Circularity in Louise Erdrich's Love medicine

La estructura circular en la novela Love Medicine, de Louise Erdrich, enmarca a los personajes y a los temas principales, e involucra al lector en un interesante proceso de decodificación del texto. Los personajes buscan su identidad y se reconcilian con el pasado (dos temas fundamentales) mientras que el lector adopta un rol activo en el proceso de establecer conexiones con el fin de construir el mundo de la novela.

Kulttuurinen muisti selviytymisen välineenä Louise Erdrichin romaanissa Love Medicine

Louise Erdrich (s. 1954) on yksi tunnetuimmista yhdysvaltalaisista Pohjois-Amerikan alkuperäiskansoihin kuuluvista kirjailijoista. Hänen juuriltaan saksalais-amerikkalainen sekä kuuluu chippewa-heimoon. Erdrichin esikoisromaani Love Medicine (1984) sijoittuu kuvitteelliseen chippewa-heimon reservaattiin Pohjois-Dakotassa. June Morriseyn kuoleman jälkeen hänen sukulaisensa kokoontuvat Kashpawien taloon muistelemaan häntä. Junen läheisten elämä avautuu lukijalle eri kertojien äänellä 1930-luvulta 1980-luvulle. Keskityn siihen, kuinka romaanin henkilöt selviytyvät valkoisen valtakulttuurin ja alisteisessa asemassa olevan chippewa-kulttuurin välitilassa. Tarkastelen erityisesti kulttuurisen muistin roolia henkilöiden selviytymisstrategioissa. Kulttuurinen muisti on sosiaalisesti muodostettua yhteistä tietoa menneisyyden tapahtumista ja ryhmää koossa pitävästä merkitysjärjestelmästä. Traditio ja yhteisöllisyys merkitsevät heimoyhteisölle voimaantumisen mahdollisuutta, toivoa kulttuurisen tyhjiön täyttämisestä ja katkenneiden sosiaalisten siteiden korjaamisesta. Kulttuurinen muisti tarjoaa romaanin henkilöille mahdollisuuden muodostaa yhteyden heimon kulttuuriperintöön. Erdrich hyödyntää romaanissaan monenlaisia viittauksia sekä chippewa-mytologiaan että valkoiseen kulttuuriin. Monet chippewa-perinteen ainekset, kuten trickster-hahmot, lemmenlääke ja laaja perhekäsitys, toimivat välineinä, joiden avulla romaanin henkilöt rakentavat identiteettiään ja pyrkivät löytämään paikkansa yhteisössä. Tarkastelen myös sitä, miten osa henkilöistä pyrkii assimiloitumaan ja saavuttamaan toimijuutta valkoisen valtakulttuurin keinoin. Yhteisöllisyyden ja kulttuurin eteenpäin siirtämisen voima mahdollistaa sen, että nuori sukupolvi löytää paikkansa ja asettuu osaksi heimon jatkumoa. Vaikka kolonisaatiota ja sen aiheuttamia tuhoja ei voi kumota, chippewa-traditio ei sammu, vaan Erdrichin romaani osoittaa, että selviytyminen on mahdollista.

WATER - a series of photographs by Louise Grayson

This body of photographic work has been created to firstly, explore a new approach to practice-led research that uses an “action genre” approach to reflective practice (Lemke) and secondly, to visually explore human interaction with the fundamental item in life - water. The first of these is based on the contention that to understand the meanings inherent in photographs we cannot look merely at the end result. It is essential to keep looking at the actions of practitioners, and the influences upon them, to determine how external influences affect the meaning potential of editorial photographs (Grayson, 2012). WATER therefore, provides an ideal platform to reflect upon the actions and influences involved in creating work within the photographic genre of photojournalism. It enables this practitioner to reflect on each stage of production to gain a better understanding of how external influences impact the narrative potential within images created. There are multi-faceted influences experienced by photographers who are creating images that, in turn, are part of constructing and presenting the narrative potential of editorial photographs. There is an important relationship between professional photographers and the technical, cultural, economic and institutional forces that impinge upon all stages of production and publication. What results is a greater understanding of technical, cultural, economic and institutional forces that impinge upon all stages of production and publication. Therefore, to understand the meanings inherent in photographs within WATER, I do not look merely at the end result. It provides a case study looking at my actions in the filed, and the influences upon me, to determine how external influences affect the meaning potential of these photographs (Grayson, 2012). As a result, this project adds to the body of scholarship around the definition of Photojournalism, how it has adapted to the current media environment and provides scope for further research into emerging new genres within editorial photography, such as citizen photojournalism. Concurrently, the photographs themselves were created to visually explore how there remains a humanistic desire to interact with the natural form of water even while living a modern cosmopolitan life around it. Taking a photojournalistic approach to exploring this phenomenon, the images were created by “capturing moments as they happened” with no posing or setting up of images. This serendipitous approach to the photographic medium provides the practitioner with at least an attempt to direct the subjectivity contained explicitly in photographs. What results is a series of images that extend the visual dialogue around the role of water within modern humanistic lifestyles and how it remains an integral part of our society’s behaviors. It captures important moments that document this relationship at this time of modern development. The resulting works were exhibited and published as part of the Head On Photo Festival, Australia's largest photo festival and the world's second largest festival in Sydney 20-24 May 2013. The WATER series of images were curated by three Magnum members; Ian Berry, Eli Reed and Chris Steele-Perkins. Magnum is a highly regarded international photographic co-operative with editorial offices in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo. There was a projection of the works as part of the official festival programme, presented to both members of the public and Sydney’s photography professionals. In addition, a sample of images from the WATER series was chosen for inclusion in the Magnum-published hardcover book. References Grayson, Louise. 2012. “Editorial photographs and patterns of practice.” Journalism Practice. Accessed: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2012.726836#.UbZN-L--1RQ Lemke, Jay. 1995. Textual Politics: Discourse and Social Dynamics. London: Taylor & Francis.

Food trail through Jasper, Lake Louise and Calgary in Canada

A travel article about food and landscape in Alberta. IN THE remote islands off Canada's east coast, I was given an old rule of survival: If you get lost in the forest, follow the bear tracks and eat what the bears eat, except skunk cabbage. There was no second rule for what to do about the bear, should he also appear. No matter. "Do this and you'll live," it says, "just as we did in the past."...

Walter Godshaw (Gottschalk), Louise "Isa" Gottschalk nee Rosenthal and Peter Zander; England.

Digital Image

Portrait of Ernst Gottschalk with his wife Louise "Isa" nee Rosenthal; Welwyn Garden City, England.

Digital Image

El arte como mediador entre el artista y el trauma. Acercamientos al arte desde el psicoanalisis y la escultura de Louise Bourgeois

411 p. : il., col.

Missions : their rise and development / by Louise Creighton.

http://www.archive.org/details/missionstheirris003069mbp