"The Persistence of Masks: Surrealism and the Ethnography of the Subject"

A Books-in-Print talk with author Joyce Suechun Cheng. In this talk, Cheng focuses on chapter 4 "The Surrealists as Ethnographers: Possession, Aesthetics, Subjectivity" which explores the idea of possession as a form of performative mask, utilizing Michel Leiris's ethnographic study of Ethiopian Zars in the 1930s. Joyce Suechun Cheng is an associate professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Oregon. She is joined in conversation by Edgar Garcia an associate professor of English at the University of Chicago.