Art and law, land rights and overcoming injustice: The example of the Spinifex people

摘要

This paper seeks to explore a topic where matters of traditional values, an unusual way of deciding a lawsuit, the reception of the case in an exhibition and philosophical explanations form an exciting melange. The example in question here concerns the land claim of an indigenous people in Australia, the Spinifex people, and the way they were enabled to provide their proof of ownership. As they were not able to produce the proof in the usual western mode of documents it was accepted that they could paint their proof. At least, so it was said in the documentation accompanying an exhibition of these paintings in Europe. This potential solution to the problem of language gaps by the inclusion of art into a legal process is discussed here. The case serves as an example for Lyotard’s term différend and the complete Otherness in Baudrillard’s work and also highlights the influence of western romantic attitudes in evaluating such a case.View full textDownload full textKeywordsAboriginal Australians, art, différend, Otherness, Baudrillard, LyotardRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2010.519929