Between revolutionary motherland and death : art and visual culture in socialist Ethiopia
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation examines the role of art and visual culture in the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, and the ensuing years of Marxist Leninist military dictatorship that followed. It argues that revolutionary change hinged upon a process of visual revelation, and that this process, although begun in earnest by artists and students who sought to challenge authority, was ultimately hijacked by those who would use images not to liberate, but to control. As such, this dissertation examines the positions of art and its makers both at the heart of radical domestic political change, and on the final frontier of the Cold War in Africa. Whilst exploring the ways in which the military sought to harness and utilize artists, this research stresses the survival of creativity even under duress. Four chapters examine, respectively, the centrality of art, photography and film in the downfall of Emperor Haile Selassie, the rapid growth and unexpected trajectory of graphic art, the push for realism and the import of Soviet art concepts, and the politics of cultural heritage both as propaganda and resistance. Addis Ababa is positioned as the main cultural hub, yet the sojourns of young artists to Moscow, Leningrad, Pyongyang and Havana offer insights into the complex global networks of cultural exchange in which Ethiopia's artists were enmeshed. Between 1974 and 1991 Ethiopia was a dictatorship, but Ethiopia's artists were not simply passive propagandists. Their works provide a rich, visual chronicle of an era rife with wavering ideological positions, rampant disillusionment and manifold acts of creative disobedience.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Cowcher, Kate Ellen |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Art and Art History. |
| Primary advisor | Lee, Pamela M |
| Primary advisor | Martinez-Ruiz, Barbaro |
| Thesis advisor | Lee, Pamela M |
| Thesis advisor | Martinez-Ruiz, Barbaro |
| Thesis advisor | Meyer, Richard |
| Thesis advisor | Roberts, Richard L, 1949- |
| Advisor | Meyer, Richard |
| Advisor | Roberts, Richard L, 1949- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Kate Ellen Cowcher. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Art and Art History. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2017. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2017 by Kate Ellen Cowcher
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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