Aesthetics in a Multicultural Age [Hardcover]

Aesthetics in a Multicultural Ageexamines a variety of significant multidisciplinary and multicultural topics within the subject of aesthetics. Addressing the vexed relation of the arts and criticism to current political and cultural concerns, the contributors to this volume attempt to bridge the two decades-old gap between scholars and critics who hold conflicting views of the purposes of art and criticism. By exploring some of the ways in which global migration and expanding ethnic diversity are affecting cultural productions and prompting reassessment of the nature and role of aesthetic discourse, this volume provides a new evaluation of aesthetic ideas and practices within contemporary arts and letters.

This collection is an important project, the topics addressed by the contributors timely and crucial. Can humanities professors maintain aesthetic values without slipping into elitism? Can they execute political critique without turning ham-fisted and illiberal?Aesthetics in a Multicultural Ageis an important step in establishing a middle way, drawing the humanities out of the old Culture Wars contraries and into a more productive, less fractious mode of teaching and research. --Mark Bauerlein, Emory University

Finally! A book that gets rid of the false opposition between aesthetics and multiculturalism. We live in an exciting time when a vibrant generation of artists and critics are not only championing the aesthetic but are also challenging conventional ideas about exactly what counts as the beautiful.Aesthetics in a Multicultural Agereminds us that poetics and politics often make the coziest of bedfellows. --Cathy N. Davidson, Duke University

Emory Elliottis University Professor at the University of California, Riverside.Louis Freitas Catonis Professor of English at Auburn University.Jeffrey Rhyneis a graduate fellow in English at the University of Cal“)