Crosscultural Aesthetics

From a purely epistemological perspective, coming to terms with the category of “cross-cultural aesthetics” summons the clarification of the object’s nature, as well as that of the cultural specificities taken into consideration. It may either address the “crossing” of cultural viewpoints focusing on single aesthetic objects or topics – visual artworks and their reception, for instance –, or the scope of cultural/aesthetic interactions in a research field. Art anthropology has recently addressed the question of whether or not aesthetics should be concerned with ethno-cultural respects, and some scholars like Coote&Shelton, Geertz, and Overing (1994) even have sustained divided theoretical positions, like the inclusion of aesthetics in the field of cross-cultural category.