SMC 35

Over the last two decades, the study of graffiti has emerged as a bustling field, invigorated by increased appreciation for their historical, linguistic, sociological, and anthropological value and propelled by ambitious documentation projects. The growing understanding of graffiti as a perennial, universal phenomenon is spurring holistic consideration of this mode of graphic expression across time and space. Graffiti Scratched, Scrawled, Sprayed: Towards a Cross-Cultural Understanding complements recent efforts to showcase the diversity in creation, reception, and curation of graffiti around the globe, throughout history and up to the present day. reflecting on methodology, concepts, and terminology as well as spatial, social, and historical contexts of graffiti, the book’s fourteen chapters cover ancient Egypt, Rome, Northern Arabia, Persia, India, and the Maya; medieval Eastern Mediterranean, Turfan, and Dunhuang; and contemporary Tanzania, Brazil, China, and Germany. As a whole, the collection provides a comprehensive toolkit for newcomers to the field of graffiti studies and appeals to specialists interested in viewing these materials in a cross-cultural perspective.

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FrontmatterI

ContentsV

Towards a Cross-Cultural Understanding of Graffiti: Terminology, Context, Semiotics, Documentation 1
Ondřej Škrabal, Leah Mascia, Ann Lauren Osthof, and Malena Ratzke

Africa

Writing Wherever Possible and Meaningful: Graffiti Culture in Ancient Egypt. Context, Terminology, Documentation 47
Ursula Verhoeven

‘Spray It Loud’: Hip Hop Graffiti Culture and Politics in Dar es Salaam, 2003–2018 77
Seth M. Markle

America

Incised Images among the Palaces and Temples: The Content and Meaning of Pre-Columbian Maya Graffiti109
Jarosław Źrałka

Graffiti and the Media: Between Politics, Art and Vandalism 143
Alexander Araya López

Central and East Asia

Old Uyghur Graffiti Inscriptions from Central Asia173
Matsui Dai

Chinese Graffiti in Dunhuang?215
Nadine Bregler

Transcribed Flows and Arrhythmias: ‘Graffiti’ in Relation to Epigraphic and Artistic Trajectories in Today’s Mainland China233
Minna Valjakka

Intermezzo

The Spray Can as an Attitude to Life between Illegal Action and Commercial Art: A Conversation on the Emergence of a Modern Graffiti Form with the Artist Mirko Reisser alias DAIM267
Sanja Ewald and Mirko Reisser

South and West Asia

Graffiti in Ancient India: Towards the Definition of a Genre of Indian Epigraphy287
Ingo Strauch

Graffiti in Middle Iranian: Some Preliminary Notes 327
Carlo G. Cereti

Voices in the Wilderness: Some Unexpected Uses of Graffiti 355
Michael C. A. Macdonald

Medieval and Early Modern Graffiti in Eastern Mediterranean: A New Methodological Approach383
Mia Trentin

Europe

Documenting Ancient Graffiti: Text, Image, Support and Access 425
Rebecca R. Benefiel und Holly M. Sypniewski

Curating Graffiti: The Exhibition Wände│Walls in the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart 467
Anne Vieth

Contributors487

Index491