”Theory, Method & the Future of Pre-Columbian Art History”, 100th Annual Conference of the College Art Association - Los Angeles, California - February 24, 2010” Contributors: Cecelia F. Klein, Introductions; Esther Pasztory, ‘Pre-Columbian Art and World Art History’; Mary Miller, ‘Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Pre-Columbian Art in the American Museum . . . and in the Academy’; Elizabeth Hill Boone, ‘What Do You Say When There Are No Words?’; Tom Cummins, ‘Looking Back at the Future of Pre-Columbian Art History’; Carolyn Dean, ‘The Elusive Future of Pre-Columbian Art History’; Claudia Brittenham, ‘Interdisciplinary, International, Indispensable’.

Abstract

Since the founding of the academic field of Pre-Columbian art history in the mid 20th century, the training of and work by Pre-Columbianists have changed substantially. Whereas the first Pre-Columbian art historians drew heavily on their knowledge of art history, other disciplines, and theory writ large, younger Pre-Columbian art historians today tend to specialize in one area and one time period, and to write primarily for fellow specialists with interests similar to their own. Increasingly little effort is made to render Pre-Columbian art history relevant to a broader public, whether that public comprise scholars in other fields or laypersons. One of the last fields to have been fully accepted by college and university art history departments in the U.S., Pre-Columbian art history also has always been among the first to go during an economic downturn. During this session, following brief presentations by the speakers and the discussant, there will be a panel conversation in which the audience may participate. The goal will be to assess where the field might and should go in the decades to come.

Keywords

• Pre-Columbian
• art history
• history
• historiography
• future of the field