The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Art And Agency: An Anthropological Theory
Abstract
Alfred Gell puts forward a new anthropological theory of visual art, seen as a form of instrumental action: the making of things as a means of influencing the thoughts and actions of others. He argues that existing anthropological and aesthetic theories take an overwhelmingly passive point of view, and questions the criteria that accord art status only to a certain class of objects and not to others. The anthropology of art is here reformulated as the anthropology of a category of action: Gell shows how art objects embody complex intentionalities and mediate social agency. He explores the psychology of patterns and perceptions, art and personhood, the control of knowledge, and the interpretation of meaning, drawing upon a diversity of artistic traditions--European, Indian, Polynesian, Melanesian, and Australian. Art and Agency was completed just before Alfred Gell's death at the age of 51 in January 1997. It embodies the intellectual bravura, lively wit, vigour, and erudition for which he was admired, and will stand as an enduring testament to one of the most gifted anthropologists of his generation.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“This way of thinking parallels a new body of anthropological theory which considers the implications of treating certain types of objects as having qualities of personhood (Strathern 1995, 2004a, 2004b; Gell 1998; Latour 2005; Ingold 2000; Bird-David 1990, 1999; Vivieros de Castro 1996; Matthews 2016)”
From Meshkwajisewin: Paradigm Shift (2021) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
In the citing paper
“Indeed, in Gell’s (1998) sense of art as a social technology, they accomplished many tasks, from presencing spiritual beings to asserting social power”
From Art (Pre)History: Ritual, Narrative and Visual Culture in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe (2020) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
In the citing paper
“anthropologists have argued that aesthetic senses are culturally specific (Coote and Shelton 1992; Heyd 2012) and may be enmeshed with social reflexes (Gell 1998).”
From Art (Pre)History: Ritual, Narrative and Visual Culture in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe (2020) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
In the citing paper
“Likewise, while debates about the power of things are central to Latour ' s theories, anthropologists such as Igor Kopytoff (1986), Alfred Gell (1998), Daniel Miller (2005), Tim Ingold (2011) and archaeologists like Ian Hodder (2012) have long discussed them.”
From Bruno Latour and the anthropology of the moderns (2013) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
In the citing paper
“whereas the external strategy further animates the idol into a social agent, able to embed itself into social contexts and obtain its significance from social interactions.”
From Conceptualizing Gods through Statues: A Study of Personification and Localization in Taiwan (2008) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
In the citing paper
“The internal strategy entails giving a body, a soul, and other materials to enliven an object in consecration”
From Conceptualizing Gods through Statues: A Study of Personification and Localization in Taiwan (2008) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
In the citing paper
“In his analysis of images, he discusses their agency from internal and external strategies (1998: 126-54).”
From Conceptualizing Gods through Statues: A Study of Personification and Localization in Taiwan (2008) · cites this paper as Gell 1998: 126-54
In the citing paper
“The statue is thus internally animated (cf. Gell 1998: 126).”
From Conceptualizing Gods through Statues: A Study of Personification and Localization in Taiwan (2008) · cites this paper as Gell 1998: 126
In the citing paper
“We can say that as the carving rituals bestow the god with internal agency, so the birth rituals performed by the villagers confer it with external agency (ibid.: 134).”
From Conceptualizing Gods through Statues: A Study of Personification and Localization in Taiwan (2008) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
In the citing paper
“In other words, the god, with its statue, now begins to take on social agency and becomes a 'social other' (Gell 1998: 117).”
From Conceptualizing Gods through Statues: A Study of Personification and Localization in Taiwan (2008) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
In the citing paper
“Employing the internal and external strategies of animation developed by Gell (1998), I have uncovered two more crucial symbolic processes-personification and localization-that bestow power and efficacy ( ling ) upon a god statue.”
From Conceptualizing Gods through Statues: A Study of Personification and Localization in Taiwan (2008) · cites this paper as Gell 1998
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
THE EMERGENCE OF MULTISPECIES ETHNOGRAPHY
Kirksey, E., & Helmreich, S. (2010) · Cultural Anthropology · doi:10.1111/j.1548-1360.2010.01069.x · Cited by 2,295
The cultural biography of objects
Gosden, C., & Marshall, Y. (1999) · World Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00438243.1999.9980439 · Cited by 1,199
Hodder, I., & Hutson, S. R. (2003) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511814211 · Cited by 929
Strathern, M. (2000) · British Educational Research Journal · doi:10.1080/713651562 · Cited by 850
Hull, M. S. (2010) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.104953 · Cited by 825
How dogs dream: Amazonian natures and the politics of transspecies engagement
Kohn, E. O. (2007) · American Ethnologist · doi:10.1525/ae.2007.34.1.3 · Cited by 753
The gift in the animal: The ontology of hunting and human–animal sociality
Nadasdy, P. (2007) · American Ethnologist · doi:10.1525/ae.2007.34.1.25 · Cited by 617
Phenomenological Approaches in Anthropology
Desjarlais, R., & Throop, C. J. (2010) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-092010-153345 · Cited by 590
Material culture after text: re‐membering things
Olsen, B. (2003) · Norwegian Archaeological Review · doi:10.1080/00293650310000650 · Cited by 279
Footprints through the weather‐world: walking, breathing, knowing
Ingold, T. (2010) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2010.01613.x · Cited by 547
Kinship, Law and the Unexpected
Strathern, M. (2005) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511614514 · Cited by 668
Gosden, C. (2005) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-005-6928-x · Cited by 432
Ontology Is Just Another Word for Culture
Carrithers, M. B., Candea, M., Sykes, K. M., Holbraad, M., & Venkatesan, S. (2010) · Critique of Anthropology · doi:10.1177/0308275x09364070 · Cited by 437
Bullot, N. J., & Reber, R. (2013) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x12000489 · Cited by 406
Thrift, N. J. (2000) · Environment and Planning D Society and Space · doi:10.1068/d214t · Cited by 377
Technologies of the Imagination: An Introduction
Sneath, D., Holbraad, M., & Pedersen, M. A. (2009) · Ethnos · doi:10.1080/00141840902751147 · Cited by 345
Reno, J. O. (2015) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-102214-014146 · Cited by 317
The Social and the Aesthetic: For a Post-Bourdieuian Theory of Cultural Production
Born, G. (2010) · Cultural Sociology · doi:10.1177/1749975510368471 · Cited by 296
Keane, W. (2018) · Signs and Society · doi:10.1086/695387 · Cited by 312
Music and the materialization of identities
Born, G. (2011) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183511424196 · Cited by 327
Tilley, C. (2006) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183506062990 · Cited by 313
Sutton, D. (2010) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.104957 · Cited by 286
Rethinking Design Thinking: Part II
Kimbell, L. (2012) · Design and Culture · doi:10.2752/175470812x13281948975413 · Cited by 331
At the Potter’s Wheel : An Argument for Material Agency
Malafouris, L. (2008) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-74711-8_2 · Cited by 292
IDEOLOGY IN INFRASTRUCTURE: ARCHITECTURE AND SOVIET IMAGINATION
Humphrey, C. (2005) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2005.00225.x · Cited by 280
Objects of Affect: Photography Beyond the Image
Edwards, E. (2012) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145708 · Cited by 291
Reinvigorating object biography: reproducing the drama of object lives
Joy, J. (2009) · World Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00438240903345530 · Cited by 284
Make-believe papers, legal forms and the counterfeit
Navaro‐Yashin, Y. (2007) · Anthropological Theory · doi:10.1177/1463499607074294 · Cited by 268
On the Move: Emotions and Human Mobility
Svašek, M. (2010) · Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies · doi:10.1080/13691831003643322 · Cited by 260
Willerslev, R. (2004) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2004.00205.x · Cited by 226
The Visible Evidence of Cultural Producers
Mahon, M. (2000) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.29.1.467 · Cited by 222
The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution
Zetterström‐Sharp, J. (2019) · Public Archaeology · doi:10.1080/14655187.2021.1903710 · Cited by 224
Archaeological Theory and Scientific Practice
Jones, A. M. (2001) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511606069 · Cited by 225
Schildkrout, E. (2004) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143947 · Cited by 216
Gendering Humanoid Robots: Robo-Sexism in Japan
Robertson, J. (2010) · Body & Society · doi:10.1177/1357034x10364767 · Cited by 216
Strang, V. (2005) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183505050096 · Cited by 207
A Praxeological Approach to Subjectivation in a Material World
Warnier, J.-P. (2001) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/135918350100600101 · Cited by 130
Visual Studies and the Iconic Turn
Moxey, K. P. F. (2008) · Journal of Visual Culture · doi:10.1177/1470412908091934 · Cited by 205
Mementoes as Transitional Objects in Human Displacement
Parkin, D. J. (1999) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/135918359900400304 · Cited by 206
Bille, M., & Sørensen, T. F. (2007) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183507081894 · Cited by 194
de Castro, E. V. (2013) · Hau Journal of Ethnographic Theory · doi:10.14318/hau3.3.032 · Cited by 204
Moving Methods, Travelling Times
Watts, L., & Urry, J. (2008) · Environment and Planning D Society and Space · doi:10.1068/d6707 · Cited by 188
Negotiations with the Animate Forest: Hunting Shrines in the Guatemalan Highlands
Brown, L. A., & Emery, K. F. (2008) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-008-9055-7 · Cited by 181
PHOTOGRAPHS AND THE SOUND OF HISTORY
Edwards, E. (2005) · Visual Anthropology Review · doi:10.1525/var.2005.21.1-2.27 · Cited by 176
The Techno-Literacy Practices of Young Children
Marsh, J. (2004) · Journal of Early Childhood Research · doi:10.1177/1476718x0421003 · Cited by 183
Sahlins, M. (2011) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2011.01677.x · Cited by 179
The art and craft of train travel
Watts, L. (2008) · Social & Cultural Geography · doi:10.1080/14649360802292520 · Cited by 173
Robb, J. (2010) · World Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00438243.2010.520856 · Cited by 180
Archaeological Ethnography: A Multitemporal Meeting Ground for Archaeology and Anthropology
Hamilakis, Y. (2011) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145732 · Cited by 170
Partible penitents: dividual personhood and Christian practice in Melanesia and the West
Mosko, M. S. (2010) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2010.01618.x · Cited by 168
Material beings: Objecthood and ethnographic photographs
Edwards, E. (2002) · Visual Studies · doi:10.1080/14725860220137336 · Cited by 171
What about ‘one more turn after the social’ in archaeological reasoning? Taking things seriously
Webmoor, T. (2007) · World Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00438240701679619 · Cited by 166
Toward a New Theory of Waste: From ‘Matter out of Place’ to Signs of Life
Reno, J. O. (2014) · Theory Culture & Society · doi:10.1177/0263276413500999 · Cited by 162
Law, Anthropology, and the Constitution of the Social
(2004) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511493751 · Cited by 166
Practices of Object Maintenance and Repair
Gregson, N., Metcalfe, A., & Crewe, L. (2009) · Journal of Consumer Culture · doi:10.1177/1469540509104376 · Cited by 191
Futures within: Reversible time and house-building in Maputo, Mozambique
Nielsen, M. (2011) · Anthropological Theory · doi:10.1177/1463499611423871 · Cited by 158
Bundled Worlds: The Roles and Interactions of Complex Objects from the North American Plains
Zedeño, M. N. (2008) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-008-9058-4 · Cited by 157
Harris, O. J. T. (2014) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-012-9138-3 · Cited by 157
Prologue: Archaeology, Animism and Non-Human Agents
Brown, L. A., & Walker, W. (2008) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-008-9056-6 · Cited by 153
PostScript: Doing Agency in Archaeology
Joyce, R. A., & Lopiparo, J. (2005) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-005-8461-3 · Cited by 152
Photographs, Skeuomorphs and Marionettes
Knappett, C. (2002) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183502007001307 · Cited by 158
On the discrepancy between objects and things: An ecological approach
Rubio, F. D. (2016) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183515624128 · Cited by 169
Suchman, L. A. (2005) · Organization · doi:10.1177/1350508405051276 · Cited by 164
Creative thinging: The feeling of and for clay
Malafouris, L. (2014) · Pragmatics & Cognition · doi:10.1075/pc.22.1.08mal · Cited by 145
Sounds of Power: An Overview of Musical Instruments and Gender
Doubleday, V. (2008) · Ethnomusicology Forum · doi:10.1080/17411910801972909 · Cited by 156
Animation: The New Performance?
Silvio, T. J. (2010) · Journal of Linguistic Anthropology · doi:10.1111/j.1548-1395.2010.01078.x · Cited by 143
Woodward, S. (2015) · Qualitative Research · doi:10.1177/1468794115589647 · Cited by 140
Objects, Words, and Bodies in Space: Bringing Materiality into Cultural Analysis
Griswold, W., Mangione, G., & McDonnell, T. E. (2013) · Qualitative Sociology · doi:10.1007/s11133-013-9264-6 · Cited by 146
Archaeometry and materiality: materials‐based analysis in theory and practice*
Jones, A. M. (2004) · Archaeometry · doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2004.00161.x · Cited by 138
Martin, S. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108676694 · Cited by 190
Preserving the unpreservable: docile and unruly objects at MoMA
Rubio, F. D. (2014) · Theory and Society · doi:10.1007/s11186-014-9233-4 · Cited by 141
Between brains, bodies and things: tectonoetic awareness and the extended self
Malafouris, L. (2008) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0014 · Cited by 135
Talking Text and Talking Back: “My BFF Jill” from Boob Tube to YouTube
Jones, G. M., & Schieffelin, B. B. (2009) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01481.x · Cited by 131
Born, G., & Barry, A. (2010) · Journal of Cultural Economy · doi:10.1080/17530351003617610 · Cited by 132
Art and Agency : A Reassessment
Layton, R. H. (2003) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/1467-9655.00158 · Cited by 130
Of Clues and Signs: The Dead Body and Its Evidential Traces
Crossland, Z. (2009) · American Anthropologist · doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01078.x · Cited by 130
Jiménez, A. C. (2013) · Journal of Cultural Economy · doi:10.1080/17530350.2013.858059 · Cited by 129
What Can be Done with an Egg? Creativity, Material Objects, and the Theory of Affordances
Glăveanu, V. P. (2012) · The Journal of Creative Behavior · doi:10.1002/jocb.13 · Cited by 123
Bennett, T. (2005) · Cultural Studies · doi:10.1080/09502380500365416 · Cited by 121
Williams, H. M. R. (2004) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183504046894 · Cited by 121
The Systemic Creation of Value Through Circulation in Collaborative Consumer Networks
Figueiredo, B., & Scaraboto, D. (2016) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw038 · Cited by 133
Jones, G. M. (2014) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-102313-030058 · Cited by 119
Graves, ruins, and belonging: towards an anthropology of proximity*
Fontein, J. (2011) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2011.01715.x · Cited by 117
Memory's Materiality: Ancestral Presence, Commemorative Practice and Disjunctive Locales
Meskell, L. M. (2003) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470774304.ch3 · Cited by 116
Gosden, C., & Malafouris, L. (2015) · World Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00438243.2015.1078741 · Cited by 113
On spirit writing: materialities of language and the religious work of transduction
Keane, W. (2013) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/1467-9655.12000 · Cited by 116
Geography, Memory and Non‐Representational Geographies
Jones, O. (2011) · Geography Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1749-8198.2011.00459.x · Cited by 124
Jiménez, A. C. (2003) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/1467-9655.t01-1-00008 · Cited by 112
PASSIONS AND POWERS: EMOTIONS AND GLOBALISATION
Svašek, M., & Skrbiš, Z. (2007) · Identities · doi:10.1080/10702890701578415 · Cited by 120
Postsocialist spores: Disease, bodies, and the state in the Republic of Georgia
Dunn, E. C. (2008) · American Ethnologist · doi:10.1111/j.1548-1425.2008.00032.x · Cited by 111
Archaeological Visualization: Towards an Archaeological Information Science (AISc)
Llobera, M. (2011) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-010-9098-4 · Cited by 110
Swenson, E. (2015) · Annual Review of Anthropology · doi:10.1146/annurev-anthro-102214-013838 · Cited by 119
‘My blog is me’: Texts and persons in UK online journal culture (and anthropology)
Reed, A. (2005) · Ethnos · doi:10.1080/00141840500141311 · Cited by 115
Scientific objects and legal objectivity
Latour, B. (2004) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511493751.003 · Cited by 106
Geismar, H. (2001) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/135918350100600102 · Cited by 107
Street, A. (2011) · Space and Culture · doi:10.1177/1206331211426061 · Cited by 106
Morphy, H. (2009) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183508100006 · Cited by 107
The substance of bones: the emotive materiality and affective presence of human remains
Krmpotich, C., Fontein, J., & Harries, J. (2010) · Journal of Material Culture · doi:10.1177/1359183510382965 · Cited by 104
Yi’En, C. (2013) · Space and Culture · doi:10.1177/1206331213499468 · Cited by 104
Fluid consistencies. Material relationality in human engagements with water
Strang, V. (2014) · Archaeological Dialogues · doi:10.1017/s1380203814000130 · Cited by 114
Metadata
- Authors
- Gell, A.
- Corresponding author
- Gell, Alfred
- Publisher
- Oxford University PressOxford
- Published
- 1998-07-09
- OpenAlex
- W4388358549
- Cited by
- 3,460
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 216 · 2025: 193 · 2024: 188 · 2023: 185 · 2022: 176 · 2021: 190 · 2020: 318 · 2019: 246 · 2018: 252 · 2017: 141 · 2016: 135 · 2015: 170 · 2014: 147 · 2013: 122 · 2012: 107
- FWCI
- 53.92
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Anthropological Studies and Insights
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Visual Arts and Performing Arts › Visual Culture and Art Theory
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Visual Arts and Performing Arts › Art, Aesthetics, and Perception
- Keywords
- Alfred Gell, anthropology of art, visual arts, social agency, art as action, intentionality, personhood, knowledge control, meaning interpretation, art objects
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
