Washington University Magazine, February 1962

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Bringing wisdom back down to earth: a wisdom reading of Job 28

This thesis aims to do what the poem Job 28 is trying to do in the Book of Job, which is to focus on prescribed biblical wisdom practice in order to ‘bring wisdom back down to earth’ within a discussion concerning divine justice (Job 22-31). Chapter 1 introduces what a “wisdom reading” is and why it is necessary. Chapters 2-5 of this thesis give a close reading of Job 28:1-28 and includes an intentional dialogue between how the words, phrase, and theological concepts are used in the poem and in the main three bible wisdom texts (Job, Proverbs and Qoheleth). Chapter 6 discusses the implications of reading Job 28 in light of its biblical wisdom tradition. Job 28 speaks of a hidden wisdom, but it is not obvious how this prescribed wisdom (“fear of God and avoiding evil”) is connected to divine justice until the poem is read within the of context of the three main biblical wisdom books (Job, Proverbs, Qoheleth). A close reading of Job 28:1-1 and 12-28 within the context of the biblical wisdom tradition, challenges the reader to redefine what the book of Job is saying about wisdom in ethical terms and, therefore, also provokes a redefinition of the divine gaze upon the earth in terms of divine justice. In this thesis, we shall see how wisdom and divine justice are both rooted in earthly matters. It is only when viewed as “down-to-earth” matters that we see that they are related to each other in sapiential literature, especially in Job 28. If ‘wisdom’ is understood as proper conduct on earth (avoiding evil action, Job 28:28b) prompted by an understanding that God gazes on this earth he created (fear of the Lord, Job 28:28a), then divine justice is to be understood as divine regulation of that proper conduct and attitude

Architecture and its representation in socialist Romania, 1955-1965

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, leaves 232-245).This dissertation examines how the architectural culture of postwar Romania participated in the socialist regime's attempt to construct a new and collectivist environment. The dissertation works from a close reading of examples drawn from three different domains of architectural practice: the architectural and urban design of the Floreasca housing district in Bucharest; the writings of the architectural historian Grigore Ionescu; and the photography of architecture in the magazine Arhitectura. A consistent set of aesthetic and discursive practices emerged from the interrelation between words, images, and actual buildings in each of these examples: the city as new unit of production, standardization, an attack on subjectivity and individualism, technological essentialism, and abstraction were all attributes of the architecture enlisted by the socialist regime in order to establish and consolidate its ideological identity. The dissertation challenges the received descriptions of the postwar artistic context of the Soviet Bloc as one dominated by anti-modernist tendencies, as well as the complementary assumption that, in Romania, the thriving modernism of the interwar years was brought to an end by the postwar socialist regime.(cont.) On the contrary, this dissertation shows that many practices characteristic of the Modern Movement and Soviet Constructivism not only persisted, but also reached an unprecedented scale and intensity in the architecture of socialism in the late 1950s and 1960s. By considering the processes through which specific modernist tenets of the 1920s and 1930s migrated or persisted inside socialist Romania, the dissertation highlights the paradoxical condition of socialism's architectural culture: on one hand, socialism required its culture to be revolutionary, and therefore unprecedented; on the other hand, it heavily relied on undesirable capitalist precedents. The dissertation investigates how the tension between old and new was negotiated, thus exposing the ways in which aesthetic meaning was produced and controlled under totalitarian socialism.by Juliana Maxim.Ph.D

Selection V: French watercolors and drawings from the museum\u27s collection, ca. 1800-1910

French art from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries forms one of the strongest areas of our holdings. In addition to the paintings and sculpture that are normally on view in our galleries, the Department of Graphic Arts is blessed with an impressive array of watercolors and drawings by most of the figures that gave such prominence to the period. Yet the breadth and quality of this collection has only been suggested by those few drawings by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and van Gogh that are exhibited with some regularity. We have long felt the need to systematically research, publish and exhibit a larger group of these sheets, thus sharing with our several publics one of the true treasures of this Museum.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/risdmuseum_publications/1007/thumbnail.jp

Cultural internationalism and the modernist aesthetics of monuments, 1932-1964

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2008."September 2008."Includes bibliographical references (p. [511]-535).This dissertation examines a period around World War II when the prospect of widespread destruction provoked a profound re-evaluation of Europe's landmarks, their material value, and their ethical significance. Between 1932 and 1964, works once known as artistic and historic monuments-from buildings to bridges, paintings to shrines, ruins to colossi-acquired a "cultural" value as belonging to the "universal heritage of mankind." Promoted as didactic objects of international understanding, they became subjects of a new brand of international law. I trace the origins of this international valuation to a political movement, identified as Cultural Internationalism, whose main tenet was that the transnational circulation of knowledge constitutes an antidote to war. This ideal fueled the birth of organizations that brandished the autonomy of intellectual work as a weapon against nationalisms: most visibly, the League of Nations' Institut International de Coop&ation Intellectuelle (IICI, 1924-1941), its successor the United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO, 1946-), and the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic Monuments in War Area (Roberts Commission, 1943-46). Despite the continued role of this institutional lineage in cultural production worldwide, there has not been a study of its contribution to 20th-Century aesthetics.(cont.) The dissertation explores the modernist aesthetics of monuments that arose from this milieu and unfolded in three related fields: the bombed cities of the Allies' war, the architecture of the European reconstruction, and the heritage missions of the decolonization. A broad network of intellectuals, art historians, architects, and archaeologists was enlisted to show that monuments gave iconic weight to cultural autonomy in a new world order. I follow these experts' attempts to effect this autonomy: working in conferences and as field experts, spawning an intricate network of civilian and military committees, caring for a growing collection of monuments, and encountering the shifting winds of a massive geo-political realignment.by Lucia Allais.Ph.D

Tackling disadvantage in rural areas?: studies of the community-based voluntary sector in County Durham

This thesis aims to add to the qualitative understanding of the nature of community based voluntary action. It does so through a close investigation of the organisation and impact of community-based voluntary sector projects which seek to tackle disadvantage in rural areas. This exploration illustrates some of the challenges faced by community groups, and supporting voluntary sector agencies, as they aim to address different forms of disadvantage. The thesis examines the contextual background in which community-based projects operate. This includes debates over the nature, extent and measurement of disadvantage in rural areas, but also the increasing interest amongst policy-makers and practitioners towards community-based approaches to tackling disadvantage. This is argued to amount to a 'community turn' in public policy. The empirical research undertaken for the thesis involved a collaborative link with a non-academic voluntary organisation, the Durham Rural Community Council. Research took the form of an intensive and extended ethnographic interaction with several case study projects operating in different rural areas of County Durham. Analysis of the case studies highlights three qualitative dimensions of the dynamic process of organising community-based voluntary action. Firstly projects operate within a semi-enclosed, and deeply contested 'field' in which individuals, groups and organisations act as differentially-positioned and insecurely-resourced participants in pursuit of scarce resources to preserve or advance their position. Increasingly at stake in this 'field' is how resources are allocated over time, and how long it should take to make a difference' in relation to disadvantage. The temporality associated with community-based projects thus forms an illuminating second dimension examined in the thesis. Finally, the scale at which projects are organised provides a third dimension explored through the case studies, illustrating the challenge in rural areas of remaining 'close' to users and participants whilst generating a viable scale of activities over large areas with dispersed populations

Towards an ecology of context and communication: negotiating meaning and language education.

In this thesis I set out to develop a social symbolic approach to context and\ud communication which goes beyond a code-systemic perspective on language, and one\ud of economic exchange in language use. I begin by reviewing relations between\ud linguistics and language teaching, and the dangers to the latter when it becomes preoccupied\ud with linguistic theory and description. I consider the potential of applied\ud linguistics to synthesise key ideas from various language related disciplines in\ud descriptively adequate accounts of communication in social situations.\ud In the remainder of chapter one I examine a number of 'centrifugal' approaches to the\ud analysis of language use, arguing a tendency for them to underestimate the importance\ud of social symbolism in communication.\ud Taking a range of social symbolic structures and processes in educational contexts as\ud the starting point for 'centripetal' investigations, in chapter two I describe salient\ud aspects of social symbolism in contexts of communication. These include contrasting\ud social, educational and economic forces in educational institutions, conceptions of role\ud and role relations between students and teachers, and structural symbolic features such\ud as dominance and dependency within rites of transition.\ud In chapter three I explore further aspects of social symbolism revealed in\ud communication, such as identity and risk-taking. I also discuss criteria for developing\ud and appraising models of 'an ecology of context and communication'.\ud Chapter four deals with the notion of negotiating meaning as a key process in social\ud encounters, and the influence of social symbolic factors on meaning negotiation in\ud dyadic communication.\ud Having explored important dimensions of social symbolism in both context and\ud communication, along with implications for the negotiation of meaning, I argue the\ud value of raising awareness of social symbolism in educational processes in the final\ud chapter of the thesis. I address ways of incorporating major aspects of social\ud symbolism into language education and discuss a range of issues involved in so doing