23 research outputs found
Writing and the rights of reality: usurpation and potentiality in Derrida, Plato, Nietzsche, and Beckett
Full text linkThe thesis critically evaluates Jacques Derrida's conferral of the rights of reality on writing, focussing on his theory of an arche-text in light of the speculative nature of this theory. The theory is initially considered in the context of Derrida's elucidation of the usurpatory status of writing within the Platonic and Nietzschean texts. This consideration reveals an admission of writing's usurpatory status by both writers while at the same time demonstrating their awareness of the intrinsically speculative nature of this view, the significance of writing lying in its ability to exteriorise the radically indeterminate status of consciousness m relation to reality rather than its ability to displace consciousness or reality The analyses, therefore, not only bring the Derridean hypothesis of a repressive or phonocentric metaphysical episteme into question but also exhibit the historical and philosophical role of potentiality in relation to writing, writing's ultimate significance lying in its capacity to exteriorise our existence as a mode of potentiality. Accordingly, in the second half of the thesis the Derridean theory of writing is countered with a specifically Aristotelian theory of the text as it is exhibited in the prose of Samuel Beckett, an author whose significance lies in his close alignment with Derridean theory within contemporary criticism. It is demonstrated that this identification has obviated an awareness of the significance of potentiality within the Beckettian text, his work consequently being appraised in the previously neglected context of Aristotelian metaphysics
Media and ICT use during Covid-19 work from Home Arrangement
Full text linkIntroduction: The Covid-19 pandemic caused educational institutions to temporarily suspend face-to-face classes. This led university lecturers to immediately shift to work from home mode in teaching students and collaborating with colleagues which made them adjust their work routine into online mode. Since this phenomenon entailed unique experiences based on the context of lecturer and students, this study aims to know the role of media and information communication technologies on the work from home experiences of a university lecturer during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Methods: A case study of a university lecturer was conducted through a written interview. Questions that solicit information on feelings about working from home, descriptions of the tasks needed to do in a usual day of a lecturer working online, and challenges encountered in teaching during the pandemic. Codes, categories and themes were generated in the data analysis.
Findings: Results reveal that home was perceived as a comfort zone for the university lecturer during the time of pandemic. The use of social media, email, and video conferencing platforms were based on three aspects: (1) the intention for communication; (2) the importance of materials involved, and (3) the assessment of fitness to work context.
Originality: This project provides understanding of lived experiences of a university lecturer during the Covid-19 pandemic and how technology plays a role in teaching and learning based on the context of their uses. The piece can be used as a scaffolding of future studies that intends to look at emerging relationships between humans and technology
Graduates’ Assessment on the Services Provided by Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Open University System
Full text linkThis study was made to determine the satisfaction of graduates of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Open University System to its services for academic year 2016-2017. Descriptive method was used in the study. The study found out that the PUP Open University graduates A.Y. 2016-2017 are very satisfied on the services offered and provided by PUP Open University System
The potential for using composted municipal waste in agriculture
Full text linkThis thesis addresses the relationship between urban waste and agriculture using an interdisciplinary systems approach. The environmental, economic, socio-cultural and political potential for using municipal waste compost (MWC) in urban and peri-urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana, was explored from different stakeholder perspectives and scales of enquiry. A pluralistic methodology was used in order to address different parts of the research and a critical reflection was made by the researcher on the carrying out of interdisciplinary research using these approaches. Waste management and composting practices were studied, as was urban and peri-urban agricultural systems. A series of farmer participatory experiments were carried out with urban vegetable growers to test the effects of using MWC from two different composting plants in Accra alongside current farmers’ practices. The perspectives of different stakeholders were also assessed through a combination of methods, including semi structured and informal interviews, participatory appraisal techniques, formal surveys, group discussions and workshops. Compost quality assessments revealed that the compost from the small-scale James Town plant was of higher quality than that produced at the large-scale Teshie/Nungua plant. Compost applications had a positive effect on crop growth. However, vegetable producers primarily used chicken manure as a fertility input and compared to this, the compost was inferior, particularly in relation to crop establishment and in creating a higher water demand. The growers were happy with the crop performance from compost, but saw the watering issue as a potential problem. They agreed that compost would be an attractive alternative during the rainy season. They also liked the fact that they did not need to apply compost to each crop, as they did with chicken manure. Whilst, growers would be willing to use and pay for MWC, both composts were too expensive to represent a viable alternative to other fertility inputs. However, given an appropriate blend of public-private-community partnerships and scales of operation which could harness opportunistic alignments between the needs of different actors, composting and its use in agriculture has potential in contributing towards sustainable development in the urban environment of Accra. With some modest policy support, the possibilities for improving quality and financial viability are considerable. Providing quality and price can meet the needs of growers, there is a market for MWC in Accra
Iowa History and Culture : A Bibliography of Materials Published Between 1952 and 1986, 1989
No full textThis bibliography was compiled by two reference librarians, Patricia Dawson and David Hudson with the goal of making it easier of tracking down material on Iowa history and culture. This supplements the Iowa History Reference Guide published in 1952 by William Petersen
Filming alterity: explorations of 'Voice(s)' in Contemporary French ethnographic film
Full text linkNot availabl
Representations of Voodoo : the history and influence of Haitian Vodou within the cultural productions of Britain and America since 1850
Full text linkThis thesis is the first major investigation into the representations of Vodou
within the cultural productions of Britain and America. It also opens up
opportunities for further research to be undertaken in the representations of
Vodou, Haiti and the culture and religions of other Caribbean countries.
This thesis explores the representations of 'Voodoo,' the widely accepted and
recognised term for the re-imagined religion, in Britain and America since 1850.
The history of the Caribbean and Haiti is examined before considering the
influence that the religion of Haitian Vodou has had on cultural production.
Through a historical perspective the thesis will consider the evolution of Vodou
during the horrors of slavery. The historiographic representations form the basis
of the productions and are explored to contextualise Vodou in the British and
American imagination. All genres of literature are examined, from the first
mention of Vodou in the eighteenth century through to the present day. This is
followed by an examination of the cultural reproductions of Vodou in film,
animation, theatre and television to explore the diversity of the representations.
The wider societal influences are considered throughout this work to
contextualise the productions of 'Voodoo'.
This thesis argues that the cultural reproductions of Vodou since 1850 have not
changed greatly, despite various efforts to redress the misrepresentations, they
remain rooted in colonialism. It will argue that many of the cultural productions
are reliant on previous representations. They do not in the majority introduce
authenticity, instead opting for the more sensational approach. Many of the
representations will be shown to be derogatory to the religion, culture and people
of Haiti and the diaspora. This is despite Vodou as a religion having survived,
gained strength and continuing to thrive in the twenty-first century
Archi-texture: meditations on the mediations of dwelling
Full text linkThis thesis is an inter-disciplinary and inter- cultural exploration of home as understood as the place in which we usually live. Empirical research in an Australian suburb and an Indian town provide the fabric from which cultural studies engages with phenomenology to produce a design used to cut and style this exploration. Motivated by an interest in what threads contribute to the weave of contemporary household dwelling, this thesis revisits the two questions used by Heidegger to frame his essay 'Building Dwelling Thinking': What is it to dwell? and How does building belong to dwelling? It is an inquiry committed to its respondents as bearers and representatives of 'structures of feeling' circulating within the socio-cultural milieu or habitus in which they live and engage with the idea of 'home'. This inquiry offers an exploration of the chief constituent mediums of home which I call its 'archi-texture'. As such, it looks at location, physical and material attributes, domestic technology and household membership as framed by the presence or absence of a family. This thesis is almost certainly the only example of an empirically grounded examination of Heidegger?s ontological exposition of dwelling. Hence I position it as a meditation on the mediations of dwelling rather than a judgmental critique, although in no sense do I believe it to be either a dispassionate position nor an impartial digest of the research material
Samuel Beckett and the Writers of Port-Royal
Full text linkIt has been observed that ‘the literary influences on Beckett have been far more important than has been acknowledged, and more important indeed, than the philosophical influences’ (Smith 2002: 3). The truth of this statement is evidenced by the description that scholars have given of Samuel Beckett’s relationship to seventeenth century French classicism. To date, critical interest has been limited for the most part to the figure of the philosopher René Descartes on the (fragile) grounds that Beckett was exclusively concerned with the Cartesian imperative of clarity and order, the fundamental dualism between body and mind, and Nominalism.
Together with the assumption that Beckett’s vision was essentially Cartesian, his literary filiation with Pascal was suggested by critics, but only in terms of Beckett’s formal approach to the theatre. In his short article on En attendant Godot in 1953, the playwright Jean Anouilh was among the first reviewers to suggest that Beckett’s drama synthesizes the encounter between ‘classicism’ and a ‘modern’ form of art. It is well known that Beckett retained a lifelong admiration for Pascal – indeed, Pascal was one of his ‘old chestnuts’ (Knowlson 1997: 653). Little attention has been paid, however, to the originality of Pascal’s thought, the specific nature of his prose, and the impact these might have had upon Beckett’s mature work, especially the trilogy and the subsequent short prose. Yet, in the literary and philosophical context of post-war France, Beckett’s filiation with Pascal, their corresponding preoccupations, were evident to his contemporaries, who identified Pascal as an underlying presence in his works
The city and landscapes beyond Harold Pinter's rooms
Full text linkPinter's dramas have been labelled as 'absurd', 'mysterious', 'enigmatic', 'taciturn'.
There has been a constant tendency to reduce the idea of the 'Pinteresque' to language
when Pinter is preoccupied with the tensions between reality and the world of the
imagination. He has, actually and accurately, used theatre as a 'critical act' to denote
the abstracted realities, and he has applied his language to embody his world-view - his
concerns in the contemporary capitalist world.
Pinter has journeyed from the room to the outside world, from the private to the public
social space, and has identified an inescapable sense of pessimism and alienation, and
investigated an alarming world of atrocities. There are cities and landscapes beyond
Pinter's rooms, cities peopled by wandering, displaced figures surveying the self-estranged city that is modern consciousness, and landscapes where his people retreat
into the private realms of memory and fantasy.
This thesis explores the virtual geographies beyond Pinter's rooms through the
vocabulary of some modernist theoreticians and social scientists, as there are significant
parallels between their analytical observations and the poetic perceptions of Pinter, a
practising artist, and the phantom images of his characters.
Pinter's plays and film adaptations tend to portray the city as a colonial present, and the
country as a mythological past. The 1970s' plays portray a community of isolation,
urban decay, dispossession and suffering, through the figure of the 'flâneur' - his
characters' subjective experiences, memories and fantasies in the metropolis. In these
memory plays, men and women have different mental landscapes and desires. To some
extent the city is both a male-constructed world and an image of the twentieth century;
in both senses it is anti-human and in decline.
In his 1980s mature plays, Pinter's lyrical interiors and serene landscapes are colonised
by the metropolis. Here Pinter investigates a universally oppressive space filled with
misery and social dislocation. The city destroys humanity in a decaying modem world.
These plays identify the global city as the locus of existential alienation and as the
centre of political power and oppression - a world of brute masculine power.
The last two plays, in this study explore other wastelands of human isolation and
suffering, and criticise the British suspicion of the 'intelligentsia'. Using scenes that are
ingrained in the contemporary audience's physical memory, Pinter makes the
distinction between being an active participant and being a witness, a 'spectator' in this
alarming world. And thus, he criticises the tradition of mockery of the artistic and the
intellectually curious in Britain, and urges a need for a 'politically curious', at politically questioning theatre-going society
