How Art Can Be Thought

“How Art Can Be Thought compellingly interrogates the art world's languages of difference and its educational apparatuses in order to understand how they are deployed and how we can turn them on their sides to effect a decolonization both of art and art pedagogy. With Allan deSouza's incisive strategies for creating change, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in increasing meaningful diversity and inclusion in art and its institutions.” - Steven Nelson, University of California, Los Angeles

"A lexicon of contested terms, a new glossary to navigate our artistic practice, is a needed first decolonizing exercise in all art schools. This book will bring you an insightful landscape of what we should address today.” - Tania Bruguera

"Allan deSouza has done the art world an extraordinary service. . . . As a handbook, How Art Can Be Thought is stunning and successful—deeply informed by critical theory, yet in all aspects oriented toward practical use in the field, so to speak." - Taylor Eggan, Discursive Impulse

"This book is a detailed, thorough, and comprehensive discussion concerning all aspects of contemporary art. de Souza opens a 'can of worms' on almost every page, exposing long-held myths about art practice, what art is, and if in fact we can really say anything meaningful about the whole 'art world' at all. . . . Very well written and highly readable. It is a must read for all art educators, art students, curators, art critics and faculty at academic institutions where art is still included in the curriculum." - Rob Harle, Leonardo Reviews

"Juggling . . . the conceptual and practical . . . is no easy task and deSouza does a good job. . . . One of the strengths of the book is deSouza’s reflection on language — its importance to the project of decolonization and to artistic meaning/expression.  - Alpesh Kantilal Patel, Hyperallergic

"DeSouza shatters the trope of the handbook as static, watered-down theory. Instead, we enter an electric dialogue steeped in the vein of Paulo Freire and bell hooks. . . . With its accessible writing and contemporary perspective, How Art Can Be Thought should be required reading for art educators, administrators, art historians, critics and those interested in critical pedagogy." - Ashley Hosbach, ARLIS/NA Reviews

"How Art Can Be Thought is indeed a practical handbook and offers a comprehensive account of current art debates in the art world. To decolonize those debates, deSouza provides a rich and detailed pedagogical framework that can be adapted to shape new debates." - Uschi Klein, Visual Studies