Saraswati Sings: The Slide-Guitar in India

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Visualising Spaces: The Illustrated Map as a Mode of Communicating Fact, Fiction and Feeling

Communicating thoughts, facts and narratives through visual devices such as allegory or symbolism was fundamental to early map making and this remains the case with contemporary illustration. Drawing was employed then as a way of describing historic narratives (fact and folklore) through the convenience of a drawn symbol or character. The map creators were visionaries, depicting known discoveries and anticipating what existed beyond the agreed boundaries. As we now have photographic and virtual reality maps at our disposal, how can illustration develop the language of what a map is and can be? How can we break the rules of map design and yet still communicate the idea of a sense of place with the aim to inform, excite and/or educate the ‘traveller’? As Illustrators we need to question the purpose of creating a ‘map’: what do we want to communicate and is representational image making the only way to present information of a location? Is creating a more personal interpretation a form of cartouche, reminiscent of elements within the Hereford Mappa Mundi and maps of Blaeu, and can this improve/hinder the communicative aspect of the map? Looking at a variety of historical and contemporary illustrated maps and artists (such as Grayson Perry), who track their journeys through drawing, both conventional journeys and emotional, I will aim to prove that the illustrated map is not mere decoration but is a visual language providing an allegorical response to tangible places and personal feelings.

"If I Could Think of Somewhere to Go" : Alienation in S.E. Hinton's Rumble Fish

This essay focuses on the alienation experienced by Rusty-James in S.E. Hinton’s Rumble Fish (1975). It more specifically centers on the causes of his alienation and how the alienation is illustrated in the novel. The analysis shows that the alienation Rusty-James experiences is caused partly by socioeconomic factors; for example his lack of hope for the future is closely connected to the fact that he belongs to a low socioeconomic class. In addition, there are also psychological factors, for example a childhood trauma. The alienation and its causes are mainly illustrated through the symbolism of the featured Siamese fighting fish and how Rusty-James’ relationships are depicted.  

Monumento al Salvador del Mundo

13 p.

Valorización simbólica del Queso Crema de Chiapas, un queso mexicano tradicional con calidad de origen

El objetivo de este trabajo consistió en explorar el valor simbólico que posee un queso tradicional mexicano, el Queso Crema de Chiapas. Para ello, se recorrió un largo camino de caracterización técnica de los rasgos fisicoquímicos, microbiológicos y sensoriales del producto, así como también de sus canales de comercialización y su red de valor. Una vez que se conocieron y se identificaron los aspectos tecnológicos mensurables, que imparten las características especiales al Queso Crema de Chiapas. La presente investigación mostró la existencia de aspectos subjetivos que aportan un valor y significado a este queso genuino; aspectos determinados por la sociedad, y en especial por los productores. El simbolismo es un rasgo asignado por las personas; se trata de un concepto subjetivo que está determinado por la necesidade, y fundamentado por la historia, la cultura, la idiosincrasia y su forma de vida. Estos valores favorecen la presencia del queso en el mercado, lo que contribuye a su preservación como patrimonio alimentario. Esta investigación se realizó con un enfoque antropológico, cualitativo-cuantitativo y observacional en campo, que se complementó con investigaciones anteriores, demostrando el valor de este alimento identitario de Chiapas. Sus resultados pueden ser empleados como instrumento para promover acciones de valorización adecuadas y contribuir al desarrollo socioeconómico y cultural de su región de origen.

Nietzsche's orphans: music and the search for unity in revolutionary Russia, 1905-1921

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Imperial Russia was in the throes of immense social, political and cultural upheaval. The effects of rapid industrialization, rising capitalism and urbanization, as well as the trauma wrought by revolution and war, reverberated through all levels of society and every cultural sphere. In the aftermath of the 1905 revolution, amid a growing sense of panic over the chaos and divisions emerging in modern life, a portion of Russian educated society (obshchestvennost’) looked to the transformative and unifying power of music as a means of salvation from the personal, social and intellectual divisions of the contemporary world. Transcending professional divisions, these “orphans of Nietzsche” comprised a distinct aesthetic group within educated Russian society. While lacking a common political, religious or national outlook, these philosophers, poets, musicians and other educated members of the upper and middle strata were bound together by their shared image of music’s unifying power, itself built upon a synthesis of Russian and European ideas. They yearned for a “musical Orpheus,” a composer capable of restoring wholeness to society through his music. My dissertation is a study in what I call “musical metaphysics,” an examination of the creation, development, crisis and ultimate failure of this Orphic worldview. To begin, I examine the institutional foundations of musical life in late Imperial Russia, as well as the explosion of cultural life in the aftermath of the 1905 Revolution, a vibrant social context which nourished the formation of musical metaphysics. From here, I assess the intellectual basis upon which musical metaphysics rested: central concepts (music, life-transformation, theurgy, unity, genius, nation), as well as the philosophical heritage of Nietzsche and the Christian thinkers Vladimir Solov’ev, Aleksei Khomiakov, Ivan Kireevskii and Lev Tolstoi. Nietzsche’s orphans’ struggle to reconcile an amoral view of reality with a deeply felt sense of religious purpose gave rise to neo-Slavophile interpretations of history, in which the Russian nation (narod) was singled out as the savior of humanity from the materialism of modern life. This nationalizing tendency existed uneasily within the framework of the multi-ethnic empire. From broad social and cultural trends, I turn to detailed analysis of three of Moscow’s most admired contemporary composers, whose individual creative voices intersected with broader social concerns. The music of Aleksandr Scriabin (1871-1915) was associated with images of universal historical progress. Nikolai Medtner (1879-1951) embodied an “Imperial” worldview, in which musical style was imbued with an eternal significance which transcended the divisions of nation. The compositions of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) were seen as the expression of a Russian “national” voice. Heightened nationalist sentiment and the impact of the Great War spelled the doom of this musical worldview. Music became an increasingly nationalized sphere within which earlier, Imperial definitions of belonging grew ever more problematic. As the Germanic heritage upon which their vision was partially based came under attack, Nietzsche’s orphans found themselves ever more divided and alienated from society as a whole. Music’s inability to physically transform the world ultimately came to symbolize the failure of Russia’s educated strata to effectively deal with the pressures of a modernizing society. In the aftermath of the 1917 revolutions, music was transformed from a symbol of active, unifying power into a space of memory, a means of commemorating, reinterpreting, and idealizing the lost world of Imperial Russia itself.

Classificação como Conjunto de Interesse Público (CIP) dos Vestígios Arqueológicos de Lourosa

O presente projeto tem como principal objetivo a Classificação como Conjunto de Interesse Público (CIP) dos Vestígios Arqueológicos de Lourosa, associando ao estudo o potencial turístico que advém da ligação aos recursos patrimoniais. Outros objetivos: A Criação de um Centro Interpretativo da Cultura Judaica e o Reconhecimento e Notoriedade Internacional. O Turismo Cultural e Religioso, considerado como um produto emergente e inovador e uma das apostas do Plano Estratégico Nacional do Turismo (PENT) 2013/2015 continua a ser um recurso turístico do projeto Turismo 2020. A presença judaica em Portugal é tida pela comunidade científica como muito significativa e o seu valor patrimonial muito relevante. Constituem aspetos deste património histórico-cultural: as comunas e as judiarias, as sinagogas e os armários sagrados, as inscrições e as marcas de simbologia judaica e cristã-nova, as tradições e os costumes. A confluência entre a cultura, a religião e o turismo dá origem ao denominado Turismo Cultural e Religioso. A Organização Mundial do Turismo, identifica o turismo cultural como sendo: O movimento de pessoas essencialmente por motivos culturais, incluindo visitas de grupo, visitas culturais, viagens a festivais, visitas a sítios históricos e monumentos, folclore e peregrinação (OMT, 1985, citado por McKercher e du Cros, 2002). O turismo cultural tem sido considerado a área de maior crescimento no turismo global. O turismo religioso tem igualmente uma relação forte com o património existente sendo que, o principal objetivo é a participação em rituais de culto. Assim sendo, o turismo é uma atividade multifacetada que apresenta uma forte ligação com o património material e imaterial existente contribuindo desta forma, para o desenvolvimento económico e social de uma determinada região.

Hauntings

The thesis paper is about the process of creating and directing Hauntings, a dance theater work, performed in the 2016 MFA Spring Thesis Concert. The concert was shared with Curtis Stedge, fellow cohort and MFA candidate in the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. This document is meant to accompany the archival footage of the dance. Hauntings is a moving lyric poem depicting themes and motifs of the emotional landscape of its characters. It is a time-less world rendering the complexities of the psyche and soul. Love, obsession, loss, and nostalgia emerge as Smith and her fellow artists represent characters struggling with impermanence and mortality. The work is seeped in symbolism and metaphor. The dances/scenes draw inspiration from the music of Chopin, Liszt, Stravinsky, Charles Trenet, Rina Ketty, and poetry by John Keats, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, W.B Yeats, and Claire Clemons Cowan.

A identidade regional na imprensa de proximidade beirã. Dois periódicos viseenses de 1959 a 2011.

Os contornos de um mundo em mudança e a evolução do pensamento há muito que se afastaram dos conceitos de identidades unas e imutáveis. A própria aceitação da mutabilidade traduz-se também nos cenários das vastas possibilidades para os fenómenos identitários à escala global. Também por isso, e mais do que nunca, se revela preponderante a reflexão sobre tais fenómenos identitários e a compreensão da sua intervenção e pertinência nas constantes reconfigurações sociais da atualidade. Esse será o universo do presente trabalho, onde serão auscultadas atuais conceções identitárias e o seu lugar no caso português. Este estudo configura-se, portanto, a partir de objetivos centrais bem delimitados: identificar e caracterizar a eventual existência de identidades regionais em Portugal, no caso particular dos territórios associados a Viseu. Este ponto de partida surge da análise da frequente cartografia das identidades territoriais na realidade portuguesa, bem como da continuidade de anteriores estudos do autor. Com efeito, verifica-se que frequentemente se definem duas grandes tipologias identitárias no que concerne à relação com o território: a local e a nacional. Tal posição surge em aberta contradição com os discursos mediáticos recorrentes onde a constante presença de um discurso de matriz regional obriga à dúvida inevitável. Nesse sentido, falando-se de região, foi necessário percorrer os conceitos de limite e de fronteira que a delimitam e lhe conferem sentido, indagando-se sobre o lugar da sua criação e da sua vivência. Assim, o trabalho orientou-se em dois grandes sentidos iniciais: o do levantamento da ação delimitadora do Estado, tido como autor das demarcações regionais em Portugal e o da auscultação da produção discursiva dos media regionais, agentes e expressão da identidade regional. A segunda dimensão obrigaria a um estudo aturado sobre a imprensa regional, objeto essencial do presente trabalho e a partir do qual será possível alcançar conclusões validáveis para o período entre 1959 e 2011. É então pelo cruzamento das duas dimensões referidas que se surpreende a existência de traços identitários regionais bem vincados, profundamente arreigados ao discurso do Estado Novo, raramente correspondendo aos intentos de delimitação das sucessivas iniciativas governamentais posteriores que, desse modo, revelam também um profundo distanciamento desse território que insistentemente vão dividindo. Entre o discurso eivado de simbolismo – embora centralista – do Estado Novo e as denominações técnicas – embora com o propósito de promover a descentralização do poder – da democracia, o discurso identitário da imprensa regional de Viseu alimenta-se ainda hoje do primeiro. Não porque vise os seus objetivos, mas porque é o que melhor caracteriza uma identidade relativamente pacificada: sempre pronta a recorrer ao passado beirão para afirmar as suas diferenças, sem no entanto pôr em causa o espírito da Nação; sempre pronta a denunciar o centralismo de Lisboa, esquecendo embora que foi esse centralismo que outrora lhe atribuiu a característica da genuinidade de, o que quer que seja, ser português.

O processo criativo e a personalidade criadora : um estudo da poética de Anaïs Nin no poema em prosa A Casa do Incesto

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Letras, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, 2016.

Crisis de la masculinidad hegemónica: (re)escrituras finiseculares de la batalla de los sexos en Estados Unidos

The present dissertation explores the concept of masculinity as power, paying special attention to the production and resistance of the rigid narratives of masculinity. Such configuration has prescribed the role of men in society—both at an individual and collective level—placing man at the centre of the patriarchal system and thus conferring upon men superiority over women. Such ideological construction is based on an essentialist view of the world, where biology determines destiny. As Men’s Studies have been advocating since their emergence, the victims of such an inegalitarian system are mainly women, but there are others, such as marginalized groups of men and hegemonic men themselves. Our focus is centered on the so-called crisis of masculinity that North American men went through in the last two decades of the twentieth century, the consequences of which have not yet been completely overcome. While from an essentialist point of view such a crisis is questionable, the political, economic and sociological reality of the Reagan’s Age made visible the downsides and pitfalls of toxic masculinity. In order to face the problems derived from the damaging nature of a construction that constrains men, three broad responses to the problem were taken: pro-feminist, anti-feminist and spiritual. Except for pro-feminists, the main reaction of these groupings consisted of victimizing themselves and of defending their essentialist supremacy—lulled by the fantasy world fostered by the “politics of symbolism” (Dallek, 1999 [1984]) of Reagan’s escapist policies. Opposing this reassuring image of the United States, the Blank Generation addressed the crisis of masculinity from a nihilist perspective. Through the analysis of American Psycho, this dissertation will illustrate the darkest side of the hegemonic model of masculinity...

O Kwaryp de Kanutari : uma abordagem linguística e etnográfica

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Letras, Departamento de Linguística, Português e Línguas Clássicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Linguística, 2015.

Strzygowski and his theory of early Christian art ...

From the Harvard theological review, v. III, July, 1910.

The use of Integral Theory to evaluate architectural sustainability - a case study

DeKay’s concept of Integral Sustainable Design (ISD) is based on Integral Theory, a framework proposed by the American philosopher, Ken Wilber. It offers four simultaneous perspectives (represented by quadrants) which each take a different view of the problem. The ‘experiences’ quadrant focuses on individual human experiences. The ‘behaviours’ quadrant looks at environmental performance. The ‘cultures’ perspective focuses on the collective interpretation of meaning, symbolism and worldviews and the ‘systems’ quadrant investigates the response and interaction with context. Integral Theory can act as a reminder for architects of the different perspectives that a sustainable building should address. In order to evaluate ISD, the Waterfront Campus Building of Deakin University has been used as a case study. The building, its performance, impact and perception, has been evaluated using both quantitative and qualitative data. Two surveys have been conducted to gather qualitative data to: (i) determine the experience of building users (staff and students) and (ii) the perception of non-users (Geelong residents and tourists). Data from building services and a site analysis has enabled quantitative assessments to be made. These inputs have been analysed, guided by ISD, to evaluate the usefulness of ISD as a sustainability assessment tool.

Humanizing the facade of the public commercial building in a contemporary American culture

The projects studied for this thesis show that the more the façades match the values, tastes, and needs of its target individuals, the more frequently the place will be visited. They endow it with a sense of place and uniqueness and create an emotional bond with the individuals. The intent of this research was to derive a framework of principles to be used in the design of façades, and to establish a relationship between the facade, human scale, urban context, and building. The methodology for developing this framework is based on the analysis of building façades from the Renaissance to current examples of New York Times Square. The principles were generated from strategies of the case studies analyzed. Principles of monumentality, symbolism, and iconography were used to perceive façades as essential forms of architecture. The scale of facades emphasizes human dimensions. In turn, the façade is a device of communication to inform individuals, and its impact on retelling culture for a city.