Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring.

Episode 3 features Tuguldur Yondonjamts with Hermione Spriggs

Tuguldur Yondonjamts (b.1977, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) lives and works in Ulaanbaatar and in New York. His work is very much dependent on research and careful analysis of certain environments and materials, often responding to the nomadic culture of Central Asia and the issues affecting Mongolia’s society and economic development. By using investigational logic, he is able to create large scale drawings and diagrams, representing imagined journeys. His work is widely exhibited in Mongolia, the US and internationally. 
https://tugulduryondonjamts.com/
tuguldur_yondonjamts_

Hermione Spriggs is an artist and anthropologist based between London and Yorkshire. She is currently undertaking practice-based PhD research with an ethnographic focus on trapping and pest control in North Yorkshire. Her edited volume Five Heads: Art, Anthropology and Mongol-Futurism (2018) is published by Sternberg Press. 
 https://hermione-spriggs.com
hermione.spriggs

Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC.
Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Episode 28. Artery: Tuguldur Yondonjamts with Hermione Spriggs

This podcast examines the shifting sonic politics of the marching band scene in Derry, Northern Ireland. 20 years ago, Protestant parading in Derry was a source of intense political conflict but over the years it has become less controversial due to inter-community collaboration. However, tensions remain. Sean French and his interlocutors discuss how different political styles sound and how acoustic experience intersects with political marginalization. Through ideas around rowdiness, volume, and voice, French shows how marching band members in contemporary Northern Ireland negotiate different political stances and forms of identification.

Acknowledgements:

Special thanks to Richard Holland and the East Bank Protestant Boys, everyone at Bready Ulster Scots Pipe Band, and everyone at the North West Cultural Partnership. I am so grateful for all you've done for me, and I would be nowhere without your kindness letting me be a temporary part of the marching band world in Derry. 

Sean French is a third year Social Anthropology PhD student at the University of Cambridge. (https://www.socanth.cam.ac.uk/staff/sean-french-2020)

Episode 29: The 'Political' in Northern Irish Protestant Marching Bands, by Sean French.

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring.

Episode 4 features Jesús Guevara Rico with Alanna Cant

Jesús Guevara Rico is an artist and art conservator, originally from San José Tateposco in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. He trained at the prestigious Western School of Conservation and Restoration (Escuela de Conservación y Restauración de Occidente) in Guadalajara. Now based in Oaxaca City, Jesús works on and oversees the conservation and restoration of colonial heritage throughout the state, especially religious paintings, frescos, and carvings. Novohispano art also provides inspiration for the content, materials, and techniques of Jesús’s oil paintings, murals, and tattoos.

Find him on Twitter @JesusGuevaraRi3

Alanna Cant is an anthropologist in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading. Her work is about aesthetics, identity, material culture, and religion within the ‘economies of culture’ of Mexico and the United Kingdom. Her book The Value of Aesthetics: Oaxacan woodcarvers in global economies of culture was published in 2019 by the University of Texas Press. 

https://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/alanna-cant
https://www.alannacant.com/

Voice credit: Alfredo Narváez

Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC.
Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Episode 30. Artery: Jesús Guevara Rico with Alanna Cant

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring.

Episode 5 features Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh with Anonymous Anthropologist

Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh BSc. Hons, MLitt, MA is a practice-based opera doctoral researcher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London where she also teaches. Her research engages with the opera “Carmen” drawing on the Tehran Opera Company to forecast what new socio-political futures could be dreamt through opera. Her new libretto of “Carmen” in 2025 will coincide with the 150th anniversary of “Carmen’s” premiere in Paris. In this episode, as the librettist, Nazli reflects upon the production of the opera "Paradise Garden" (2021).

Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh is an experienced transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary artist with a portfolio spanning live and recorded arts, both place based and touring. Currently she is associate director of the Glasgow based Queer Sanctuary Arts with a focus on future artistic planning. She is a member of the Governance Committee for the New York based International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), of which she was an Arts Council England Fellow. At the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama she is the Deputy Chair of the inaugural Independent Equity Committee.

Twitter: @Nazli_Tabatabai

Anonymous Anthropologist
By anonymising herself, she hopes to highlight that artists are constantly asked to do things for free. As anthropologists are keen to collaborate with artists (sometimes for free), she hopes her small act could highlight the issue and help fellow anthropologists reflect on the ‘friendship’ convention in Social Anthropology.
More info: http://www.payingartists.org.uk/


Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC.
Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Episode 31. Artery: Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh with Anonymous Anthropologist

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring.

Episode 6 features Bronagh Lawson with Kayla Rush

Bronagh Lawson is an artist based in Belfast who has written a blog about the vibrant local contemporary visual arts scene for the last ten years. Previously she ran cross-community cross-border development programmes for 13 years. Originally from Portaferry and Strangford, Northern Ireland, she is a Fulbright scholar and graduate of Winchester School of Art. Bronagh is a co-founder of the Hydrangea project, a Belfast-Chicago collaboration which uses contemporary art underpinned with art therapy to act as a healing mechanism. Her book Belfast City of Light: Looking and Listening to Belfast Come with Me is based on her experience as a non-churchgoer attending every church in Belfast for a service. 

https://www.lulu.com/shop/bronagh-lawson/belfast-city-of-light/paperback/product-1z7ympqj.html?page=1&pageSize=4
https://iarc.ie/exhibitions/previous-exhibitions/ebb-and-flow-prints-by-bronagh-lawson/
https://us4.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=849f2610883f3b34ac8274556&id=595d763c41

Kayla Rush is an anthropologist of art, music, and performance. She is an assistant lecturer in music at Dundalk Institute of Technology in Dundalk, Ireland. Kayla's previous research examined community arts in contemporary Northern Ireland; her book on this research, The Cracked Art World: Conflict, Austerity, and Community Arts in Northern Ireland, was published in June 2022. Her current research is focused on private, extracurricular, fees-based rock and popular music schools.
https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/RushCracked
https://doi.org/10.1386/jpme_00054_1

Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC.
Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Episode 32. Artery: on art, authorship and anthropology. Episode 6: Bronagh Lawson with Kayla Rush

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring.

Episode 7 features Emiko Agatsuma with Iza Kavedžija

Emiko Agatsuma is a dancer and a choreographer specializing in Butoh, a  dance genre that emerged in Japan in the1960s as a reaction to Western modern dance. Having graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo in 1999, she joined the largest Butoh Company - Dairakudakan founded by Akaji Maro. She had performed in every Dairakudakan production until 2019. She now heads the AGAXART production company for Butoh dancers and artists in Japan. Emiko is a recipient of the prestigious Best Young Artist 2015 Award by the Japan Dance Critics Association and she represented Japan in 2020 at the 39th annual Battery Dance Festival in New York City, USA.
https://agaxart.wixsite.com/agart/home
@emiko.agatsuma
  
Iza Kavedžija is an Assistant Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. She is specialising in Japan, with primary research interests in art and creativity, the life course and aging, and health and wellbeing. She is currently leading an AHRC-funded project entitled ‘The Work of Art in Contemporary Japan: Inner and outer worlds of creativity’. 
https://www.socanth.cam.ac.uk/directory/dr-iza-kavedzija

Translation and narration by Kaori Yoshikawa. 

Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC.
Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Episode 33. Artery. Episode 7: Emiko Agatsuma with Iza Kavedžija

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring.

Episode 8 features Rabab Chamseddine with Rebecca Appleton

Rabab Chamseddine (b.1997, Abidjan, Ivory Coast) is a Lebanese (spoken word) poet and film-maker based in Tyre and Beirut, Lebanon. She is currently completing her master’s in Literature at the American University of Beirut. Her poetry unfolds as an exploration of the bilateral theme of love and loss, and the poetics of meaning-making that emerge between them, in that very space of mourning, in Beirut. Chamseddine began her spoken word poetry journey in 2017 by partaking in poetry nights hosted in the hubs and communal cafes of Beirut, to later become the winner of Beirut Poetry Slam 2018. Her work will be appearing in an anthology entitled We Call to the Eye and the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Descent (Persea Books), edited by Hala Alyan and Zeina Hashem Beck, as of spring 2023.  
Find her on Instagram @ rababchamseddine 

Rebecca Appleton is a postgraduate researcher in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. She is currently undertaking PhD research about the politics of contemporary women’s poetry in Beirut, Lebanon. The project researches the emerging and evolving performance and politics of women’s poetry in Beirut, focussing on poetry’s capacity to generate alternative spaces for personal, social, political, and gendered expression as the city negotiates crises. 

Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC.
Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Episode 34. Artery Episode 8: Rabab Chamseddine with Rebecca Appleton

Episode 35: Origin Studies Part 1, by Adam Hinden. With Sian Lazar, Thomas White, and Iza Kavedžija

Anthropologists often work with communities far away from where they live and study. How do we come to commit ourselves to years of engagement in a specific field site? Inspired by a gap in anthropological education surrounding the selection of field-sites, this three-part podcast explores how some anthropologists developed their interest in specific settings and topics, and how these inclinations are shaped by various external factors into life-long research interests and specializations. Each episode contains the "origin stories" of three anthropologists at the University of Cambridge, and shows how anthropological knowledge often hinges on indirect, serendipitous experiences. 

Episode 1 features Sian Lazar, Thomas White, and Iza Kavedžija

Adam Hinden is an Irish-American researcher and musician currently based in London. His work, both for his anthropology MPhil at the University of Cambridge and in his current research with ACLED, surrounds activism and allyship among indigenous groups in Taiwan.

Episode 35: Origin Studies Part 1, by Adam Hinden. With Sian Lazar, Thomas White, and Iza Kavedžija

Episode 36: Origin Studies Part 2, by Adam Hinden. With Andrew Sanchez, Elizabeth Turk, and Caroline Humphrey

Anthropologists often work with communities far away from where they live and study. How do we come to commit ourselves to years of engagement in a specific field site? Inspired by a gap in anthropological education surrounding the selection of field-sites, this three-part podcast explores how some anthropologists developed their interest in specific settings and topics, and how these inclinations are shaped by various external factors into life-long research interests and specializations. Each episode contains the "origin stories" of three anthropologists at the University of Cambridge, and shows how anthropological knowledge often hinges on indirect, serendipitous experiences. 

Episode 2 features Andrew Sanchez, Elizabeth Turk, and Caroline Humphrey

Adam Hinden is an Irish-American researcher and musician currently based in London. His work, both for his anthropology MPhil at the University of Cambridge and in his current research with ACLED, surrounds activism and allyship among indigenous groups in Taiwan.

Episode 36: Origin Studies Part 2 with Andrew Sanchez, Elizabeth Turk, and Caroline Humphrey

Episode 37: Origin Studies Part 3, by Adam Hinden. With Mike Degani, Timothy Cooper, and Marilyn Strathern

Anthropologists often work with communities far away from where they live and study. How do we come to commit ourselves to years of engagement in a specific field site? Inspired by a gap in anthropological education surrounding the selection of field-sites, this three-part podcast explores how some anthropologists developed their interest in specific settings and topics, and how these inclinations are shaped by various external factors into life-long research interests and specializations. Each episode contains the "origin stories" of three anthropologists at the University of Cambridge, and shows how anthropological knowledge often hinges on indirect, serendipitous experiences. 

Episode 3 features Mike Degani, Timothy Cooper, and Marilyn Strathern

Adam Hinden is an Irish-American researcher and musician currently based in London. His work, both for his anthropology MPhil at the University of Cambridge and in his current research with ACLED, surrounds activism and allyship among indigenous groups in Taiwan.

Episode 37: Origin Studies Part 3 with Mike Degani, Timothy Cooper, and Marilyn Strathern

Tanya Luhrmann gave the 2016 W.H.R. Rivers Memorial Lecture in Cambridge, and during her visit she discussed with Rupert Stasch the larger research project she is currently engaged in, about contrasts in the psychological experience of “hearing voices” in the United States, Ghana, and India. Both in a study of how certain Christians experience hearing the voice of God, and in a study of the auditory experiences of diagnosed schizophrenics, Luhrmann and her collaborators have discovered correlations between the kinds of voices people hear in each of these countries and main wider understandings in those countries of the nature of “mind.” 

7. An Interview with Tanya Luhrmann, by Rupert Stasch

Camthropod: The Cambridge Anthropology Podcast