ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors propose to argue that the aesthetics of diaspora are constituted by the sensual and performative media through which diasporans enact their felt autonomy, while laying claims to ‘ownership’ of the places and nations in which they settle. In the societies anthropologists study, Gell contends, manufactured objects are valorized not for their ‘pure’ aesthetic qualities but for their occult, ritual power and agency; they are subjectified and humanized through their use and circulation in networks of persons, whose own personhood, in turn, is distributed and dispersed through the movement of these magically powerful objects associated with them. Works on ritual have often stressed the multisensorial dimensions of ritual as embodiment, as well as the aesthetic performative skills of ritual specialists. Sartorial and cosmetic self-adornment are central to the embodiment of distinction in many diasporic groups. Johnson argues against Bourdieu’s ‘methodological nationalism’ that it fails to include the colonial world.
