1,721,932 research outputs found
2+2=5.George Orwell and Radiohead. Writing, totalitarianism and cultural resistance
No full textGeorge Orwell's cult novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) belongs to the tradition, identified by the author himself, of “Utopia Books” and it is, as Parrinder puts it, “awkwardly poised between imaginative fiction and a book of essays, between satire and a political prediction or warning” (2006: 319). This very last trait explains the very strong impact of the book on contemporary popular culture and on popular music. The book’s themes became, indeed, central in popular music throughout the last decades from punk-rock to rap, from indie to jazz. This is particularly relevant if we consider that music can be considered a space of resistance to communication control and of subversion of the order of discourse (During 2005). In this sense in 1973 Stevie Wonder published a song entitled 'Big Brother' while in 1974 David Bowie published a work which was initially conceived as a concept album on Orwell’ s cult novel, namely Diamond DogsIn the context of the avant-garde it is worth mentioning jazz-rock bassist Hugh Hopper's 1984 (1973), Zappa's Joe's Garage (1979) and Radiohead's 2003 album Hail to the Thief (the thief being G. W. Bush who notoriously stole votes during the Presidential campaign) whose opening track is entitled, after Orwell' s famous equation, '2+2=5'. This paper investigates Orwell’s legacy in popular culture in terms of Radiohead’s strategies of resistance in relation to the imperatives of the pop establishment both in terms of musical form – and musical communication, focussing on the political content of works such as Ok Computer, Kid A/Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief and on the dialogic relationship established by Radiohead with their supporters through the alternative marketing and eco campaign behind In Rainbows. What emerges from our analysis of the band’s soundscape and politics is the very idea that artistic creativity and intelligence can at times combine in fresh and unprecedented ways to create spaces of enunciation which (resounding of a sort of collective conscience) can articulate a critique of the dark, Orwellian forces governing the world, within the same channels used by those forces to “get inside our head”. Radiohead’s appropriation of the protest slogan Hail to the thief - with its satiric subversion of the American ceremonial tune ‘Hail to the chief’ (Tate 2005: 180) - has the transitory but destabilizing effect of getting the “chief”, and the Big Brother , out of our head: with its combination of dissonance and melody and its rejection of sameness Radiohead’s art insinuates difference within our minds, allowing us to recover our sense of the human, our musical capacity to listen to “the other” outside and inside us
"Inna Landan tiddey". 'Decolonising' London in Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetry
No full textOne of the basic assumptions of Decolonialism is that the "coloniality of power" does not end with Colonialism and that the Modern capitalist World-system imposes a racial/ethnic classification of people around the world as a basis of its power structures. Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetry stands as a space of resistance to these very structures; mixing Caribbean dialect and the rhythms of reggae it speaks to the heart of the British experience of inner-city (Brixton based) black youth. In such poems as ‘Inglan is a Bitch’(1980), ‘Mekin Histri’(1984)and ‘New Craas Massakah’(1984)London is portrayed as a site of conflict between those who perform and those who try to resist discrimination. Johnson’s is an artistic/critical languageovercoming theory (and prefixes), a poetryto be performed and not just read, which asks its readers/listeners to perform themselves the resistance required to preserve and assert their own difference.Keywords: Linton Kwesi Johnson, dub poetry,London, bass, decolonialismOne of the basic assumptions of Decolonialism is that the “coloniality of power”1does not end with colonialism and that the capitalist world order implies a ‘racial’ classification of persons around the globe as a basis of its power structures. In this sense, if on the one side the effort of decolonial thinkers, such as Walter Mignolo, is to help people understand how “the colonial matrix of power (CMP) was constituted, managed, and transformed from its historical foundation in the sixteenth centurytothe present”, on the other, they help us grasp how the very idea of “decoloniality undoes, disobeys, and delinks from this matrix; constructing paths and praxis toward an otherwise of thinking, sensing, believing, doing, and living”2. In our view Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetrystands as an embodiment of this “otherwise”, counterpointing modernity and its power structures. Johnson’s poetry stands as a space of resistance –as a critical “interruption”3–in relation to these very structures; mixing different forms of Jamaican and English creole with the rhythms of reggae and dub, it speaks to the heart of the British experience of inner-city (Brixton based) black youth. In his poemsthe metropolis is portrayed as a site of conflict between those who enact and those who try to resist4discrimination; in this perspective, the whole body of his work stands as an attempt to ‘de-colonise’5London and give voice to its black communities. In a pioneering 1986 study Christian Habekost, defines dub poetry “a social, revolutionary art form where a radical voice shouts of the struggle of the oppressed all around the world”.6In this sense, Dub 1AníbalQuijano, “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America”, Nepantla: Views from South,1.3(2000), 533-580. 2Walter Mignoloand Catherine Walsh, On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis (London and Durham: Duke U.P.,2018), 4. 3Iain Chambers, Postcolonial Interruptions: Unauthorised Modernities (London and New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017).4For Duncombe, cultural resistanceprovides afree spacefor developing ideas and practices: “Freed from the limits and constraints of the dominant culture, you can experiment with new ways of seeing and being and develop tools and resources for resistance.And as culture is usually something shared, it becomesa focal point around which to build a community”. Johnson’s poetry offers in this sense a new way of seeing and (listening to) the city which he will share with a whole community. Stephen Duncombe, “Introduction”, in Stephen Duncombe, ed., The Cultural Resistance Reader (London: Verso, 2002), 5-6.5As we will see Johnson’s pioneering efforts and committed art project towards more recent cultural practices. A few years ago, a London-based network called Decoloniality London was created. As we read in theirsite the network is “committed to replacing the modern/colonial world system with justice; creating both physical and intellectual spaces to facilitate the production, collation, dissemination and application of decolonial thought and praxis” (https://www.decolonialitylondon.org, accessed 22 May 2020).6Christian Habekost, Dub Poetry: 19 Poets from England and Jamaica(Neustadt: Publishers Michael Swinn, 1986), 17. See also Christian Habekost, Verbal Riddim:The Politics and Aesthetics of African-Caribbean Dub Poetry(Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1993)
L’altra faccia del tempo. Finitudine, educazione e speranza
Full text linkLa domanda sul senso dell’esistenza e della finitudine travalica i solchi riflessivi di un pensiero irrequieto filosoficamente e pedagogicamente equipaggiato. La messa in questione radicale sullo spazio di progettazione esistenziale al limite della morte è un’inquietudine comune che, con tempi e intensità differenti, accarezza l’esistenza di ciascuno. In una temperie culturale sempre più tendente ad anestetizzare e confinare, a pensare l’umana condizione oltre la finitudine, mediante la sua rimozione, è avvertita l’urgenza di centralizzare filosoficamente e pedagogicamente le scie di senso che la finitudine umana lascia baluginare.
L’uomo è l’essere che pensa la sua esistenza rapportandosi heideggerianamente con il non-più e il non-ancora, l’essere possibile che muore, a differenza dell’animale che perisce, in quanto in-capace di anticipare con il pensiero questa fine. Il pensiero della morte, la capacità umana di meditare sulla vita a termine, è ciò che segna, come suggerisce Derrida (2004), il confine tra l’educabile e l’ineducabile.
La morte, la presa in carico della fragile finitudine esistenzia-le, si traduce in termini pedagogici nella possibilità di esercitare un’intenzionale responsabilità etico-educativa. La problematizzazione della morte in termini pedagogico-educativi apre la possibilità di fare di quest’ultima una condizione capace di orientare la vita mediante una progettualità che assume il tempo del morire in una prospettiva di cura.
Il saggio si propone di analizzare le implicazioni pedagogico-educative della morte – espressione estrema della finitudine umana – e, al contempo, tenta di individuare una bussola pedagogica che possa orientare, lungo un percorso certo accidentato, verso quell’orizzonte, quella linea di confine mobile in cui vita e morte, esistenza e finitudine, senso e non-senso si ritrovano en-tro lo spettro della temporalità. Muovendo dal mito di Prometeo, si tenterà di scommettere pedagogicamente su quella jabèsiana possibilità di fare altrimenti che è la speranza.The question about the sense of existence and finitude oversteps the reflective scars of an unsettled thought philosophically and pedagogically equipped. The radical questioning of an existential project space at the edge of death is a common inquietude, which caresses everyone’s existence with different times and intensity. In a cultural climate increasingly tending to anaesthetise and confine, as well as to figure the human condition beyond the finitude through its removal, there is the urgent need for a philosophical and pedagogical centralisation of the wakes of sense flickering through the human finitude.
The human being is that being that figures his existence by relating to the no-more and not-yet in a Heideggerian way, the possible being that dies, unlike animals that perish, because he is incapable of foreseeing this end in his thought. The thought of death, the human ability to reflect on the forward life marks the line between the educable and the uneducable, as suggested by Derrida.
Death, the act of taking charge of the fragile existential finitude, translates in pedagogical terms into the possibility to exercise an intentional ethical-educational responsibility. The problematisation of death in pedagogical-educational terms opens up the possibility of turning it into a condition capable of orienting life by the means of a projectuality that assumes the time of dying in a treatment perspective.
The essay aims to analyse the pedagogical-educational implications of death – extreme expression of human finitude – and, at the same time, it tries to find a pedagogical compass that, along a certain uneven path, could point that horizon, that mobile boundary line where life and death, existence and finitude, sense and non-sense get together within the temporality spectrum. Moving from the myth of Prometheus an attempt will be made to bet in pedagogical terms on Jabès’ possibility of doing otherwise that is hope
Voce, suono, sperimentazione. La musica di Bowie come teatro
No full textLa voce di Bowie è uno strumento destabilizzante e imprevedibile che fa pensare all’arte come forma di divenire piuttosto che di essere e soprattutto come spazio profondamente ironico. Il cantante enfatizza volontariamente la sua voce utilizzando inflessioni spesso esagerate, grottesche, per far comprendere al pubblico che ogni sua canzone è una performance consapevole. Bowie, in breve, non fa che mettere in scena la sua voce; di qui gli improvvisi cambi di registro e i salti di ottava con cui giocare con l’identità di genere o le alterazioni elettroniche che, sin dai tempi di The Laughing Gnome, ci proiettano in una sorta di palcoscenico sonoro.
È possibile parlare, soprattutto per il Bowie più maturo, di un uso carnevalesco della voce, in cui inflessioni, accenti, rumori e suoni che rimandano all’articolazione corporea (si pensi all’incipit del recentissimo ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore da Blackstar) riescono a rendere visibile, presente il corpo apparentemente assente del performer. Altri aspetti della teatralizzazione della voce da parte di Bowie sono rappresentati dal suo uso del melisma, e dal falsetto con cui riesce ad accedere attraverso il suo corpo maschile ad uno spazio sonoro femminile.
C’è poi nell’opera dell’artista inglese una componente drammatica essenziale che è data dal dialogo tra il cantante e i suoi musicisti. L’unicità della grana vocale è un parametro di valutazione che va oltre la voce in senso stretto, per interessare ogni sorta di strumentista. Il suono è immagine, è immagine sonora, è voce, è un dire che prescinde dal detto e che è significativo di per sé. Nella sua capacità di attraversare molteplici generi musicali, articolando un sound pluristilistico e pluridiscorsivo Bowie è riuscito a dialogare con paesaggi e personaggi sonori imprevisti e imprevedibili, sempre eccedenti, e spesso inauditi
The Numbers. Musica, scrittura e impegno ecologista nell'opera di Thom Yorke e dei Radiohead
No full textNell’opera dei Radiohead l’ecologia diventa spazio di riflessione, contenuto delle loro canzoni ma anche che soprattutto strategia, modalità di pensare la musica stessa come pratica sostenibile, che ci invita a metterci letteralmete in ascolto del pianeta. In questo senso, on la sua combinazione di melodia e dissonanza e il rifiuto di ogni ossessione identitaria, la musica dei Radiohead restituisce alla nostra mente il senso della vitalità di ogni forma di differenza, invitandoci a recuperare un senso dell’umano proprio a partire dall’ascolto e della salvaguardia del più prezioso dei beni, ossia la terra su cui viviamo. Prendendoci cura di ciò che percepiamo come altro rispetto ai confini del nostro corpo, e vibrando con esso e attraverso esso, anche grazie musica dei Radiohead, riusciamo in realtà a metterci finalmente in ascolto, in quanto musical beings, della preziosa alterità di cui siamo fatti
Interplay between uropathogenic Escherichia coli and bladder cells and new strategies to counteract bacterial persistence
Full text linkUrinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most frequent community and hospital-acquired infections. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the major causative agent of UTIs. The high level of recurrences, in which a single bacterial strain causes two or more consecutive UTIs, strongly suggests a reservoir within host. UPEC strains can invade epithelial cells of the urinary tract and replicate to form intracellular bacterial communities (IBCs) with biofilm-like properties, and may persist acting as quiescent intracellular bacterial reservoirs (QIRs). The formation of these structures represents a key event in the development of recurrences and is associate with the failure of conventional antibiotic therapies. The most crucial factor for the persistence of UTIs is the biofilm formation ability of UPEC, which protects them against harmful conditions, antimicrobial agents, and the host's immune system. Nanotechnology has been presented as a promising approach to enhance the activity of antimicrobial agents. The use of drug-delivery systems has been hypothesized for the controlled and localized release of drugs even in the case of multi-resistant bacteria and in the fight against biofilm. In order to identify bacterial characteristics possibly associated with recurrence of the infection, in this study UPEC strains, isolated from patients with recurrent UTIs, were sequenced, phenotypically and genotypically characterized, and assayed for invasion and survival ability in cell models. To explore new strategies able to induce bacterial clearance, the activity of niosomes (Nio) loaded with gentamicin (GM) was evaluated against intracellular bacteria and Nio, loaded with ciprofloxacin (CIP), was assayed for the capacity to inhibit biofilm formation. UPEC collected from patients suffering from recurrent UTIs and reference strains were used. The whole genome was performed on Illumina platform. Profiles relative to resistance genes, virulence factors, and multilocus sequence typing were determined by querying genomes against dedicated databases. The isolates were phenotypically characterized and assayed to adhere, invade, and persist in bladder cells (T-24 ATCC HTB-4) by gentamicin protection assay. ROS accumulation and interleukins production in T24 cells after UPEC infection, were detected. Empty and antibiotics loaded Nio were prepared and were characterized in term of stability and drug entrapment efficiency. To evaluate potential antiinvasive activity, non-cytotoxic and non-bactericidal concentrations of GM-Nio were added during the UPEC infection in the bladder. Furthermore, to verify the effect of CIP-Nio on biofilm production, bacterial strains were treated with niosomal preparations for 24 h. Ultrastructural biofilm modifications were visualized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Genotypic characterization of the strains evidenced an heterogenous virulence factor profile. UPEC strains were moderate or strong biofilm producers, non-haemolytic and belonged to phylogroup D and B2. UPEC strains were able to efficiently adhere and invade, but not survive inside T24 cells. UPEC infection promoted the production of ROS but not all strains were able to induce interleukin production in bladder cells. Nio showed nanometric dimensions and a good stability profile and when loaded with antibiotics, significantly inhibited bacteria viability. Antibiotic delivered by Nio decreased UPEC invasion into bladder cells and efficiently inhibit the biofilm formation. UPEC genome is a mosaic continuum and no single feature can be used to differentiate strains. Similarly, no virulence factor alone is sufficient to cause disease. The complex interplay between bacterial infection capabilities, treatment success and host factors are likely to determine recurrence rather than specific genetic characteristics of the E. coli bacteria itself. Further studies exploring host-pathogen relationships and impact of QIR formation with organoid models in RUTI pathogenesis should be performed to contribute to translation of these results into innovative treatments
La funzione pedagogico-educativa dello spazio: un’analisi a partire dal vitalismo geometrico di Peter Sloterdijk
Full text linkL’insulazione e la climatizzazione sono per il filosofo tedesco Peter Sloterdijk tentativi, prevalentemente simbolici e tecnici, che consentono agli uomini di costruire ripari rispetto all’esteriorità perturbante e spaesante. Il modello implicito che orienta la produzione tecnica degli spazi è lo spazio uterino. La prima forma di costituzione individuale e la prima esperienza abitativa per l'uomo si danno, seguendo Sloterdijk, in quel guscio protettivo (spazio interno e interiore) che è l'utero materno. Pedagogicamente non è possibile aggirare un’interpretazione delle “fenomenografie e fenomenologie ‘spaziali’” (Gennari). La formazione avviene, infatti, all’interno di uno spazio educativo che è tale nella misura in cui contribuisce a formare la capacità del soggetto di dimorare e di ricercare mondi-altri. Insieme oggetto e soggetto pedagogico, lo spazio è materialità educante e sistema di significazione. Muovendo dalla sferologia di Sloterdijk, che consente di riattualizzare la funzione formativa dello spazio e dell’abitare, proveremo a declinare sub specie educationis l’ontologia del dove e il profilo dell’uomo come essere spaziale e spazializzante.According to the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, insulation and climatization areprimarily symbolic as well as technical attempts that enable humans to build refuges froma disorienting, uncanny outwardness. The implicit model that orients the technicalproduction of spaces is the uterine space. According to Sloterdijk, the first form ofindividual formation and the first inhabiting experience take place for humans in theprotective shell that is the mother’s womb. In pedagogical terms, it is not possible tobypass an interpretation of the “‘spatial’ phenomenographies and phenomenologies”(Gennari). In fact, education occurs within an educational space that is such to the extentthat it helps to build up the ability of the subject to dwell and seek out other worlds.Simultaneously the pedagogical object and subject, the space is an educating materialityand a signification system. Starting from Sloterdijk’s spherology, which allows for a re-actualization of the educational function of inhabiting space, an attempt will be made toinflect, sub specie educationis, the spatial ontology and the profile of the individual as aspatial and spatializing being
Le tecniche di approvvigionamento idrico nell’ecosistema urbano di Matera
Full text linkIl presente lavoro, affronta il problema della scarsità della risorsa più importante per la sopravvivenza dell’uomo...l’acqua!
L’uomo per capire che questa risorsa non è presente nel mondo in quantità illimitate deve iniziare a riflettere sulla sua importanza e capire che in molte occasioni, direi in tutte, viene sprecata.
Probabilmente sarebbe utile prendere spunto dagli abitanti del nostro territorio, che già da oltre un milione di anni fa, avevano ideato tecniche per la raccolta e la conservazione dell’acqua.
Oltre a capire quali tecniche possono essere impiegate in ambito urbano e non per il risparmio idrico, è altrettanto importante effettuare un lavoro educativo, sugli adulti ma soprattutto sui bambini.
L’educazione ambientale svolge un ruolo importante in quanto diventa uno strumento di prevenzione in grado di responsabilizzare l’uomo ad assumere comportamenti responsabili al fine di garantire il passaggio alle generazioni future di un pianeta ricco di equilibri naturali e di biodiversità. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo basta “piantare un seme” nella scuola. Affrontare la tematica ambientale nella scuola dell’infanzia sembra una sfida alquanto difficile ma per creare cittadini del futuro, chiamati a crescere con autentici valori di rispetto e solidarietà, occorre porre le basi sin dai primi anni di vita dei bambini, e dunque affrontare la tematica a partire dalla scuola dell’infanzia
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