The structure-agency interplay : sociology of the arts in Malta

Abstract

My concern in this article is on the structure-agency interplay in the arts in Malta. This exploration is couched within sociological discourse on the arts, presenting an exemplary case of studying structural factors influencing art practices as well as the reflexive deliberations of artists. One way to explain this dichotomy is by drawing from a recent and transnational cultural research project entitledA National Oasis?, conducted by BJCEM (Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean), on the geopolitical peculiarities of the artistic scenes in the “peripheral” states of San Marino, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Malta. Such analysis explores discourses on “periphery”, to make sense of such geo-cultural locations as polemical fields in relation to their dis/similar cultural, economic, and political morphology. This article focuses exclusively on Malta, without assuming a lineal trajectory of cultural conditions especially in light of diverse economic and political histories.