The connection between art, agency and power effects in East Timor is an epistemological equation that entails interdisciplinaryThis dossier aims at opening a space for multidisciplinary analysis and consideration of art production in and about East Timor. Nevertheless, the fact of being conceived by two anthropologists leaves its trace. In this essay, as an introductory provocation to readers interested in this topic, we raise a few theoretical and methodological questions for a critical outlook of art in and about East Timor, from the anthropological point of view. We discuss possible perspectives to approach the art worlds in and about East Timor, by connecting them, as far as possible, to the articles that comprise this dossier.
In the course of this work I shall use specific terminology. The word Converso, which was widely used by Spanish and English historiography, and the word Cristão-Novo (New Christian), extensively utilized in Portuguese historiography, have the same meaning. Both refer to Sephardic Jews or descendants of Sephardic Jews who converted/were forced to convert to Christianity (i.e., Catholicism) in Spain and Portugal. These Sephardic Jews, and their descendants,
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