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Octopuses, remoras, and surfers: speculative stories from the offline space of digital circulation in Cuba
No full textThis paper focuses on the inventive everyday digital practices that Cubans have put into place to surf the waves of digital scarcity. The paper itself is an experiment in what Donna Haraway calls SF stories (Science Fiction, Speculative Fabulation or Speculative Feminism). We will engage in a process of speculative narrative exploring stories about digital practices in Cuba by connecting them to the animal world. Through the use of metaphors belonging to the world of aquatic creatures emerging in our collaborators’ stories, we will address everyday digital practices as symbiotic assemblages. We argue that the speculative mixture of fabulation and aquatic metaphors can function as an antidote to simple dualistic reductions, perhaps offering a critical understanding of the meaning of digital technologies outside Western deterministic and dualistic categories. Part of a larger project on digital culture in Cuba, this paper aims to present a speculative work of fabulation where the animal world meets technology, creative writing and situated stories
Hidden Spaces, Hidden Cultic Practices: The Underworld Topography of Ancient Rome
No full textMaster of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Spring 2022.Ancient Rome’s visible topographical features contributed to the fabric of ancient Roman culture and identity. Though marginally studied, the underground topography of ancient Rome was equally important to the Romans. This study aims to both locate and plot topographical connectors within the city of Rome utilized to venerate chthonic gods more often than we are conventionally led to understand. Exploring the underground topography of ancient Rome will establish the relationship that everyday Romans had with these subterranean spaces. The primary link connecting the two realms were defixones, ancient curse tablets used to influence events supernaturally. The ancients navigated across the underworld through intercession and petition at topographical markers visible on the city’s surface. These markers, often dedicated to the upper world’s deities, reflected the ancients’ devotion and reliance on their gods, demonstrating that Roman religion weighed heavily on mapping the city. Defixones’ deposit locations are particularly imperative in building the topography of subterranean Rome as they reveal that the ancients routinely communicated with their underworld divinities through unofficially charted access points within the city that were more frequent than scholarship recognizes
Salvador Dalí and The Metamorphosis of Narcissus:Doubling as Method to Unify
No full textThesis (B.A. in Art History)--John Cabot University, Fall 2022.In Greek mythology Narcissus was the son of the river god Cephissus and of the nymphLirope. His story was narrated by the Roman poet Ovid in the Metamorphoses. Narcissus was ayoung man of great beauty who was punished by the Gods because of his boundless self-love. TheSpanish Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí interpreted the myth in his celebrated 1937 oil on canvas,Metamorphosis of Narcissus, in which he adopted and for the first time explored, the so-called“paranoid-critical method.” In conjunction with this painting, Dalí wrote an eponymous poem,composed to amplify the effect and meaning of the visual work. The poem focuses on how thecharacter of Dalí-Narcissus “loses his being in the cosmic vertigo”1 only to be reborn as Gala (hismuse and lover). In Metamorphosis of Narcissus Dalí used a meticulous technique which hedescribed as “hand-painted color photography” that creates a hallucinatory effect in the two figuresrepresenting Narcissus, creating a complex and multilayered reading of the work made of visualelements that lead into an oneiric dimension in contrast, and in relation, to a mythological andpsychological one. Although Dalí often used “double images,” the Metamorphosis of Narcissusdiffers from his usual practice because rather than seeing multiple images hidden in one figure, thesubject itself is presented doubled. The artist linked the classical tradition of Greek mythology withthe latest investigations in science, and in doing so he shed new light not only on the myth ofNarcissus but on psychoanalysis, too. By exploring and analyzing Dalí’s fascination with “opticalillusions”, with symbolism and with pivotal life episodes, this thesis explores how the painting wasintended to be viewed and interpreted iconographically, how it related to Freud’s theories and howit opens up a point of view on the same idea of the double meant as Dali’s alter-ego. Gala become aleading figure in this analysis which allows us to consider Gala the “muse”, Gala the “lover”, as anecessary and essential puppeteer. The same concept of love will be linked to the concept of thedouble and to Dali’s “paranoid-critical method.” This will lead us to consider, firstly, Dalí’s ownpersonal interpretation of the myth of love (love for the self, love for the other, love as afundamental abstraction) analyzed through the prism of André Breton’s Amour Fou and Jenson’sGradiva; and secondly, the figure of Gala herself, together with the role and symbolism of muses inthat historical context
Compassion Focused Group Therapy for People With a Diagnosis of Bipolar Affective Disorder: A Feasibility Study
No full textBackground: Compassion focused therapy (CFT) is an evolutionary informed, biopsychosocial approach to mental health problems and therapy. It suggests that evolved motives (e.g., for caring, cooperating, competing) are major sources for the organisation of psychophysiological processes which underpin mental health problems. Hence, evolved motives can be targets for psychotherapy. People with certain types of depression are psychophysiologically orientated towards social competition and concerned with social status and social rank. These can give rise to down rank-focused forms of social comparison, sense of inferiority, worthlessness, lowered confidence, submissive behaviour, shame proneness and self-criticism. People with bipolar disorders also experience elevated aspects of competitiveness and up rank status evaluation. These shift processing to a sense of superiority, elevated confidence, energised behaviour, positive affect and social dominance. This is the first study to explore the feasibility of a 12 module CFT group, tailored to helping people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder understand the impact of evolved competitive, status-regulating motivation on their mental states and the value of cultivating caring and compassion motives and their psychophysiological regulators.
Methods: Six participants with a history of bipolar disorder took part in a CFT group consisting of 12 modules (over 25 sessions) as co-collaborators to explore their personal experiences of CFT and potential processes of change. Assessment of change was measured via self-report, heart rate variability (HRV) and focus groups over three time points.
Results: Although changes in self-report scales between participants and across time were uneven, four of the six participants consistently showed improvements across the majority of self-report measures. Heart rate variability measures revealed significant improvement over the course of the therapy. Qualitative data from three focus groups revealed participants found CFT gave them helpful insight into: how evolution has given rise to a number of difficult problems for emotion regulation (called tricky brain) which is not one’s fault; an evolutionary understanding of the nature of bipolar disorders; development of a compassionate mind and practices of compassion focused visualisations, styles of thinking and behaviours; addressing issues of self-criticism; and building a sense of a compassionate identity as a means of coping with life difficulties. These impacted their emotional regulation and social relationships.
Conclusion: Although small, the study provides evidence of feasibility, acceptability and engagement with CFT. Focus group analysis revealed that participants were able to switch from competitive focused to compassion focused processing with consequent improvements in mental states and social behaviour. Participants indicated a journey over time from ‘intellectually’ understanding the process of building a compassionate mind to experiencing a more embodied sense of compassion that had significant impacts on their orientation to (and working with) the psychophysiological processes of bipolar disorder
Impact of social media on the Brexit referendum and the 2019 UK general election
No full textThesis (B.A. in Political Science, Minor in Legal Studies)--John Cabot University, Spring 2022.Social media in the Brexit referendum and the 2019 UK general elections has had an historic impact on British society. Social media in the 2010s was accessible to the majority of people from all age groups. This thesis focus is on how for the first time in the UK political history the social media, which are relatively new tools, were widely used to condition the British public opinion. The thesis aim is to understand how in-depth social media changed the political landscape from creating echo chambers to having bots spreading disinformation. The research starts with the 2016 Brexit referendum, a decisive moment in British political history. During the period between the 2016 referendum and the 2019 elections more and more of the British people started to read news through internet, apps and especially social medias. The 2019 general election was decisive for the outcome of what Brexit would eventually be. Therefore, it can be considered as important as the 2016 referendum. The thesis analyses also the psychological aspect of social media and the results of Brexit which exercised a strong impact especially amongst EU citizens living in the UK. The result of this thesis is that social media became the essential tool both for politicians and people. For the first time in world history everyone could spread their message to a wider audience without the need of intermediaries such as newspapers and television broadcasting
The Identities and Anxieties of Nineteenth-Century Women Writers: An Analysis of George Eliot’s “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists,” Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
No full textThesis (B.A. in English Literature, Minor in Creative Writing)--John Cabot University, Spring 2022.The cultural turbulence of the Nineteenth-Century along with the increase and prevalence of literature written by women, gave rise to a complex discourse concerning women in the public domain. The amalgamation of the “Woman Question,” the nature of criticism, and prejudice towards the practice of female authorship engendered within the class of women writers both anxieties and an awareness of the singularity of their position. This shared cognizance within the set of woman writers developed three distinct effects: the widespread use of pseudonyms and anonymity; the fictional representation of the capable female author and artist in the literature of women; and finally, the seeking of a distinctive, sophisticated feminine literary voice and tradition. Using George Eliot’s essay “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists,” sections of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s epic poem Aurora Leigh, and Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, this thesis argues that as women sought recognition of their talent in the midst of conflicting social conditions, they discovered truths about the essence of female literature and the identity of the woman writer. These truths include the importance of reconciling love and art, or femininity and career; the necessity of accepting one’s womanhood and not imitating men; and the idea that the perfect literary tradition is the meeting of ostensibly “masculine” and “feminine” qualities in literature. The latter point is perhaps one of the most important queries answered in this thesis; Nineteenth-Century women were beginning to understand that men and women have the same skills, deserve the same respect, and do not in actuality write within the confines of a “manly” or “womanly” style
Vincent van Gogh’s Arlésienne of 1890: A Case Study in Rethinking the Avant-garde’s Myth of Originality
No full textThesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in Art and Design)--John Cabot University, Fall 2022.My thesis focuses on the painting of L’Arlésienne: Portrait of Madame Ginoux (1890) by Vincent van Gogh on display at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome. It explores the collaboration between Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh during their time in Arles (1888-1889) which was fundamental for the longer process of making of L’Arlésienne. Indeed, both artists worked in 1888 with the same sitter, at the same time, but they painted two works that, this thesis argues, highlight Gauguin and van Gogh’s capital differences in “style” and, crucially, in artistic theories when subject matter and formal elements superficially appear to be so similar.
Secondary sources on the topic highlight the biographic and iconographic collaboration between the two post-Impressionist painters, of which L’Arlésienne is a prime case-study, and draw attention to the similarities between Gauguin’s preliminary sketch and the portrait of Madame Ginoux made by van Gogh. These visual similarities are in part due to van Gogh’s decision to repurpose Gauguin’s sketch which he took as a starting point for his painting. However, their approach and “style,” analyzed through the prism of their artistic theories and critical reception, differ significantly even when they treat the same subject matter or compositional motif. This thesis aims to shed wanted light on their artistic differences and ultimately to provide new insights on the issues of “copy” and “originality” in the avant-garde, suggesting that the avant-garde “myth of originality” has had an enduring impact on art-historical literature on the historical avant-garde, at the expense of understanding the critical and material decisions made by artists, and their import for its critical history
What if I’m Not the Hero. What if I’m the Bad Guy? Representations of Evil in Anthony Burgess and Truman Capote
No full textThesis (B.A. in English Literature, Minor in Creative Writing, Minor in Communications)--John Cabot University, Fall 2022.As the theory of narratology shows, narrative is always in the process of transformation. The narrative of evil is ever-changing and can have many faces and, therefore, requires continuous interpretation. I propose an investigation of contemporary forms of evil narrated in two twentieth-century novels: A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess and In Cold Blood (1965) by Truman Capote, to meditate upon the forms of evil that continue to characterize the Western experience. The way evil is defined and conveyed also becomes a way of understanding evil in fiction that deals with familiar and very human kinds of monstrosity. It is the narrative form (i.e., the stylistic and linguistic innovations) employed by the dystopian and the true crime genres that define Burgess and Capote’s evil characters
Boundaries of Identity and Gender in Classical Antiquity: Warrior Women and Witches
No full textThesis (B.A. in Humanistic Studies, Minors in Communications and Psychology)--John Cabot University, Fall 2022.The investigation of this thesis deals with the way in which Graeco-Roman authors conceptualized women non-conforming to their stereotypes, in terms of gender norms and social identity roles. Specifically, the research aims at understanding if the notions defined by these non-stereotypical instances ultimately reinforced or challenged the Classical assumptions. In order to do so, the study firstly defines in detail notions of gender, gender roles, social identity and identity roles. Then, it analyzes the literary examples of non-conforming women, that is, the characters of the Amazons and the witches, as attested by various ancient sources used to in this thesis, together with the secondary sources referring to the ancient texts. The thesis demonstrates that the lifestyle and the ideals of neither the Amazons nor the witches were integrated into the Classical everyday life, because they could not be accepted. Specifically, the Amazons represented foreign values of gender equality, attributed to populations which were considered as less civilized from the Graeco-Roman perspective. On the other hand, the witches were completely contrary to what the Greek and Roman societies supported in terms of roles that women could take on, to the point that witches disrupted basic values, like maternal care and respect of marriage. Again, however, the witches were outcasts of these civilizations, impersonating another type of outsiders. Hence, in general, Greek and Roman authors conceptualized non-conforming women as too different and distant from the everyday reality to allow for the comprehension of these original notions and for their integration in Classical culture