Art Invoked: A Mode of Understanding and Shaping the Political

Abstract

There are several reasons why the arts, in all their forms and productions, provide a site from where we can observe and experience aspects of political life that we cannot possibly do in any other way. First, art takes account of the intentions, motivations, and reasons for human action. Second, art is a privileged medium in the sense that it imparts knowledge about political life at both the abstract level and at a deeper cultural level. Third, literary and other texts provide the site for political discourse because they are influenced by historical circumstances both temporally and spatially. Lastly, we seek the perspectives of art in informing politics because of the innovative role played by intellectuals and artists and their influence in the making of shared meanings. While this investigation is primarily theoretical, it will be informed by the novels of Biyi Bandele and the films of Gaston Kaboré.

Barack Obama’s 2008 Campaign for the U.S. Presidency and Visual Design

“…Both were patriotic, including simplified, stylized flags. Furthermore, both these logos were quite similar to those designed for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in 2000and 2004, Bob Dole in 1996, Bill Clinton and Al Gore in 1992, Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, and Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 in the United States. The Obama logo, on the other hand, was "something different" and even though it used the same patriotic colors of these past logos, it expressed the campaign's themes-something that all these other designs did not do.…”

Literature, Fiction, and the Family Business

“…Phillips, 1995; Rhodes & Brown, 2005; Savage et al, 2018; Waldo 1968). Narratives of literary fiction are processes of creating realities that are relational in nature, that is, they are stories that are formed and represent a plot or an idea in interaction with certain historical, political, and cultural contexts (Czarniawska, 1999; Negash, 2004). In “realistic” literary fiction, the author seeks to create narratives that are believable in the sense that they resemble people, events, situations, and processes in real life.…”

Staking a small claim for fictional narratives in social and educational research

“…In particular, he asks: 'if insights are to be gained from artistic works … one has to provide a more systematic answer to why this is' (original emphasis, Negash, 2004: 187). In answer to his own question, Negash makes a number of suggestions as to 'why the arts, in their form and production, provide a site from where we can observe and experience aspects of political life that we cannot possibly achieve in other ways' (Negash, 2004: 188, emphasis added). The first concerns human agency, the motivations and intentions behind human action, and the way this is represented in artistic works which takes 'stock of the discontinuities of the social life process that a "science" of human life or generalizations about human behavior [sic] cannot accommodate'.…”