East share formal intricacy and color palette. Conversely, the Middle East and Japan have less in common, with Japan favoring subtle pastel colors and very minimalistic designs. This book is a journey through culture, art, geography and identity. The book is an experience going through the different stages until everything comes together in identity to create the bigger picture.

UNITED STATES

JAPAN

EUROPE

MIDDLE EAST

RUSSIA

CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA

INDIA

CHINA

01.

CULT UR E

W H AT IS CULT UR E? according to...

Rothman, the New York Times: There’s something innately funny about Merriam-Webster’s announcement, earlier this month, that “culture” is their 2014 Word of the Year. “Culture” is the “Scary Movie” of words of the year, which, ordinarily, are supposed to reflect culture (“vape,” “selfie”) without actually being “culture.” Merriam-Webster’s editors are at pains to clarify that they weren’t trying to be meta (which, incidentally, would’ve made a great word of the year back in 2000). The word “culture,” they explain, was simply the word that saw the biggest spike in look-ups on their Web site. Confusion about culture was just part of the culture this year. People were desperate to know what “culture” meant. It goes without saying that “culture” is a confusing word, this year or any year. Merriam-Webster offers six definitions for it (including the biological one, as in “bacterial culture”). The problem is that “culture” is more than the sum of its definitions. If anything, its value as a word depends on the tension between them. The critic Raymond Williams, in his souped-up dictionary, “Keywords,” writes that “culture” has three divergent meanings: there’s culture as a process of individual enrichment, as when we say that someone is “cultured” (in 1605, Francis Bacon wrote about “the culture and manurance of minds”); culture as a group’s “particular way of life,” as when we talk about French culture, company culture, or multiculturalism; and culture as an activity, pursued by means of the museums, concerts, books, and movies that might be encouraged by a Ministry of Culture (or covered on a blog like this one). These three senses of culture are actually quite different, and, Williams writes, they compete with one another. Each time we use the word “culture,” we incline toward one or another of its aspects: toward the “culture” that’s imbibed

identity||geography||art||culture

through osmosis or the “culture” that’s learned at museums, toward the “culture” that makes you a better a person or the “culture” that just inducts you into a group. There’s a historical sense, too, in which “culture” is a polemical word. In the nineteenth century, Williams explains, “culture” was often opposed to “civilization.” Civilization, the thinking went, was a homogenizing system of efficient, rational rules, designed to encourage discipline and “progress.” Culture was the opposite: an unpredictable expression of human potential for its own sake. (It’s for this reason that a term like “the culture industry” has an oxymoronic ring.) Today, we don’t often use the word “civilization”— we prefer to talk, more democratically, in terms of culture—but we’re still conflicted. We can’t help but notice how “civilized” life seems both to facilitate culture and to deaden it. Museums make it easy to see art, but they also weigh it down. Rock and roll sounds better in a club than in a concert hall.

Banks, Multicultural Education: Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies. The essence of a culture is not its artifacts, tools, or other tangible cultural elements but how the members of the group interpret, use, and perceive them. It is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized societies; it is not material objects and other tangible aspects of human societies. People within a culture usually interpret the meaning of symbols, artifacts, and behaviors in the same or in similar ways.

culture||art||geography||identity

Cuba has such a rich history, so I decided to collage together a series of brochures that really speak about the culture of Cuba. The drawings represent Cubaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colorful and playful personality with the use of color and large text.

Cuba Style, Graphics From the Golden Age of Design, Havana Cuba, The Perfect Summer Resort, Forever a Paradise, Land of Fiesta, Havana Cuba brochure, circa 1900â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s by unknown artist.

identity||geography||art||culture

Damen, Culture Learning: The Fifth Dimension on the Language Classroom: Culture: learned and shared human patterns or models for living; day- to-day living patterns. these patterns and models pervade all aspects of human social interaction. Culture is mankindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary adaptive mechanism.

Hofstede, Communication Between Cultures: Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.

Kluckhohn, The concept of culture: By culture we mean all those historically created designs for living, explicit and implicit, rational, irrational, and non-rational, which exist at any given time as potential guides for the behavior of men.

Kroeber, Culture: A critical review of concepts and definitions: Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other as conditioning elements of further action.

Lederach, Preparing for peace: Conflict transformation across cultures: Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them.

Linton, The Cultural Background of Personality:

culture||art||geography||identity

A culture is a configuration of learned behaviors and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society.

Parson, Essays in Sociological Theory: Culture...consists in those patterns relative to behavior and the products of human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation to generation independently of the biological genes.

Useem, Human Organizations: Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings.

zimmermann, What Is Culture? Definition of Culture: Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, how we behave with loved ones, and a million other things,” Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science. The word “culture” derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin “colere,” which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture. I wanted to showcase some of the Chinese graphics by combining more than one poster that had different content. This idea of China being highly polluted (large image) with the mixture of the famous illustrated waves gives a glimpse of what it’s like in terms of art and culture.

“It shares its etymology with a number of other words related to actively fostering growth,” De Rossi said. Western culture: The term “Western culture” has come to define the culture of European countries as well as those that have been heavily influenced by European immigration, such as the United States, according to Khan University. Western culture has its roots in the Classical Period of the Greco-Roman era and the rise of Christianity in the 14th century. Other drivers of Western culture include Latin, Celtic, Germanic and Hellenic ethnic and linguistic groups.

Asian Graphics Now! Industrial Pollution, Global Warming, Automative Pollution poster, The China Environment Protection Fund, 2009 by JWT and Yang Yong Liang.

identity||geography||art||culture

Today, the influences of Western culture can be seen in almost every country in the world. Eastern culture was heavily influenced by religion. This giant statue of Buddha overlooks Hong Kong. Eastern culture: Eastern culture generally refers to the societal norms of countries in Far East Asia (including China, Japan, Vietnam, North Korea and South Korea) and the Indian subcontinent. Like the West, Eastern culture was heavily influenced by religion during its early development, but it was also heavily influenced by the growth and harvesting of rice, according to the book “Pathways to Asian Civilizations: Tracing the Origins and Spread of Rice and Rice Cultures” by Dorian Q. Fuller. In general, in Eastern culture there is less of a distinction between secular society and religious philosophy than there is in the West. Latin culture: Many of the Spanish-speaking nations are considered part of the Latin culture, while the geographic region is widespread. Latin America is typically defined as those parts of the Central America, South America and Mexico where Spanish or Portuguese are the dominant languages. Originally, the term “Latin America” was used by French geographers to differentiate between Anglo and Romance (Latin-based) languages, according to the University of Texas. While Spain and Portugal are on the European continent, they are considered the key influencers of what is known as Latin culture, which denotes people using languages derived from Latin, also known as Romance languages. Middle Eastern culture: The countries of the Middle East have some but not all things in common. This is not a surprise, since the area consists of approximately 20 countries, according to PBS. The Arabic language is one thing that is common throughout the region; however, the wide variety of dialect can sometimes make communication difficult. Religion is another cultural area that the countries of the Middle East have in common. The Middle East is the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. African culture: The continent of Africa is essential to all

culture||art||geography||identity

cultures. Human life originated on this continent and began to migrate to other areas of the world around 60,000 years ago, according to the Natural History Museum in London. Other researchers, like those from Estonian Biocentre in Tartu, believe that the first migration may have been much earlier, as early as 120,000 years ago. Researchers come to these conclusions by studying human genomes from various cultures to trace their DNA to common ancestors. Fossil records also factor into some of these theories. Africa is home to a number of tribes, ethnic and social groups. One of the key features of this culture is the large number of ethnic groups throughout the 54 countries on the continent. Nigeria alone has more than 300 tribes, for example. Currently, Africa is divided into two cultural groups: North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. This is because Northwest Africa has strong ties to Middle East, while Sub-Saharan Africa shares historical, physical and social characteristics that are very different from North Africa, according to the University of Colorado. The harsh environment has been a large factor in the development of Sub-Saharan Africa culture, as there are a number of languages, cuisines, art and musical styles that have sprung up among the far-flung populations. Constant change: No matter what culture a people are a part of, one thing is for certain, it will change. “Culture appears to have become key in our interconnected world, which is made up of so many ethnically diverse societies, but also riddled by conflicts associated with religion, ethnicity, ethical beliefs, and, essentially, the elements which make up culture,” De Rossi said. “But culture is no longer fixed, if it ever was. It is essentially fluid and constantly in motion.” This makes it so that it is difficult to define any culture in only one way.

identity||geography||art||culture

What I found really interesting about European Graphics (specifically in the U.K. was their use of repetition). As you can see from the image above these are all different types of drawings for different uses and they all have something in common: repeated elements. Most of the drawings that I saw are geometric and modular.

Hello! UK Graphics, Modular Records, Visual, 2007. University of the Arts, Re-branding, 2006. Radar, Album campaign. Ghost Box Periodicals. Swarovski, Magazine, Consultancy, 2004. (All different artists).

culture||art||geography||identity

Wilson, Art, Culture and Identity: The importance of these points emerges when we consider the ground marked by “culture,” because any culture (if I speak for a moment as if we already knew what we are talking about) must, on this account of art, contain aesthetic elements. A culture, we might say as a sighting shot, consists of the practices and forms of life which distinguish a social group from a group of animals: the styles, rules, values, and other elements distinguishable in various patterns of human life. This is still very vague (and perhaps ought to remain so at this stage); but it will include, for instance, such things as cooking, dancing, certain language uses that are not purely utilitarian, dress, social rituals, and so forth. In primitive cultures (if one dare use a word like “primitive” in these egalitarian days) the aesthetic element is, in fact, a good deal more visible than in modern technological, utilitarian cultures: there is, perhaps, less science, less instrumental adopting of pragmatic means to pragmatic goals, more ritual, more expressiveness. But at the same time there is also less differentiation of different features: anthropologists are often at a loss to say whether a particular practice is aesthetic, or religious, or moral, or a piece of incompetent science-partly because these distinctions (in themselves pretty difficult to draw) are not clear in the minds of in that culture. The forms of thought are, as it were, less externalized; not seen so sharply as existing in some transcendental way, with their own standards to which individual practice has to conform, but seen more as an intimate and personal expression of individual or

identity||geography||art||culture

social feeling. It is perhaps for this reason that “culture” seems more sensible as a piece of terminology when we talk of primitive cultures: the question, for instance, of whether science and mathematics are part of “our culture” in advanced societies is a bit baffling-we feel that we want to say “yes,” because of course science and mathematics go on in our society; but we hesitate because they are not (always) interwoven in the personal lives of all individuals in it. (Jet airplanes and atomic bombs exist in various countries, but it sounds odd to say that they are part of our culture in a way that it is less odd to say that-perhaps-hamburgers and automobiles are).

I’ve always been intrigued by Japanese art and culture because of how simple everything seems to be. It seems as though they try to understand the object instead of imitate it. The image on the left kind of shows that; using Japanese f lowers that are illustrated to represent the cheetahs spots. By combining more than one image you can see the culture of the Japanese (even though it’s just four images).

Neo Japaneque Graphics, Kamondokoro Tsutaya, Poster, 2003. Fuji Television Network, inc., Poster, 2003. One Year Surf of Nippon, Poster - Book Related Novelty, 2004.

culture||art||geography||identity

When I think of Indian culture I always think of color and vibrant patterns. I decided to mesh together three images to capture that quality. The art in India is inspired by architecture and has a rich history, so by combining the Taj Mahal with patterns it gives you a sense of what its really like.

India Bazar, Vintage Indian Graphics, Modular Records, Visual, 2007. University of the Arts, Re-branding, 2006. Radar, Album campaign. Ghost Box Periodicals. Swarovski, Magazine, Consultancy, 2004. (All different artists).

identity||geography||art||culture

culture||art||geography||identity

When it comes to Russian graphics it seems like most of the drawings have sharp edges. The colors seem to fall more on the warm color spectrum, which makes the drawings feel warm. The reason I decided to collage these specific images together is to capture the essence of constructivism, which is what Russia is known for.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;El Lissitzky Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.â&#x20AC;? The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-lissitzky-el.htm. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.

identity||geography||art||culture

culture||art||geography||identity

American graphics incorporates simple patterns and has a vintage feel to it. What passes through as culture here is the use of color and the elements that are incorporated and something as simple as the font that they are using.

Graphic Design in America, A Visual Language History, Rene Bittel, book typography with car in 1961, Bradbury Thompson, Westvaco Inspirations record cover, A Paul Rand Miscellany, IBM Logo, 1984, Lester Beall, Germany Yesterday - Germany Tomorrow poster in 1939, Herbert Bayer, World Geo-Graphic Atlas in 1953, April Greiman, Design Quarterly â&#x20AC;&#x153;Does It Make Sense?â&#x20AC;? in 1986.

identity||geography||art||culture

over The Middle East has such a rich culture when it comes to calligraphy and intricate patterns that are heavily inspired by the mosaics. I wanted to incorporate these elements in one image. The use of calligraphy is seen everywhere and has been practiced for many years. By combining some of the traditional artwork with the more new, it shows the Middle Eastern culture.

OVER Arabesque V2, Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia, Ibrahim Eslam, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ahmad-bekâ&#x20AC;?, acrylic on canvas, 2007, Reza Abedini, poster for solo exhibition, 2001, Mouneer Al-Shaarani, The Enchantment Lies in the Colors, the Melodies, the Dew Drops, the Fragrance and the Flowers, calligraphy artwork, 2008.

02.

+ART

W H AT IS ART? Nieters Art is something we do, a verb. Art is an expression of our thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is even more personal than that: it’s about sharing the way we experience the world, which for many is an extension of personality. It is the communication of intimate concepts that cannot be faithfully portrayed by words alone. And because words alone are not enough, we must find some other vehicle to carry our intent. But the content that we instill on or in our chosen media is not in itself the art. Art is to be found in how the media is used, the way in which the content is expressed.

Mallory Works of art may elicit a sense of wonder or cynicism, hope or despair, adoration or spite; the work of art may be direct or complex, subtle or explicit, intelligible or obscure; and the subjects and approaches to the creation of art are bounded only by the imagination of the artist. Consequently, I believe that defining art based upon its content is a doomed enterprise. Now a theme in aesthetics, the study of art, is the claim that there is a detachment or distance between works of art and the flow of everyday life. Thus, works of art rise like islands from a current of more pragmatic concerns. When you step out of a river and onto an island, you’ve reached your destination. Similarly, the aesthetic attitude requires you to treat artistic experience as an end-in-itself: art asks us to arrive empty of preconceptions and attend to the way in which we experience the work of art. And although a person can have an ‘aesthetic experience’ of a natural scene, flavor or texture, art is different in that it is produced. Therefore, art is the intentional communication of an experience as an end-in-itself. The content of that experience in its cultural context may determine whether the artwork is popular or ridiculed, significant or trivial, but it is art either way. One of

identity||geography||art||culture

the initial reactions to this approach may be that it seems overly broad. An older brother who sneaks up behind his younger sibling and shouts “Booo!” can be said to be creating art. But isn’t the difference between this and a Freddy Krueger movie just one of degree? On the other hand, my definition would exclude graphics used in advertising or political propaganda, as they are created as a means to an end and not for their own sakes. Furthermore, ‘communication’ is not the best word for what I have in mind because it implies an unwarranted intention about the content represented. Aesthetic responses are often under determined by the artist’s intentions.

Leonardi Art is a means to state an opinion or a feeling, or else to create a different view of the world, whether it be inspired by the work of other people or something invented that’s entirely new. Beauty is whatever aspect of that or anything else that makes an individual feel positive or grateful. Beauty alone is not art, but art can be made of, about or for beautiful things. Beauty can be found in a snowy mountain scene: art is the photograph of it shown to family, the oil interpretation of it hung in a gallery, or the music score recreating the scene in crotchets and quavers. However, art is not necessarily positive: it can be deliberately hurtful or displeasing: it can make you think about or consider things that you would rather not. But if it evokes an emotion in you, then it is art.

MacFarlane Art is a way of grasping the world. Not merely the physical world, which is what science attempts to do; but the whole world, and specifically, the human world, the world of society and spiritual experience. Art emerged around 50,000 years ago, long before cities and civilization, yet in forms to which we can still directly relate. The wall paintings in the Lascaux caves, which so startled Picasso, have been carbon-dat-

culture||art||geography||identity

I choose this specific image to represent Central/ South America because it stands for what most of their art does. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chaotic, colorful and you get a flood of different emotions when you look at all the different pieces that make the whole.

Latino Grafico, Santiago Giani, Control de las necessidades primarias, 2009.

identity||geography||art||culture

ed at around 17,000 years old. Now, following the invention of photography and the devastating attack made by Duchamp on the self-appointed Art Establishment [see Brief Lives this issue], art cannot be simply defined on the basis of concrete tests like ‘fidelity of representation’ or vague abstract concepts like ‘beauty’. So how can we define art in terms applying to both cave-dwellers and modern city sophisticates? To do this we need to ask: What does art do? And the answer is surely that it provokes an emotional, rather than a simply cognitive response. One way of approaching the problem of defining art, then, could be to say: Art consists of shareable ideas that have a shareable emotional impact. Art need not produce beautiful objects or events, since a great piece of art could validly arouse emotions other than those aroused by beauty, such as terror, anxiety, or laughter. Yet to derive an acceptable philosophical theory of art from this understanding means tackling the concept of ‘emotion’ head on, and philosophers have been notoriously reluctant to do this. But not all of them: Robert Solomon’s book The Passions (1993) has made an excellent start, and this seems to me to be the way to go. It won’t be easy. Poor old Richard Rorty was jumped on from a very great height when all he said was that literature, poetry, patriotism, love and stuff like that were philosophically important. Art is vitally important to maintaining broad standards in civilization. Its pedigree long predates philosophy, which is only 3,000 years old, and science, which is a mere 500 years old. Art deserves much more attention from philosophers.

Hallinan Some years ago I went looking for art. To begin my journey I went to an art gallery. At that stage art to me was whatever I found in an art gallery. I found paintings, mostly, and because they were in the gallery I recognized them as art. A particular Rothko painting was one color and large. I observed a further piece that

culture||art||geography||identity

did not have an obvious label. It was also of one color – white – and gigantically large, occupying one complete wall of the very high and spacious room and standing on small roller wheels. On closer inspection I saw that it was a movable wall, not a piece of art. Why could one piece of work be considered ‘art’ and the other not? The answer to the question could, perhaps, be found in the criteria of Berys Gaut to decide if some artifact is, indeed, art – that art pieces function only as pieces of art, just as their creators intended. But were they beautiful? Did they evoke an emotional response in me? Beauty is frequently associated with art. There is sometimes an expectation of encountering a ‘beautiful’ object when going to see a work of art, be it painting, sculpture, book or performance. Of course, that expectation quickly changes as one widens the range of installations encountered. The classic example is Duchamp’s Fountain (1917), a rather un-beautiful urinal. So I began to reach a definition of art. A work of art is that which asks a question which a non-art object such as a wall does not: What am I? What am I communicating? The responses, both of the creator artist and of the recipient audience, vary, but they invariably involve a judgment, a response to the invitation to answer. The answer, too, goes towards deciphering that deeper question – the ‘Who am I?’ which goes towards defining humanity.

Bosley ‘Art’ is where we make meaning beyond language. Art consists in the making of meaning through intelligent agency, eliciting an aesthetic response. It’s a means of Indian graphics have a certain style, incorporating patterns and traditional Indian drawings. This drawing represents some of those elements all put into one drawing.

communication where language is not sufficient to explain or describe its content. Art can render visible and known what was previously unspoken. Because what art expresses and evokes is in part ineffable, we find it difficult to define and delineate it. It is known through the experience of the audience as well as the intention and

Indian Bazaar, Vintage Indian Graphics, Unknown artist, Incense box packaging.

identity||geography||art||culture

expression of the artist. The meaning is made by all the participants, and so can never be fully known. It is multifarious and on-going. Even a disagreement is a tension which is itself an expression of something. Art drives the development of a civilization, both supporting the establishment and also preventing subversive messages from being silenced – art leads, mirrors and reveals change in politics and morality. Art plays a central part in the creation of culture, and is an outpouring of thought and ideas from it, and so it cannot be fully understood in isolation from its context. Paradoxically, however, art can communicate beyond language and time, appealing to our common humanity and linking disparate communities. Perhaps if wider audiences engaged with a greater variety of the world’s artistic traditions it could engender increased tolerance and mutual respect. Another inescapable facet of art is that it is a commodity. This fact feeds the creative process, whether motivating the artist to form an item of monetary value, or to avoid creating one, or to artistically commodity the aesthetic experience. The commodification of art also affects who is considered qualified to create art, comment on it, and even define it, as those who benefit most strive to keep the value of ‘art objects’ high. These influences must feed into a culture’s understanding of what art is at any time, making thoughts about art culturally dependent. However, this commodification and the consequent closely-guarded role of the art critic also gives rise to a counter culture within art culture, often expressed through the creation of art that cannot be sold. The stratification of art by value and the resultant tension also adds to its meaning, and the meaning of art to society.

Törnsten First of all we must recognize the obvious. ‘Art’ is a word, and words and concepts are organic and change their meaning through time. So in the olden days,

culture||art||geography||identity

art meant craft. It was something you could excel at through practice and hard work. You learn how to paint or sculpt, and you learn the special symbolism of your era. Through Romanticism and the birth of individualism, art came to mean originality. To do something new and never-heard-of defined the artist. His or her personality became essentially as important as the artwork itself. During the era of Modernism, the search for originality led artists to reevaluate art. What could art do? What could it represent? Could you paint movement (Cubism, Futurism)? Could you paint the non-material (Abstract Expressionism)? Fundamentally: could anything be regarded as art? A way of trying to solve this problem was to look beyond the work itself, and focus on the art world: art was that which the institution of art – artists, critics, art historians, etc – was prepared to regard as art, and which was made public through the institution, e.g. galleries. Institutionalism has been the prevailing notion through the later part of the twentieth century, at least in academia, and I would say it still holds a firm grip on our conceptions. One example is the Swedish artist Anna Odell. Her film sequence Unknown woman 2009-349701, for which she faked psychosis to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital, was widely debated, and by many was not regarded as art. But because it was debated by the art world, it succeeded in breaking into the art world, and is today regarded as art, and Odell is regarded an artist. Of course there are those who try and break out of this hegemony, for example by refusing to play by the art world’s unwritten rules. Andy Warhol with his Factory was one, even though he is today totally embraced by the art world. Another example is Damien Hirst, who, much like Warhol, pays people to create the physical manifestations of his ideas. He doesn’t use galleries and other art world-approved arenas to advertise, and instead sells his objects directly to private individuals. What does all this teach us about art? Probably that art is a fleeting and chimeric concept. We will

identity||geography||art||culture

It seems like Chinese graphics always have a systematic way of designing things. So this drawing represents the very grid like structure with the repetition of squares and colors.

Asian Graphics Now!, Adeline Chua, Made Up, gridwork graphics, 2009.

culture||art||geography||identity

always have art, but for the most part we will only really learn in retrospect what the art of our era was.

Brookes Art periods such as Classical, Byzantine, Neo-Classical, Romantic, Modern and post-Modern reflect the changing nature of art in social and cultural contexts; and shifting values are evident in varying content, forms and styles. These changes are encompassed, more or less in sequence, by Imitationalist, Emotionalist, Expresivist, Formalist and Institutionalist theories of art. In The Transfiguration of the Commonplace (1981), Arthur Danto claims a distinctiveness for art that inextricably links its instances with acts of observation, without which all that could exist are ‘material counterparts’ or ‘mere real things’ rather than artworks. Notwithstanding the competing theories, works of art can be seen to possess ‘family resemblances’ or ‘strands of resemblance’ linking very different instances as art. Identifying instances of art is relatively straightforward, but a definition of art that includes all possible cases is elusive. Consequently, art has been claimed to be an ‘open’ concept. According to Raymond Williams’ Keywords (1976), capitalized ‘Art’ appears in general use in the nineteenth century, with ‘Fine Art’; whereas ‘art’ has a history of previous applications, such as in music, poetry, comedy, tragedy and dance; and we should also mention literature, media arts, even gardening, which for David Cooper in A Philosophy of Gardens (2006) can provide “epiphanies of co-dependence”. Art, then, is perhaps “anything presented for our aesthetic contemplation” – a phrase coined by John Davies, former tutor at the School of Art Education, Birmingham, in 1971 – although ‘anything’ may seem too inclusive. Gaining our aesthetic interest is at least a necessary requirement of art. Sufficiency for something to be art requires significance to art appreciators which endures as long as tokens or types of the

identity||geography||art||culture

artwork persist. Paradoxically, such significance is sometimes attributed to objects neither intended as art, nor especially intended to be perceived aesthetically â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for instance, votive, devotional, commemorative or utilitarian artifacts. Furthermore, aesthetic interests can be eclipsed by dubious investment practices and social kudos. When combined with celebrity and harmful forms of narcissism, they can egregiously affect artistic authenticity. These interests can be overriding, and spawn products masquerading as art. Then itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up to discerning observers to spot any Fads, Fakes and Fantasies (Sjoerd Hannema, 1970).

Malcomson For me art is nothing more and nothing less than the creative ability of individuals to express their understanding of some aspect of private or public life, like love, conflict, fear, or pain. As I read a war poem by Edward Thomas, enjoy a Mozart piano concerto, or contemplate a M.C. Escher drawing, I am often emotionally inspired by the moment and intellectually stimulated by the thought-process that follows. At this moment of discovery I humbly realize my views may be those shared by thousands, even millions across the globe. This is due in large part to the mass mediaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to control and exploit our emotions. The commercial success of a performance or production becomes the metric by which art is now almost exclusively gaged: quality in art has been sadly reduced to equating great art with sale of books, number of views, or the downloading of recordings. Too bad if personal sensibilities about a particular piece of art are lost in the greater rush for immediate acceptance. So where does that leave the subjective notion that beauty can still be found in art? If beauty is the outcome of a process by which art gives pleasure to our senses, then it should remain a matter of personal discernment, even if outside forces clamour to take control of it. In other words, nobody, including the art critic, should be able to tell

Hello! UK Graphics, Graphic Design in the UK since the 1980s, Markus Karlsson, Architecture in Helsinki, Places Like This, Album, V2 Co-op, Polyvinyl.

European graphics have a such a large range especially when it comes to design. So I decided to pick this drawing of a vinyl cover to show what European graphics might look like if they were summarized. This multilayered system kind of shows the different styles that live within Europe.

culture||art||geography||identity

This drawing was made by a Persian artist and it perfectly captures the importance of Arabic calligraphy in the Middle East. Its position makes the calligraphy the center, which is the most important aspect of the drawing and is seen in most Middle Eastern drawings.

Arabeque V2, Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia, Hafiz (Shohreh Shahr), in Memorial of Hafiz, for Morteza Mahalati, 2008.

identity||geography||art||culture

the individual what is beautiful and what is not. The world of art is one of a constant tension between preserving individual tastes and promoting popular acceptance.

McConkey If art is to mean anything, there has to be some working definition of what it is. If art can be anything to anybody at anytime, then there ends the discussion. What makes art special – and worth discussing – is that it stands above or outside everyday things, such as everyday food, paintwork, or sounds. Art comprises special or exceptional dishes, paintings, and music. So what, then, is my definition of art? Briefly, I believe there must be at least two considerations to label something as ‘art’. The first is that there must be something recognizable in the way of ‘author-to-audience reception’. I mean to say, there must be the recognition that something was made for an audience of some kind to receive, discuss or enjoy. Implicit in this point is the evident recognizability of what the art actually is – in other words, the author doesn’t have to tell you it’s art when you otherwise wouldn’t have any idea. The second point is simply the recognition of skill: some obvious skill has to be involved in making art. This, in my view, would be the minimum requirements – or definition – of art. Even if you disagree with the particulars, some definition is required to make anything at all art. Otherwise, what are we even discussing? I’m breaking the mold and ask for brass tacks. Human beings appear to have a compulsion to categorize, to organize and define. We seek to impose order on a welter of sense-impressions and memories, seeing regularities and patterns in repetitions and associations, always on the lookout for correlations, eager to determine cause and effect, so that we might give sense to what might otherwise seem random and inconsequential. However, particularly in the last century, we have also learned to take pleasure in the reflection

culture||art||geography||identity

of unstructured perceptions; our artistic ways of seeing and listening have expanded to encompass disharmony and irregularity. This has meant that culturally, an ever-widening gap has grown between the attitudes and opinions of the majority, who continue to define art in traditional ways, having to do with order, harmony, representation; and the minority, who look for originality, who try to see the world anew, and strive for difference, and whose critical practice is rooted in abstraction. In between there are many who abjure both extremes, and who both find and give pleasure both in defining a personal vision and in practicing craftsmanship. There will always be a challenge to traditional concepts of art from the shock of the new, and tensions around the appropriateness of our understanding. That is how things should be, as innovators push at the boundaries. At the same time, we will continue to take pleasure in the beauty of a mathematical equation, a finely-tuned machine, a successful scientific experiment, the technology of landing a probe on a comet, an accomplished poem, a striking portrait, the sound-world of a symphony. We apportion significance and meaning to what we find of value and wish to share with our fellows. Our art and our definitions of beauty reflect our human nature and the multiplicity of our creative efforts. In the end, because of our individuality and our varied histories and traditions, our debates will always be inconclusive. If we are wise, we will look and listen with an open spirit, and sometimes with a wry smile, always celebrating the diversity of human imaginings and achievements. Another European draw ing that deals with this idea of repetition but in a more organic way. The repetition comes from the sketches and the way that they are placed on the page.

Dickie Although he does not attempt to formulate a definition, Arthur Danto in his provocative article, “The Artworld,” has suggested the direction that must be taken by an attempt to define “ art .” In reflecting on art and its history together with such present-day developments as Warhol’s Brillo Carton and Rauschenberg’s Bed,

Pathfinder, A Way Through Swiss Graphix, Unknown Artsit, Unknown Year.

identity||geography||art||culture

Danto writes, “To see something as art requires something the eye cannot decry -- an atmosphere of artistic theory, a knowledge of history of art: an artworld.” Admittedly, this stimulating comment is in need of elucidation, but Danto points to the rich structure in which particular works of art are embedded: he indicates the institutional nature of art. I shall use Danto’s term “artworld: to refer to the broad social institution in which works of art have their place. But is there such an institution? George Bernard Shaw speaks somewhere of the apostolic line of succession stretching from Aeschylus to himself. Shaw was no doubt speaking for effect and to draw attention to himself. Shaw was no doubt speaking for effect and to draw attention to himself, as he often did, but there is an important truth implied by his remark. There is a long tradition has run very thin at this times and perhaps even ceased to exist altogether during some periods, only to be reborn out of its memory and the need for art. The institutions associated with the theater have varied from time to time: in the beginning it was Greek religion and the Greek state; in medieval times, the church; more recently, private business and the state (national theater). What has remained constant with its own identity throughout its history is the theater itself as an established way of doing and behaving. This institutionalized behavior occurs on both sides of the “footlights”: both the players and the audience are involved and go to make up the institutions of the theater. The roles of the actors and the audience are defined by the traditions of the theater. What the author, management, and players present is art, and it is art because it is presented within the theaterworld framework. Plays are written to have a place in the theater system and they exist as plays, that is, as art, within that system. Of course, I do not wish to deny that plays also exist as literary

culture||art||geography||identity

works, that is, as art within the literary system: the theater system and the literary system overlap. The artworld consists of a bundle of systems: theater, painting, sculpture, literature, music, and so on, each of which furnishes an institutional background for the conferring of the status on objects within its domain. No limit can be placed on the number of systems that can be brought under the generic conception of art, and each of the major systems contains further subsystems. These features of the artworld provide the elasticity whereby creativity of even the most radical sort can be accommodated. A whole new system comparable to the theater, for example could be added in one fell swoop. What is more likely is that a new subsystem would be added within a system. For example, junk sculpture added within sculpture, happenings added within theater. Such additions might in time develop into full-blown systems. Having now briefly described the artworld, I am in a position to specify a definition of “work of art.” The definition will be given in terms of artifactuality and the conferred status of art or, more strictly speaking, the conferred status of candidate for appreciation. Once the definition has been stated, a great deal will remain to be said by way of clarification: A work of art in the classificatory sense is (1) an artifact (2) a set of the aspects of which has had conferred upon it the status of candidate for the appreciation by some person or persons acting on behalf of a certain social institution (the artworld). Weitz chargers that the defining of “art” or its subconcepts forecloses on creativity. Some of the traditional definitions of “art” may have and some of the traditional definitions of its subconcepts probably did foreclose on creativity, but this danger is now past. At one time a playwright, for example, may have conceived of and wished to write a play with tragic features but lacking a defining character-

identity||geography||art||culture

Russian graphics have a certain style to them, constructivism was a style that boomed and has left a mark. The drawing shows that specific style and how it creates sharp edges throughout the piece.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Alexander Rodchenko Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.â&#x20AC;? The Art Story, www.theartstory.org/artist-rodchenko-alexander.htm. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.

culture||art||geography||identity

istic as specified by, say, Aristotle’s definition of “tragedy.” Faced with this dilemma the playwright might have been intimidated into abandoning his project. With the present-day disregard for established genres, however, and the clamor for novelty in art, this obstacle to creativity no longer exists. Today, if a new and unusual work is created and it is similar to some members of an established type of art, it will usually be accommodated within that type, or if the new work is very unlike any existing works then a new subconcept will probably be created. Artists today are not easily intimidated, and they regard art genres as loose guidelines rather than rigid specifications. Even if a philosopher’s remarks were to have an effect on what artists do today, institutional conception of art would certainly not foreclose on creativity. The requirement of artifactuality cannot prevent creativity, since artifactuality is a necessary condition of creativity. There cannot be an instance of creativity without an artifact of some kind being produced. The second requirement involving the conferring of status could not inhibit creativity; in fact, it encourages it. Since under the definition anything whatever may become art, the definition imposes no restraints on creativity. The institutional theory of art may sound like saying, “A work of art is an object of which someone has said, ‘I christen this object of a work of art.’” And it is rather like that, although this does not mean that the conferring of the status of art is a simple matter. Just as the christening of a child has its background the history and structure of the church, conferring the status of art has its background the Byzantine complexity of the artworld. Some may find it strange that in the nonart cases discusses, there are ways in which the conferring can go wrong, while that does not appear to be true in art. For example, an indictment might be improperly drawn up and the person charge would not actually be indicted, but nothing parallel seems possible in the case of art. This fact just reflects the differences between the artworld and legal institutions: the legal system deals with matters of grave person 52

identity||geography||art||culture

consequences and its procedures must reflect this; the artworld deals with important matters also but they are of a different sort entirely. The artworld does not require rigid procedures; it admits and even encourages frivolity and caprice without losing its serious purpose. Please note that not all legal procedures are as rigid as court procedures and that mistake made in conferring certain kinds of legal status are not fatal to that status. A minister may make mistakes in reading the marriage ceremony, but the couple that stands before him will still acquire the status of being married. If, however, a mistake cannot be made in conferring the status of art, a mistake can be made by conferring it. In conferring the status of art on an object one assumes a certain kind of responsibility that no one will appreciate it and that the person who did the conferring will thereby lose face. One can make a work of art out of a sowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ear, but that does not necessarily make it a silk purse.

This drawing represents the American style, a simple collage that also seems to have texture. By combing some typography around the drawings it gives it more of a fun twist.

Graphic Design in America, A Visual Language History, April Greiman, The Modern Poster, Museum of Modern Art, 1988.

culture||art||geography||identity

This art piece represents the Middle East and I picked this specific one by the same artist to show the technique of calligraphy, which is a big part of the Middle Eastern culture.

Arabesque, Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia, Hassan Massoudy, Jacques Prevert, Schiller, Al Mountannabi, Mahabarata, Arabic calligraphy, Unknown Year.

identity||geography||art||culture

culture||art||geography||identity

This specific Japanese poster stood it to me because of how inspired I felt when I first saw this. It has a collage feeling to it and yet everything seems so cohesive and related to each other as if it was a photograph.

Neo Japaneque Graphics, Wakayama Prefectural Government, Poster, 2004.

identity||geography||art||culture

culture||art||geography||identity

This Latin collage resembles their culture perfectly. The exploding colors that are coming out of the head seem to be pointing towards creativity.

Latino Grafico, Augusto Giovanetti, Closet 01, Closet 02, Closet 03, 2009.

identity||geography||art||culture

OVER Emigre is an American graphic design magazine and this specific cover is so captivating with the use of color and bold typography. The overlaid images create interesting textures and unique colors.

OVER Graphic Design in America, A Visual Language History, Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko, Emigre 4, Cover, 1986.

03.

+ G EOGR APH Y

W H AT IS GEOGR APH Y? Bonnet, What is geography: We are all explorers. Even as tiny children we search out the limits of our world. A few years on, our imagination stretches further: fingers batting at a giddy plastic globe… a spinning top, gaudy with color, representing perhaps the most ambitious idea possible, the world. Geography is a fundamental fascination. It is also a core component of a good education. Yet a lot of people are not too sure what it is. They stumble over the question ‘What is geography?’ Perhaps they are worried by the scale and the implications of the obvious answer. For geography is about the world. To study geography is to study the world, both near and far. Geography is not just another academic specialism. Indeed, in an age when knowledge is fragmented into thousands of disciplines, geography can seem like a throwback. Its horizons are just too wide. After examining the way geology, climatology, ecology, environmental science and a number of human sciences evolved from geography, the historian Peter Bowler suggests that ‘Geography is a classic example of a subject that can disappear as a separate entity, each of its functions siphoned off by a new specialization’. Our world. It is an idea that provokes another: that our personal histories only make sense against the backdrop of six billion other personal histories, that our fates are intertwined. The Blue Marble is a portrait of a modern, interdependent, geographical consciousness. The phrase ‘personal histories’ reminds us that geography has a twin. history and geography have much in common. Both are ancient but also contemporary. Both address seemingly limitless territory yet remain lodged in our imaginations; hard to grasp but indispensable. Immanuel Kant identified geography and history as the

identity||geography||art||culture

two basic forms of human knowledge, the one addressing things and events in space, the other things and events in time the one reaching out, the other drilling down. History, like geography, seems to be all-inclusive, endless in depth and range. It is intellectually omnivorous. But this does not allow us to dismiss history as incoherent. We know that history is about the past and we know that the past matters.

nag, geography: A captivating subject, geography is a scientific field that is devoted to the study of the Earth’s landforms, oceans, environment and ecosystems, as well as the interactions between the human society and their environment. The word geography literally means “earth writing”. Geography has been elucidated by various sources time and again. Here is a general definition of geography: “Geography is the study of the Earth’s physical features and environment including the impact of human activity on these factors and vice versa. The subject also encompasses the study of patterns of human population distribution, land use, resource availability, and industries.” Scholars who study geography are known as geographers. These people engage themselves in the exciting task of exploring and studying the Earth’s natural environment and human society. Although map-makers were known as geographers in the ancient world, today, they are more specifically known as cartographers. Geographers usually focus on two major fields of geographical studies: physical geography or human geography. Human geography is the branch of geography that deals with the study of how the human society is influenced by the Earth’s surface and environment and how, in turn, anthropological activities impact the planet. Human geography is centered on the study of the planet’s most evolved creatures: the humans and their environment.

culture||art||geography||identity

Europe is located to the left of Russia and is made up by approximately 50 countries, which makes it very diverse. The diversity that is created within Europe is shown in their artwork through the wide ranges that they produce.

Ted Grajeda | Striped Candy LLC. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Royalty Free Vector Maps.â&#x20AC;? Free Vector Maps, freevectormaps.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2017.

identity||geography||art||culture

This branch of geography can be further subdivided into various disciplines based on the focus of study: Population geography: A division of human geography, population geography deals with the study of how the nature of a place determines the distribution, growth, composition, and migration of human populations. Historical geography: Historical geography elucidates the ways in which geographical phenomena change and evolve with time. Though it is treated as a sub-field of human geography, it also focuses on certain aspects of physical geography. Historical geography attempts to understand why, how and when a place or region on Earth changes and the impact such changes have on the human society. Cultural geography: Cultural geography explores how and why cultural products and norms vary with space and place. It thus deals with the study of the spatial variations of human cultures including religion, language, livelihood choices, politics, etc. Religion geography, language geography, etc., are some of the subfields of cultural geography. Economic geography: A vital aspect of human geography, economic geography encompasses the study of how human economic activities are located, distributed and organized in geographical place and space. Marketing and transportation geography can be treated as sub-fields of economic geography. Political geography: This important field of human geography deals with the political boundaries of the countries of the world and the division of land and its resources between the countries. It also deals with how spatial structures influence political functions and vice versa. Military geography, electoral geography, geopolitics are some of the subfields of political geography.

culture||art||geography||identity

Swaaij, Atlas of Experience An atlas never just shows you where you are, where you want to go and how to get there. It also fires the imagination. Maps which chart rivers, mountains, towns, countries, far-away regions, oceans and continents can arouse intense feelings. An atlas combines reality and fantasy. Maps evoke travel, exotic places and the allure of the unknown. Without a map, there would be no way to know precisely where you are. There is no ‘here’ without ‘there’. There is no world without a map.

The Atlas of Experience maps a new yet familiar world. At first sight, the

maps look like ordinary representations of far away-places. On close inspection, however, you will realize that you are surveying our shared world of thoughts and emotions. This atlas is based on traditional cartography, but it substitutes the names of cities, rivers and seas for concepts, feelings and everyday experiences. Topographic concepts acquire symbolic resonance. Our intentions are serious, but you can take the atlas lightly.

You can’t really take a plane to the world of Experience, of course, because

you already live there. It’s the place where you go through many changed on the way to Somewhere Else. Set out now on your own intriguing journey through this special atlas and experience an original, refreshing and perhaps enlightening outlook on life. Although Japan is small in size, it is very creative when it comes to their art and their integration of culture within each piece. It’s located to the right of China.

Bonnett, Geography: What’s the big idea? I admit that my two slogans – ‘the world discipline’ and ‘one of humanity’s big ideas’ – might seem a little unsophisticated to some. However, the task of interpreting the geographical tradition in clear and ambitious ways is a vital one. The fact that geography is not just a modern enterprise, that it (or something like it) has been

Ted Grajeda | Striped Candy LLC. “Royalty Free Vector Maps.” Free Vector Maps, freevectormaps.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2017.

identity||geography||art||culture

going for thousands of years, in many different societies, provides us with more than a rich intellectual heritage. It tells us that the kind of knowledge geography provides – of the world around us, both near and far – is necessary knowledge; that in order to thrive and survive we need it. Some decades ago such statements would have annoyed me. When I began working in academic geography in the early 1990s, I considered any attempt to define the discipline, however broadly, as old-fashioned and authoritarian. The previous scholarly generations’ attempts to wrap geography around the map and stuff it with regional knowledge, struck me as both limited and limiting. On this point, at least, my views have not shifted. There is no nostalgia in What is Geography? (Bonnett, 2008) for previous academic orthodoxies. What changed my outlook was something else – namely the realization that geography is not ‘owned’ by geography teachers and academics, rather it is something much bigger. I have also come to understand that defining geography can be enabling; more enabling, indeed, than refusing to do so. As all of this implies, for me, defining geography is not about defending its existing institutions, it is about the conviction that the world both produces and needs geography. More specifically, that it needs both world knowledge and environmental knowledge, and needs to know how to connect them. Some readers may ask, ‘How can one speak about, let alone know, the meaning of geography across different times and spaces?’. They may also want to claim that ‘geography is whatever we make it’. These are not unreasonable viewpoints. However, they create an intellectual blind alley, a dead-end that academic geography, in particular, has been a little too keen to inhabit. The result has been a tendency towards skills-based agendas and, at university level, arbitrary content (as seen, for example, in the sometimes alarmingly eclectic programmers of academic geography confer-

culture||art||geography||identity

ences). Today, however, we can no longer afford to indulge the pleasures of extreme relativism. The insights it offers are real but slight when compared to the challenges of human survival. We must be more ambitious and make claims for geography that engage and reflect our deepest and most important aspirations. Up to a point, such claims are about creating myths and constructing lineages. This is what people have to do in order to make sense of the world. When I refer to geography as ‘one of humanity’s big ideas’, I acknowledge it as an act of will, an intellectual and practical project. But it is a necessary one. Inevitably, to define geography as ‘the world discipline’ means that we bring contemporary global challenges to the fore. However, the phrase also evokes something wider, something about the need and desire of humans to know the world. To put some flesh on this argument, I will now draw out three fundamental aspects of geography that go beyond and deepen what we might call ‘problem-based’ approaches. First, there is the existential function of geography. What I am referring to here is the use of geography to order the world, to invest meaning in the world and, thereby, make it reasonable and understandable to us. It is a sorting and explaining that confirms and shapes our status as a unique species. Imposing order on the world involves constructing borders and places as well as myths of creation and purpose. It is a primal and universal ambition. These phrases could equally be applied to the second fundamental aspect I want to mention: geography’s relationship to human survival. Today, when humans understand that they have the capacity to either sustain or destroy life on Earth, human survival hovers in the background of many geography lessons. Our new understanding that life is fragile gives urgency to our work on human impact, global conflict and environmental management. But a point

identity||geography||art||culture

Central and South America are located right under the United States. It’s surrounded by water and is known for its rain forests.

Ted Grajeda | Striped Candy LLC. “Royalty Free Vector Maps.” Free Vector Maps, freevectormaps.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2017.

culture||art||geography||identity

that often gets marginalized in such accounts is that geography has always been about survival. Geography offers information about landscapes, peoples, routes and resources, and the connections between them that allow us to understand and manage both our patch as well as those that surround it. To introduce the term ‘survival’ into this account may seem like hyperbole. Terms such as ‘flourish’, ‘sustain’ or ‘develop’ might be preferred. But I do not use the word lightly. I think ‘survival’ is a more accurate depiction of what happens when we gather geographical information and of the imperative to do so. Themes of growth and sustainable development are subsequent and subsidiary concerns. The desire to survive is the raw truth. Humans have done almost anything to ensure their survival. Yet they have also (surprisingly often) come to understand that their own survival is linked to the survival of other species and natural systems. The last of the three aspects of geography I want to mention also acts to broaden the idea that geography is useful knowledge for a globalising planet. It challenges the notion that geographers should view their principal goal to be the production of ‘global citizens’ for a globalised planet. This is controversial territory, in part because, in academic and intellectual circles, this agenda is often associated with the left. Any critique of it appears to endorse Alex Standish’s (2008) vision of a depoliticized, content-driven, curriculum. However, my analysis is different from Standish’s. My doubts about the ‘global citizen’ arise from a suspicion that it rests on a kind of cultural arrogance. Since Western culture and values have spread across the earth, it is all too easy for people in the West to claim to be cosmopolitan. Much of the world does not feel so confident and its geography teaching can, as a result, appear defensive. It is in this context I would suggest that the production of ‘global citizens’ is another project which is necessary but not sufficient. It conceals

identity||geography||art||culture

the local knowledges and attachments of Western ‘cosmopolitans’ and disparages the knowledges and attachments of many indigenous people. Rather than privilege detachment over attachment, restlessness over rootedness, geography can and should acknowledge both. After all, we all want to explore, to journey out, but we all also need a sense of roots and connection. A geography that does not ‘get’ why people are attached to particular places, why they love the place they call home, is neither adequate nor plausible. In The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie explains it succinctly: Among the great struggles of man – good/evil, reason/unreason, etc. – there is also this mighty conflict between the fantasy of Home and the fantasy of Away, the dream of roots and the mirage of the journey. Modern geography has to navigate between ‘the dream of roots and the mirage of the journey’. We are tied to these hopes for most of us are deeply rooted and deeply restless.

The Middle East is composed of 22 countries and is located to left of Asia and to the right of Northern Africa. By having 22 countries in one region it creates a diverse atmosphere

Ted Grajeda | Striped Candy LLC. “Royalty Free Vector Maps.” Free Vector Maps, freevectormaps.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2017.

culture||art||geography||identity

Russia is the largest nation and it borders Europe and Asia. The massive size of Russia creates a large span in diversity in the art that is being produced.

Ted Grajeda | Striped Candy LLC. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Royalty Free Vector Maps.â&#x20AC;? Free Vector Maps, freevectormaps.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2017.

identity||geography||art||culture

culture||art||geography||identity

China is considered to be the most populous nation in East Asia, creating a dense atmosphere. It is located right under Russia.

Ted Grajeda | Striped Candy LLC. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Royalty Free Vector Maps.â&#x20AC;? Free Vector Maps, freevectormaps.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2017.

identity||geography||art||culture

culture||art||geography||identity

The United States of America is a country with 50 states, each having a unique identity. The 50 states almost seem to resemble different countries because of how diverse each one is.

Ted Grajeda | Striped Candy LLC. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Royalty Free Vector Maps.â&#x20AC;? Free Vector Maps, freevectormaps.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2017.

identity||geography||art||culture

culture||art||geography||identity

India is a country located in Southeast Asia. India is very rich in history especially for their architecture that is highly detailed and it influences their art.

Ted Grajeda | Striped Candy LLC. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Royalty Free Vector Maps.â&#x20AC;? Free Vector Maps, freevectormaps.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2017.

identity||geography||art||culture

OVER The diagram reinforces this idea that some neighboring countries share similarities when it comes to art and graphics. Each country is highlighted based on its assigned color. I wanted to have this drawing to make a correlation between distance and art.

0%–25% The thinnest line shows how very little each country has in common in terms of graphics.

25%–50% The medium line shows how each country has some similarities when it comes to graphics.

50%–70% The thickest line shows how each country have a lot of similarities in terms of graphics.

04.

=I DEN T I T Y

W H AT IS IDENTIT Y? Fearon, WHAT IS IDENTITY (AS WE NOW USE THE WORD)? Despite this vastly increased and broad-ranging interest in “identity,” the concept itself remains something of an enigma. What Phillip Gleason (1983) observed 15 years ago remains true today: The meaning of “identity” as we currently use it is not well captured by dictionary definitions, which reflect older senses of the word. Our present idea of “identity” is a fairly recent social construct, and a rather complicated one at that. Even though everyone knows how to use the word properly in everyday discourse, it proves quite difficult to give a short and adequate summary statement that captures the range of its present meanings.

“Identity” is presently used in two linked senses, which may be termed

“social” and “personal.” In the former sense, an “identity” refers simply to a social category, a set of persons marked by a label and distinguished by rules deciding membership and (alleged) characteristic features or attributes. In the second sense of personal identity, an identity is some distinguishing characteristic (or characteristics) that a person takes a special pride in or views as socially consequential but more-orless unchangeable. Thus, “identity” in its present incarnation has a double sense. It refers at the same time to social categories and to the sources of an individual’s self-respect or dignity. There is no necessary linkage between these things. In ordinary language, at least, one can use “identity” to refer to personal characteristics or attributes that cannot naturally be expressed in terms of a social category, and in some contexts certain categories can be described as “identities” even though no one sees them as central to their personal identity. Nonetheless, “identity” in its present incarnation reflects and evokes the idea that social categories are bound up with the bases of an

identity||geography||art||culture

individual’s self-respect. Arguably much of the force and interest of the term derives its implicit linkage of these two things. Academic users of the word “identity” feel no need to explain its meaning to readers. The reader’s understanding is simply taken for granted, even when “identity” is the author’s primary dependent or independent variable. This is perhaps not so surprising. In the first place, while the origins of our present understanding of “identity” lie in the academy, the concept is now quite common in popular discourse. Since we all know how to employ the word and we understand it in other people’s sentences, why bother with definitions or explanations? Second, in popular discourse identity is often treated as something ineffable and even sacred, while in the academy identity is often treated as something complex and even ineffable. One hesitates to try to define the sacred, the ineffable, or the complex. Of course, one can find brief definitions and clarifications in many places. These run the gamut, from suggestive glosses to some fairly complicated and opaque formulations. Here are some examples, culled mainly but not exclusively from the areas I read most in (political science, international relations): • Identity is “people’s concepts of who they are, of what sort of people they are, and how they relate to others” (Hogg and Abrams 1988). • “Identity is used in this book to describe the way individuals and groups define themselves and are defined by others on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, language, and culture” (Deng 1995). • Identity “refers to the ways in which individuals and collectivities are distinguished in their social relations with other individuals and collectivities” (Jenkins 1996).

Culture||art||geography||identity

• “National identity describes that condition in which a mass of people have made the same identification with national symbols – have internalized the symbols of the nation ...” (Bloom 1990). • Identities are “relatively stable, role-specific understandings and expectations about self” (Wendt 1992). • “Social identities are sets of meanings that an actor attributes to itself while taking the perspective of others, that is, as a social object. ... [Social identities are] at once cognitive schema’s that enable an actor to determine ‘who I am/we are’ in a situation and positions in a social role structure of shared understandings and expectations” (Wendt 1994). • “By social identity, I mean the desire for group distinction, dignity, and place within historically specific discourses (or frames of understanding) about the character, structure, and boundaries of the polity and the economy” (Herrigel 1993). • “The term [identity] (by convention) references mutually constructed and evolving images of self and other” (Katzenstein 1996). • “Identities are ... prescriptive representations of political actors themselves and of their relationships to each other” (Kowert and Legro 1996). • “My identity is defined by the commitments and identifications which provide the frame or horizon within which I can try to determine from case to case what is good, or valuable, or what ought to be done, or what I endorse or oppose” (Taylor 1989). • “Yet what if identity is conceived not as a boundary to be maintained but as a nexus of relations and transactions actively engaging a subject?” (Clifford 1988). • “Identity is any source of action not explicable from biophysical regularities, and to which observers can attribute meaning” (White).

identity||geography||art||culture

• “Indeed, identity is objectively defined as location in a certain world and can be subjectively appropriated only along with that world. ... [A] coherent identity incorporates within itself all the various internalized roles and attitudes.” (Berger and Luckmann 1966). • “Identity emerges as a kind of unsettled space, or an unresolved question in that space, between a number of intersecting discourses. ... [Until recently, we have incorrectly thought that identity is] a kind of fixed point of thought and being, a ground of action ... the logic of something like a ‘true self.’ ... [But] Identity is a process, identity is split. Identity is not a fixed point but an ambivalent point. Identity is also the relationship of the Other to oneself” (Hall 1989). The range, complexity, and differences among these various formulations are remarkable. In part, the differences reflect the multiple lineages that “identity” has within the academy. Different research traditions – influenced variously by symbolic interactionism, role theory, Eriksonian psychology, social identity theory, and postmodernism, to name a few – have evolved somewhat different conventions regarding the term. Further, perhaps some of these authors intend merely to stipulate a definition of “identity” appropriate or useful for their specific purposes, so some variation might be expected with varying purposes. Nonetheless, it is also striking that the definitions seem to refer to a common underlying concept. Almost every one evokes a sense of recognition, so that none seems obviously wrong, despite the diversity. This is also to be expected, because “identity” has for some time now been a staple of ordinary language. Regardless of particular research traditions or purposes, it would be very strange to offer a definition of “identity” that bore no relation to what we already intuitively understand by the concept.

Cuba Style, Graphics From the Golden Age of Design, Latino Grafico.

By combining a series of images from Central and Latin America, it gives you a wide range of drawing styles and techniques. But if you were to look at them closely they are all related to each other. The drawings seem to have a carefully composed chaotic style with vibrant colors.

Culture||art||geography||identity

If in need of a definition, one looks first to dictionaries. Here is the most relevant entry for “identity” in the OED (2nd edition, 1989): “The sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality.” Note that this does not easily capture what we seem to mean when we refer to “national identity” or “ethnic identity,” for example. Is national identity the sameness of a nation in all times and places, or the condition of being this nation and not another? Certainly the idea of national identity entails an idea of temporal and spatial continuity of a nation, but this isn’t what an essay on the national identity of the Russians (for example) would be focused on. Nor is national identity the fact or condition of being different from other nations, but rather something about the content of the differences. The dictionary definition also fails to capture what we intend by declarations of the form “my identity is [such and such] ...”, although “individuality” may come close here (“personality” is clearly way off). Most telling is the comparison between the OED definition and the social scientist’s definitions listed above. While there is considerable overlap among social scientist’s definitions, there is almost none with the dictionary meaning. An important point follows: Our present concept of “identity” is recent, or at least recent enough that dictionaries have not caught up with current usage. The OED definition is reporting an older meaning of the word that is still used quite frequently in everyday speech but is nonetheless narrower than our present concept of identity. In this older sense, “identity” refers to the (often legal) association of a particular name to a particular person – the quality of being a particular person, or the same person as before, as in “she revealed the identity of the murderer” or “a case

identity||geography||art||culture

of mistaken identity.” This usage is still very much with us. For example, there is a minor genre of newspaper articles about the theft of credit and other identification cards that refers to “stolen identities.” But note that this is a quite different sense from what we mean when we say “I can’t do that because it is inconsistent with my identity” or claim that “Ethnic conflicts are particularly prone to violence because they involve matters of identity.” There is a second older meaning of “identity” that need not apply to persons and that is also still in use – for example, “an identity of interests.” This sense is defined in the OED as follows: “The quality or condition of being the same in substance, composition, nature, properties, or in particular qualities under consideration.” The OED gives an interesting example here. In South Africa fairly recently, the word was used as a label for a policy that refused to acknowledge any difference between Africans and Europeans – the “policy of identity.” As late as 1960, it was said that “the earlier British policy of identity broke down.” Note how contrary this is to the current sense, which would much more likely equate a “policy of identity” with one that fostered or strengthened cultural difference and awareness of it, perhaps in a positive way. As Gleason (1983) shows, our present sense of “identity” has evolved in the last forty years, deriving most of all from psychoanalyst Erik Erikson’s concept of an “identity crisis.” The following excerpt from the preface to a 1965 book by the psychoanalyst David de Levita gives some indication of the novelty of Erikson’s usage. In Hiddesen, a charming little German town, a meeting was held in 1951 to discuss ‘Health and Human Relations,’ sponsored jointly by ... . At that conference Erik H. Erikson spoke on ‘The Sense of Inner Identity.’ I was deeply impressed by Erikson and the exposition of his brilliant ideas. ... We all felt that this ‘concept of

Asian Graphics Now!

Chinese graphics have a cohesive feel all across the board, especially when it comes to the repetition of different elements. There’s a certain level of intricacy that goes into creating these drawings.

Culture||art||geography||identity

identity’ was extremely important, but it was not clear what the exact meaning was, so loaded with significance was the new term. Erikson’s term “identity crisis” has made it into dictionaries, and is defined in one as follows: “the condition of being uncertain of one’s feelings about oneself, especially with regard to character, goals, and origins, occurring especially in adolescence as a result of growing up under disruptive, fast-changing conditions.” This statement implicitly defines “identity” as one’s feelings about one’s self, character, goals, and origins. While much closer to our current meaning than the older meaning discussed above, this is closer still to “self-image.” As we use it now, “my identity” is not the same thing as my feelings about myself, character, goals, and origins, but rather something about my definition of myself, character, and so on. This brief look at what dictionaries have to say suggests that our current notion of “identity” is historically fairly recent. Identity is a new concept and not something that people have eternally needed or sought as such. If they were trying to establish, defend, or protect their identities, they thought about what they were doing in different terms.Thus, research intended to show how identity is socially constructed and historically contingent must presume that our present concept of identity is transhistorical and transcultural applicable, so that we can ask just as easily about European graphics when layered seem to have a repetitive linear pattern or a more collage like effect. When you look at the drawing you can see how each drawing speaks for itself but gives a deeper look into European graphics when you look at it as a whole.

the identities of 18th century English peasants as about people’s’ identities today, for example. If we want to apply a fairly recent social construct trans historically, this is another reason to be as clear as we can about its meaning. So what does this word mean as we use it now? Recognizing that no short statement will adequately cover all usages, I argue below that the word “identity” as used today has two distinct but intertwined meanings, and that much of the force

Pathfinder, A Way Through Swiss Graphix, Hello! UK Graphics, Graphic Design in the UK since the 1980s

identity||geography||art||culture

and interest of the concept turns on the implicit question of precisely how these meanings intertwine. As noted above, the two senses may be designated “social” and “personal” identity. In the former, an identity is just a social category, a group of people designated by a label (or labels) that is commonly used either by the people designated, others, or both. This is the sense employed when we refer to “American,” “French,” “Muslim,” “father,” “homosexual,” “worker,” “professor,” or “citizen” as identities. If this first sense is more typical of academic than popular usage, the reverse is true for “identity” as personal identity. This is the meaning invoked in declarations of the form “my identity is ... ” or “I could never do that because it would be inconsistent with, or would violate, my identity.” Here is the best I have been able to do: Personal identity is a set of attributes, beliefs, desires, or principles of action that a person thinks distinguish her in socially relevant ways and that (a) the person takes a special pride in; (b) the person takes no special pride in, but which so orient her behavior that she would be at a loss about how to act and what to do without them; or (c) the person feels she could not change even if she wanted to. Most often, I will argue, the (a) meaning applies, so that for usage in ordinary language personal identity can typically be glossed as the aspects or attributes of a person that form the basis for his or her dignity or self-respect. Used in this sense, “identity” has become a partial and indirect substitute for “dignity,” “honor,” and “pride.” A simple answer to the question “what is identity?” would be this: It is how one answers the question “who are you?” Or, my identity is how I define who I am. When academic authors offer brief clarification of what they mean by the word, this is often the way they do it (“a person’s identity is how the person defines who he or she is”).

Culture||art||geography||identity

One might answer the question “who are you?” entirely differently in different circumstances. For example, depending on the context, I might answer “an American,” “a professor,” “a son-in-law,” “a taxpayer,” “a Democrat.” In some situations I might even give my social security number. By this simple definition, then, it is trivial that one might have multiple identities, understood simply as answers to the question “who are you?”, since how you answer the question will depend on the specific context. So here is a first cut at a definition. An identity is something that fits as X in the sentence “I am an X.” In logical terms, an identity is a predicate that applies (or may apply) to a person, that is, a quality or property of a person. This isn’t enough, since it allows things that clearly would not qualify as “legitimate” (that is, recognizable to usage) identities, even taking a broad sense of the word. For example, consider X = a person with ten fingers, or X = a person with two moles on my right arm, or X = a person who saw the dentist last Tuesday. So an identity must be a particular sort of predicate attachable to a person. But what sort of predicate? At this point we might try the route taken in philosophy, where philosophers have long debated over a particular and often rather technical understanding of the word “identity.” In this debate, the identity of a thing (not just a person) consists of those properties or qualities in virtue of which it is that thing. That is, if you changed these properties or qualities, it would cease to be that thing and be something different. Inquiry into identity in this sense gives rise The drawings from India are so colorful and vibrant so when I combined them I tried to place them in a way that they would compliment each other instead of bring them down.

to conundrums like the following: What makes that tree the same tree that was there 20 years ago? If you rebuild a boat plank by plank, does it remain the same boat? Or, in terms of persons, what would have to be different about me for me to no longer be who I am? What are the properties or qualities in virtue of which I am James Fearon?

Indian Bazaar, Vintage Indian Graphics.

identity||geography||art||culture

In this philosophical sense, personal identity is those predicates of a person such that if they are changed, it is no longer the same person, the properties that are essential to him or her being that person rather than being merely contingent. For example, if you lose a finger we would say that you are the same person as before; if you suffer from an advanced state of Alzheimer’s, we might not. As I discuss below, this sense is related to the dictionary definition and to the way we currently understand the concept. We do think of identity as consisting of things that are in some way essential to us being who we are, whereas other things, like the type of ice cream I happen to want today, are merely contingent. But what philosophers have meant by “identity” in this sense is not what we currently mean in social science academic or in popular discourse. For example, I might say that a crucial part of my identity is that I like to listen to punk rock, but if I stopped liking this music I would not think that I was literally a different person – I would not imagine that I ceased being James Fearon even though I might understand my identity to have changed. The same might be said of national identity, if I change national affiliations. So we still need a qualification on the definition that says an identity is an X that satisfies “I am an X” in some context or situation. Looking to usage, the typical predicate is very often a social category, as in several of the examples listed earlier. Consider, then, a simple definition that says an identity is just a social category, and to have a particular identity means to assign oneself to a particular social category or perhaps just to be assigned to it by others. To be complete, this simple definition requires a statement of what a social category is, a straightforward but necessary exercise. To begin with, a social category is a set of people designated by a label (or labels) commonly given to, or used by, a

Culture||art||geography||identity

set of people. The label must be invoked often enough or in sufficiently important situations that people condition their behavior or thinking on it. For example, we can think of the category of people who have nine fingers, but this does not arise, or is not relevant in the sense that no behaviors or beliefs are regularly conditioned it. Thus we probably would not admit this as a social category. (Or perhaps we would just call it an irrelevant one.) Social categories have two distinguishing features. First, they are defined and by implicit or explicit rules of membership, according to which individuals are assigned or not to the category (some examples are discussed below). Second, social categories are understood in terms of sets of characteristics – for example, beliefs, desires, moral commitments, or physical attributes – thought typical of members of the category, or behaviors expected or obliged of members in certain situations, as in the case of roles, such as a professor, student, or police officer. I will call these the content of a social category. Both membership rules and the content of a social category may, of course, be the subject of dispute. Indeed, contestation over the membership rules, the content, and the moral valuation or political treatment of social categories is what political scientists refer to as “identity politics.” My impression is that this very simple definition – an identity is a social category – takes one quite far in terms of understanding what academics frequently mean when they use the word. To ask about identities of such-and-such people is often to ask about the social categories in which they placed themselves (or were placed by others) and how they thought about their content or rules of membership. In many cases it might be clearer and better to use “social category” rather than “identity.”

identity||geography||art||culture

While identity-as-a-social-category captures much of what academics often mean by the term, this simple definition does not cover all that we mean by the word. In particular, “an identity is a social category” doesn’t work when we use identity in the sense of personal identity, which may be formulated in terms of a group affiliation but need not be.20 In addition, even when the word does refer primarily to a social category – nation, gender, sexuality, for instance – it can mean somewhat more than just “social category” because of an implicit linkage with the idea of personal identity. How could social categories be something other than socially constructed? The answer implicit in most constructivist scholarship is that people often believe, incorrectly, that certain social categories are natural, inevitable, and unchanging facts about the social world. They believe that particular social categories are fixed by human nature rather than social convention and practice. Much constructivist labor has been dedicated to destabilizing such beliefs by showing how the content and even membership rules of taken-for-granted categories such as man/woman or heterosexual/homosexual have changed over time.21 It cannot be surprising that people view identities-as-social-categories as objective features of their social worlds that they confront as unchangeable constraints (thus, “natural” in one sense). Social categories generally are objective social facts beyond the reach of any one individual to change. For instance, no one individual in the U.S. can change the fact that in many interactions one will be coded as white, black, hispanic, or asian, often with important consequences. It is more surprising, and an important constructivist insight, that people tend “naturalize” systems of social categories in the sense of viewing them also as normatively or morally right, and often as having the same necessity as laws of natural world.

Arabesque, Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia, Arabesque V2, Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia.

Middle Eastern art is all about the calligraphy and the intricate details that are inspired by mosques and architecture. When you look at the drawings they all seem cohesive because they all share those elements in one way or another.

Culture||art||geography||identity

But even if “identity is socially constructed” can be productively translated and analyzed as “social categories are socially constructed,” this does not do full justice to the claim. Rather, the statement “identity is socially constructed” trades on the implicit and unarticulated double sense of “identity” in present usage. It means at once that social categories are socially constructed and something like “people’s’ sense of themselves as distinct individuals is socially constructed.” In part, what gives such statements their force, interest, and subversive appeal is the notion that a social process beyond the individual’s control crucially shapes something that the individual may understand as deeply personal. It is worth noting that the claim is subversive when set against background assumptions derived from classical liberalism, which since Hobbes has employed a notion of a presocial, autonomous individual as an axiom and, arguably, as a normative ideal. In liberalism, constraints or influences on individuals that emanate from beyond the individual and without conscious consent are viewed as suspect or illegitimate.23 Therefore, while often serviceable for uses like “national identity,” “ethnic identity,” and the like, the short definition “an identity is a social category” misses an unelaborated argument implicit in the contemporary concept of identity. The argument holds that social categories enter into our sense of ourselves as individuals (a temporary gloss for personal identity) in complex and possibly nefarious or coercive ways. Thus, “identity” can invoke not just a social category (content plus membership rules) but also the unarticulated ways that social identity constitutes personal identity. Role identities refer to labels applied to people who are expected or obligated to perform some set of actions, behaviors, routines, or functions in particular situations. For example, taxi driver, toll collector, mother, father, president, professor,

identity||geography||art||culture

businessman, student. Type identities refer to labels applied to persons who share or are thought to share some characteristic or characteristics, in appearance, behavioral traits, beliefs, attitudes, values, skills (e.g., language), knowledge, opinions, experience, historical commonalities (like region or place of birth), and so on. There is a presumption that the characteristics are more than transitory, although a type identity such as “teenager” may not be permanent. National identities, like American or Russian, are examples of type identities. There are almost no contexts in which it would make sense to speak of the “the role of an American,” except in a theatre play where “role” means part. Other social categories that are almost wholly type identities include party affiliation (e.g., Democrat or Republican), sexual identity (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, etc.), and ethnic identity. Some identities or social categories involve both role and type. For example, “mother” is a role, but nonetheless we expect certain beliefs, attitudes, values, preferences, moral virtues, and so on, to be characteristic of people performing the role of mother (understandings that may change through time.) On the other hand, some role identities, which mainly but not exclusively comprise occupational categories, have few if any type features associated with them (for example, toll booth collector). Both type and role identities are defined in terms of membership rules and social content, as argued above. For roles, membership rules are often formal, socially recognized procedures, such as the bar exam or the whole set of electoral contests and ceremonies that make U.S. presidents. Someone who performs the expected actions but has not satisfied the membership rules is merely “impersonating a police officer,” for example.

“Alexander Rodchenko Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story.

Russian graphics were really interesting to me because of their unique style, the constructivism. It’s a style that has been seen in Russia and stands out because of its sharp edges yet compelling pieces. This drawing tries to capture the essence of Russian graphics.

Culture||art||geography||identity

With type identities, membership rules are frequently less formal, though still very much social conventions. Take, for an example, ethnic identity. The membership rule that we seem to use implicitly when deciding ethnic identity is this: You are member of an ethnic group X if you can claim to have parents or maybe grandparents who were also recognized as members of the ethnic group X. That is, membership in an ethnic group is understood to be determined by a decent relationship. Thus, if I convert to Judaism, I may be considered “religiously Jewish,” but few would not say that I was “ethnically Jewish” or that my ethnic identity was Jewish. And this could be true even if I adopt all manner of beliefs, customs, attitudes, etc., that are thought to be characteristic of the category “Jews” (which is already highly diverse and contested). Thus, to “have an identity” in the sense of a social category, it is not necessary that one share what are thought to be typical features of members of the category. The point sharply illustrates the distinction between the two senses of the word, social and personal. We might say that “John’s ethnic identity is Jewish” and “John does not consider being Jewish as an important part of his identity” and be perfectly correct in both cases. The membership rules defining a type identity are thus distinct from the set of features thought typical of people in this social category (the identity’s content). For another example, take the national identity “American,” which has a membership Japanese drawings seem to have a unique style because some of their influence comes from games. I wanted to capture that essence when putting all these graphics from Japan. Although the drawings are from different artists it seems as though they are all similar.

100

rule saying that a person is a member of the category if he or she is able legally to obtain a U.S. passport, and a content that may or may not characterize many individuals who satisfy the membership rule. Note further that the membership rules defining type identities can be quite arbitrary and inconsistent. In the U.S., having a single, non-too-distant ancestor who was coded as white does not make one “white,” but one may be coded as black if one has “a single drop of black blood,” as the racist

Neo Japanesque Graphics.

identity||geography||art||culture

saying goes. There is of course no biological reason or justification for this; it is just an arbitrary membership rule. While some occupational and other role identities have a good deal of “type content” associated with them (e.g., mother), others have very little (e.g., toll booth collector). Kreps (1989) “corporate culture” theory may be applicable here for explaining why some do and some don’t. Following Kreps, the simpler the tasks or functions – and the less likely is the person in the role to encounter novel situations that cannot be specified in advance – the less likely we are to see the development of content features associated with the role. A toll booth collector’s functions can be completely specified very simply, and novel situations rarely arise. A mother or father, on the other hand, encounters myriad novel and unforeseeable situations when raising a child (the role function), and it makes sense to have some general principles, which Kreps call “corporate culture,” to use as rough guides for making decisions as these situations arise. The guidelines might be cast as moral virtues (“good mothers are protective of their children”), as rules of thumb (“don’t trust members of another clan”), or corporate guidelines (“the customer is always right”). These principles or guidelines are the social content of such identities and are often the subjects of political dispute. Kreps’ main argument was that the principles (in my terms, content) constituting corporate and other identities might be explained as instrumentally useful to their bearers, on the grounds that identity principles can allow a person or firm to develop and maintain a reputation, which can be a valuable asset. There are other reasons that principles of action entering into the content of an identity might be instrumentally useful to the bearer. For example, they might simply reduce confusion and facilitate the achievement of various ends in diverse circumstances, by coordi-

101

Culture||art||geography||identity

nating people’s’ expectations about how to act and what to do in various encounters. Schelling (1960, 92) observed that “The concept of role in sociology, which explicitly involves the expectation that others have about one’s behavior, as well as one’s expectations about how others will behave toward him, can in part be interpreted in terms of the stability of “convergent expectations,” of the same type that are involved in [a] coordination game. One is trapped in a particular role, or by another’s role, because it is the only role that in the circumstances can be identified by a process of tacit consent.” When we say that my identity is “who I am,” we mean “who I really am,” in some sort of essential or fundamental way. We are talking about an aspect of ourselves that is in some way important to us. It would go against usage and our understanding of the concept to say that some aspect of one’s (personal) identity was a matter of complete indifference – that one could take it or leave it with total equanimity. The problem of explaining what personal identity is (as we talk about it) is the problem of stating what aspects of a person it refers to and precisely in what sense these are important or “essential.” In Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, Charles Taylor seems to take this approach. He says: “... the question of identity ... is often spontaneously phrased by people in the form: Who am I? ... What [answers] this question for us is an understanding of what is of crucial importance to us” (p. 27). This can’t be right as stated, since oxygen, the Clean Air Act, and lots of other things may be important American graphics seem to have a vintage feel to them even the more modern pieces. Typography is a big part of the drawings, especially when trying to convey something.

102

to me but not be part of my identity. Taylor proceeds by putting restrictions on the things identity consists of and the sense in which they are important: “My identity is defined by the commitments and identifications which provide the frame or horizon within which I can try to determine from case to case what is good, or valuable,

Graphic Design in America, A Visual Language History.

identity||geography||art||culture

or what ought to be done, or what I endorse or oppose” (p. 27). Thus, in Taylor’s interpretation, personal identity is a personal moral code or compass, a set of moral principles, ends, or goals that a person uses as a normative framework and a guide to action. For example, consider a person who adopts an idiosyncratic (or just personal) style of dress – say, he wears a brightly colored bow tie almost every day. After many years of purple- bow-tie-wearing, the person might well say that this was part of his identity, even though neither he nor anyone else views this aspect of his identity as a matter of moral orientation or evaluative framework. And this is not a bizarre or exceptional counterexample. Especially in popular discourse, the “question of identity” is frequently interpreted to be a question about personal style – the way a person distinguishes himself or herself by means of consciously chosen manners of dress, speech, cultural likes and dislikes, and so on. While it is often true that choices of personal style invoke or express moral frameworks by indicating membership in a social category (that is, by signaling a social identity), this is not necessarily the case, as the bow-tie example shows. Indeed, quite often the very notion of personal style entails distinguishing oneself as an individual and thus emphatically not as a member of a group. The same can be said about identity. In popular discourse, we will accept statements of a person’s identity phrased in terms of membership in social categories, but also statements that make no reference to group membership. Your personal identity may be expressed as that which distinguishes you as an individual from other individuals.

103

SOURCES Kido, Masashi, and Toshiaki Koga. Dutch design: Its Conceptual Way of Thinking & Making = Nederlandse Vormgeving. Tokyo, PIE, 2010. Pathfinder: A Way Through Swiss Graphix. Hong Kong, Indpro, 2003. Japan Graphics. Barcelona, Actar, 2003. Hernandez, Enrique. esc: enter spanish creativity. Barcelona, Actar, 2008. Hello! UK graphics: Graphic Design in the UK since the 1980s. Tokyo, PIE, 2010. Wittner, Ben, and Sascha Thoma. Arabesque 2: graphic design from the Arab world and Persia. Berlin, Gestalten, 2011. Saito, Kaori. Neo Japanesque Graphics. Tokyo, PIE Books, 2006. Taborda, Felipe, and Julius Wiedemann. Latin American Graphic Design. Hong Kong, Taschen, 2008. Wittner, Ben. Arabesque: Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia. Berlin, Gestalten, 2009. Lorenz, Martin. Latino Grafico: Berlin, Gestalten, 2010. Lovegrove, Keith, and Andrew Hasson. Graphicswallah: Graphics in India. London, Laurence King, 2003. Heller, Steven, and Joseph Giovannini. Graphic design in America: a visual language history. Minneapolis, MN, Walker Art Center, 1989. Wiedemann, Julius. Asian Graphics now! Köln, Taschen, 2010. Levi, Vicki Gold., and Steven Heller. Cuba Style: Graphics from the Golden Age of Design. New York, NY, Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.

Harrison, Samantha, et al. India Bazaar: Vintage Indian Graphics. Koln, Taschen, 2003. Swaaij, Louise van., and Jean Klare. The Atlas of Experience. London, Bloomsbury, 2000. Fearon, James D. “What Is Idenity (As We Now Use the Word)?” 3 Nov. 1999, web.stanford.edu/group/ fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/ uploads/2013/10/What-is-Identity-as-we-now-use-theword-.pdf. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017. “Classroom Resources.” Houghton Mifflin Education Place, www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/world.html. Accessed 2 Sept. 2017. Cep, Casey N. “The Allure of the Map.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 10 July 2017, www.newyorker.com/ books/page-turner/the-allure-of-the-map. Accessed 2 Sept. 2017. “What is Geography?” Google Books, books.google. com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=G_491U8PQFEC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=what%2Bis%2Bgeography&ots=LUiiNBvekI&sig=3-oMvojq_2SmPcfpPdRAroE9T1A#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20geography&f=false. Accessed 3 Sept. 2017. Nag, Oishimaya Sen. “What Is Geography?” WorldAtlas, 21 June 2016, www.worldatlas.com/geography. html. Accessed 3 Sept. 2017. What is art?, www2.powayusd.com/teachers/kopstad/ art%20analysis/whatisart.htm. Accessed 1 Sept. 2017. Aagaard-Mogensen, Lars. Culture and art: an anthology. Nyborg, F. Lkkes, 1976.

ABOUT THIS BOOK... This book was designed by Randa Hadi at North Carolina State University in the College of Design under the supervision of Mathew Peterson in the Fall of 2017.

Typography Chaparral Pro by Adobe type designer Carol Twombly 1997â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2000. Bodoni URW by Giamattista Bodoni 1740â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1813. Ratio Modern by Friedrich Kleukens 1923.