Aesthetic Realism
A New Perspective for Anthropology & Sociology
Anthro TECH Site of the Month Award
 study sphere award of excellence
 
 

Rainbow in the Valley
Rainbow in the Valley: Papua New Guinea


Mountain Ok man with stone axe cutting down tree
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Anthropology Is about You & Everyone, taught by Dr. Arnold Perey at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York City, shows how people everywhere in the world, including yourself—whether you live in a NY apartment or a grass covered home in New Guinea—are understood truly through the principles of Aesthetic Realism, stated by Eli Siegel. These are the three basic principles:

1. The deepest desire of every person is to like the world on an honest or accurate basis.

2. The greatest danger for a person is to have contempt for the world and what is in it. Contempt can be defined as the lessening of what is different from oneself as a means of self-increase as one sees it.

3. All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.

Asthetic Realism is science par excellence. It gives to anthropology both the objectivity it needs and the kindness it has hoped for. Those two opposites, objectivity and kindness, are what anthropologists and sociologists of the highest order have tried to make one in their work. I think of Franz Boas, for example, trained in physical science, who wanted to be just to people of every background and showed scientifically that race is not a factor in culture or language. The oneness of logic and emotion--which every person hopes to have in daily life, as a friend, husband, wife, as well as in professional life--is what Aesthetic Realism encourages today in unprecedented fullness.

Sincerely,                 
ARNOLD PEREY, Ph.D.
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"Anthropology Is about You and Everyone"

To register or audit / call 212-777-4490
For information [beginning date, fee, etc.]
anthropology class at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation

Summer 2012
Conducted by Dr. Arnold Perey
6:00 - 7:30 PM on Alternate Wednesdays
Texts include: Self and World by Eli Siegel, founder of Aesthetic Realism

May 16     Economics, the Primitive, & Justice

What stands for the human self at its deepest and truest in economics? Is it the earth owned equally by all? From Aboriginal hunter to commodity trader, the answer is Yes.

May 30     Love, or Good Will in Tribal Africa & Your Own Living Room

June 13    Good & Bad Power in Politics Began Early

The fight between good and bad power in the tribe, family, community, nation, and even chimpanzee horde.

June 27     Folk Stories -- or, the Opposites & Your Deepest Feelings

How and why opposites are the central thing in the folk stories of Africa, the Arctic, Asia, & more.

July 11       Evolution: Factual Evidence & Philosophic Meaning

July 21, Saturday, INSTEAD OF Wednesday, July 25

The Art of Ancient Egypt in the Metropolitan Museum of Art . We meet the Visual Arts and the Opposites class, taught by Marcia Rackow on Saturday July 21, 11 AM

August 8     Opposites Are Central in Anthropological Facts

Students in the class present their findings..

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  bulletGuide to Anthropology for Teachers and Students

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Gwe — Young Man of New Guinea: A Novel Against Racism
By Arnold Perey, Ph.D., Anthropologist and Aesthetic Realism Consultant


diamond dot for Aesthetic Realism: A New Perspective for Anthropology & SociologySee a sample announcement for the multimedia reading of selections from GWE—presented with slides and music

bulletRead chapters from Gwe. Find out how Aesthetic Realism has you see and feel the earth of New Guinea, the emotions of Gwe and his people—there, in the mountains of this magnificent Pacific island.

Gwe, Young Man of New Guinea: A Novel Against RacismIntroduction
Chapter 1. "Gwe Is Born"
Chapter 2. "The Attack" 
Chapter 3. "Five Years Later" 
Chapter 8. "Alan Comes to New Guinea"  
Chapter 12. " Equality & Difference"
Chapter 16. "A Story of Famine"  
Glossary

diamond dot for Aesthetic Realism: A New Perspective for Anthropology & SociologyYou can order this book from Waverly Place Press.

 

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WERE THEY EQUAL?

An anti-prejudice book for children, inspired by a traditional story of the Ndowe People of Africa.
Told and illustrated by Arnold Perey.

Illustration from the book III
Illustration from the book II
 Illustration from the book I

Elephant and Hippopotamus were chatting one day, and Elephant said, "Have you heard, that little tortoise has been saying he's equal to us! What nerve!"

Said Hippopotamus, "Who, that pipsqueak? My foot is bigger than he is! And he's saying he's our equal?" He was angry.

Hippo was the biggest animal in the river and Elephant was the biggest animal on the land. At the thought of Tortoise calling himself their equal, they both laughed out loud... See http://www.gweofnewguinea.net for more information

Barbara Allen & Arnold Perey at the American Library Association in Chicago
Barbara Allen and Arnold Perey at the American Library Association in Chicago

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Papua New Guinea

diamond dot for Aesthetic Realism: A New Perspective for Anthropology & Sociology
  

Man resting from work in traditional
sweet potato agriculture. I took this
photo in the Mountain Ok region
of Papua New Guinea.
diamond dot for Aesthetic Realism: A New Perspective for Anthropology & Sociology

"A New Perspective for American Anthropology"  In: The Anthropologist, University of Delhi, India

Consider the native people of 0kapmin, New Guinea....Do they have two opposite attitudes to the world—that it has been kind to them and the gods have been good, and also that it has rooked them?

This article has a new explanation of matters that people want to understand: What is the cause of culture shock? What emotions do people have in common? Can these be described accurately? Can the prejudices that men and women have in every country end once and for all?
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Kinship: "Body and World in Oksapmin Kin Terms"

By translating the terms used for relatives, we see a junction of body and world that is symbolic.

  
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Idealism and Practicality: How Can a Man Have Both?

Including a discussion of the great anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski and his famed Diary in the Strict Sense of the Word, written in New Guinea of 1914-1918. This paper is about the division in a person between being "practical" and "idealistic." It suggests that Malinowski tried to solve that division in his anthropological functionalism.

 
Resources
  bulletAmerican Anthropological Association  
 

bulletThe classic "Body Ritual among the Nacerima" by Horace Miner

 
  bulletNew Perspective blog  
  bulletThe Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company Arnold Perey has performed with the Company  
  bulletAesthetic Realism Foundation  
  bulletLink to "Arrows of Melanesia: A Neglected Art Form"  
bulletLink to Anthro.Net bulletPelagus literature
  bulletWeb Directory: FastSearch bulletSocial Sciences Resources: directory of Social Sciences related websites.  
     

Anthropology Departments
bulletColumbia University bulletUniversity of Chicago  
  bulletPalomar College bulletTexas A & M University  
  bulletUniversity of Cambridge (Social Anthrop.) bulletQueen's University of Belfast / Ethnomusicology  
  bulletLondon School of Economics bulletUniversity of Manchester  
     


Depsin, one of the men I most respected during my field research
in the Mountain Ok area of Papua New Guinea

*These images from Papua New Guinea are photographs taken by Arnold Perey.

ROR


Copyright © 2001-2012 by Arnold Perey. All rights reserved