Third Text Reader on Art, Culture and Theory: Art, Culture, and Theory

by Rasheed Araeen (Editor), Sean Cubitt (Editor), Ziauddin Sardar (Editor)

This Reader brings together classic essays by some of the best known critics in global art and cultural studies.

Genres: Art, History

400 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Rasheed Araeen (Urdu: رشید آرائیں) is a Karachi born, London-based conceptual artist, sculptor, painter, writer, and curator. He graduated in civil engineering from the NED University of Engineering and Technology in 1962, and has been working as a visual artist bridging life, art and activism since his arrival in London from Pakistan in 1964.

Reviews

[Carol Ann Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The scholarly journal Third Text was established in 1987 by the London-based artist and academic Rasheed Araeen as a platform for challenging the prevailing Euro-American power base within the global arts and culture sector. Through its emphasis on postmodern and postcolonial discourse Third Text has helped to expose the presence of ‘racist parochialism’ within Western art institutions, and provide useful commentary on its impacts worldwide. Reading this collection of essays has been invaluable to my understanding of particular aspects of cultural theory concerning issues of identity and representation - in particular, the contributions by Kobena Mercer on 'Ethnicity and Internationality' with specific regard to 'Diaspora-based blackness', and James Clifford's essay on othering, 'The Others: Beyond the Salvage Paradigm'. This book is a 'must read' for anyone interested in postcolonial theory and the politics of identity in an increasingly globalised world.