Composing Embodied Presence in a Chamber Music Context

This thesis comprises a body of works, and a written commentary, which can be anchored within an expanded field of chamber music. This field embraces not only notated music but also electronics, and has a strong focus on physical gesture. The extra-musical aspect of composition with physical gestures in my works pushes my compositional concerns towards interdisciplinarity, thus challenging the ontological boundaries of the musical work. In the commentary, I examine how a process of signification with extra musical elements like physical gestures as explicit material for composition could take place in chamber music. My work necessitates collaboration in order to arrive at an embodied knowledge of technique and practice where I treat physical gestures and performers’ bodies as material for composition. Through extensive collaboration I also dislocate the implicit hierarchies within the ontology of the musical work, thus motioning towards a new ontology where performers have autonomy to make creative contributions to the work. This new form of ontology already manifests itself in my music, particularly when presented in an electronic music context with gestural controllers, which I address in Chapter 3 using the metaphor of the cyborg. The interdisciplinary aspect of my compositions with physical gesture amplifies the performer’s presence on stage, thus challenging the codes associated with the ritual of Western concert music performance. Through the portfolio of works, I demonstrate gestural considerations that oscillate between two sensory concerns: the aural and the visual. At the end of my PhD, I embraced processes of listening in order to generate new instances of embodied movement in reaction to sound in an interdisciplinary collaboration with theatre performers. The insight from this project informs my current compositional process in chamber music where emphasis is placed on the perception of sound in a chamber music context. Thus, the ritual of concert performance also undergoes changes in order to satisfy the enquiry for embodiment and movement of sound in space

Феномен синкретизма в украинской лингвистике

У сучасній лінгвістиці вивчення складних системних зв’язків та динамізму мови навряд чи буде завершеним без урахування синкретизму. Традиційно явища транзитивності трактуються як поєднання різних типів утворень як результат процесів трансформації або відображення проміжних, синкретичних фактів, що характеризують мовну систему в синхронному аспекті.In modern linguistics, the study of complex systemic relations and language dynamism is unlikely to be complete without considering the transitivity. Traditionally, transitivity phenomena are treated as a combination of different types of entities, formed as a result of the transformation processes or the reflection of the intermediate, syncretic facts that characterize the language system in the synchronous aspect.В современной лингвистике изучение сложных системных отношений и языкового динамизма вряд ли будет полным без учета синкретизма. Традиционно явления транзитивности трактуются как совокупность различных типов сущностей, сформированных в результате процессов преобразования или отражения промежуточных синкретических фактов, которые характеризуют языковую систему в синхронном аспекте

Environmental governance in Bhutan : ecotourism, environmentality and cosmological subjectivities

This thesis explores how environmental conservation and subjectivities are influenced as Bhutan negotiates its increasing integration into the global neoliberal capitalist economy. Until recently, Bhutan sought to isolate itself to a large degree from international integration, instead relying on a strongly state-centred monarchic governance regime to deliver economic development domestically. In so doing Bhutan has developed an international reputation for forward thinking in regards to human well-being as the country contests dominant economic models for development practice through its promotion of its signature Gross National Happiness (GNH) agenda. Now, however, Bhutan is working to negotiate increased involvement in global market forces, causing fissures to emerge in this philosophy and ideology. One of the main forms of global market integration currently pursued by Bhutan is ecotourism, which has been described as a quintessential neoliberal project seeking to harness environmental conservation as a form of income generation (Büscher and Fletcher, 2015). While this promotion seeks to frame ecotourism as an economic strategy to balance environmental and development aspirations, how the sector influences cultural values and assumptions is unaddressed. In this way, ecotourism can be seen to promote particular cultural transformations and forms of subjectivities that challenge the broader goals of the GNH agenda to date. This work explores these dynamics through a poststructuralist political ecology framework. Via this lens, an examination of discourse and power relations at multiple scales is conducted in order to gain critical insight into conservation paradigms operating in the country under the influence of newfound neoliberalization processes. Concepts of governmentality and biopower ground this examination by providing a framework for analysing emerging rationalities of governance. Chapter 5 provides insight into Bhutan’s overarching forms of governance, placing the country within the context of global capitalism and associated discourses. A ‘variegated’ governmentality perspective highlights the coexistence of multiple rationalities that contribute to an emergent ‘Buddhist’ biopower grounded in situated values represented by a Buddhist worldview and the country’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) agenda. Chapter 6 focuses on the national level, honing in on environmental governance in particular. ‘Environmentality’, an adaptation of the governmentality concept, is employed as a conceptual framework for understanding environmental discourses in the country. The cases of ‘Bhutan for Life’, a policy plan for implementing conservation funding, and the ecotourism this plan promotes, are examined to understand how neoliberal discourses interact with a Buddhist worldview, a history of state paternalism, and the Gross National Happiness agenda, all of which constitute competing rationalities contributing to Bhutan’s unique environmental governance approach. Chapter 7 takes us to the community level, examining three ecotourism cases in the country, in order to explore ecotourism discourses present in each. Haa Valley homestay, the Phobjikha Homestay network, and the Phajoding Eco-Camp serve as select sites for this analysis. Drawing on Dwelling theory, the chapter shows that ecotourism conflicts with pre-existing local perceptions and values related to the environment. Divergences related to social and human-environment relations thus develop from enrolment in ecotourism programs, with contestations between the explicit goals of GNH and embedded communitarian values. Finally, Chapter 8 probes environmental subjectivities via a case study of Shokuna herders in the highlands of Haa Dzongkhag (district). Through a landscape ethnoecological approach, an animated cosmological landscape is revealed through the process of storying, highlighting particular perceptions and subjectivities related to a truth environmentality. Foucault’s ‘art of distributions’ (1977) are used as a scaffold for analysing this environmentality showing how subjectivities manifest through belief in a cosmological hierarchy, perceptions of an animated landscape, and a reversal of western technocratic and managerial perspectives. As such, herders within the landscape have developed specific beliefs, behaviours, and resource acquisition patterns attuned with a particular ‘environmental’ subject. These four chapters are interconnected, acting in a nested manner to develop a multiscalar analysis of Bhutan’s engagement with and contestations around environmental discourses. As such, these chapters aim to provide a nuanced analysis of the problematic situation facing the country in which ecotourism, and its associated neoliberal rationale, challenge existing societal norms and values. With the ecotourism sector being appraised as an ideal strategy for the country it is critical to explore contestations that emerge with its adoption in order to provide a realistic assessment that addresses broader cultural impacts. In terms of theoretical contributions, this work: Illustrates the variegated nature of a novel governance constellation in Bhutan and how this manifests in a situated form of biopower embodying non-western (Buddhist) spiritualities; Underscores local specificities that account for discrepancies in the vision and execution of neoliberal conservation but goes beyond this to express other rationalities that also exists within a variegated environmentality framework. I show that indigenous efforts prove critical when re-interpreting conservation strategies and warding off external dynamics, such as foreign agencies and global capitalist actors, that promote possibly dangerous trends putting at risk the goals of the GNH agenda; Addresses the discursive nature of the ecotourism sector through a rarely employed dwelling lens, which is used to interpret indigenous perceptions of the landscape and their relation to it in order to reveal local contestations to neoliberal logic. While neoliberalism and ecotourism promote dualist perspectives in terms of humans and/vs nature, dwelling theory resonates with Buddhist and Bhutanese worldviews in which these divides are less concrete; Contributes to GNH studies by juxtaposing the ideal of GNH with the neoliberal conservation paradigm, revealing opportunities for adapting the country’s ecotourism strategy; Provides an analysis of underexplored truth environmentalities based on cosmological subjectivities. The political ecology of conservation in the country reveals a complex constellation of external and internal forces/actors that promote discourses of sustainability and wellbeing, with a concerted effort to respond to demands of the international community while maintaining a cultural identity grounded in spirituality and the concept of GNH. Driven by a need to facilitate development for a largely impoverished population, and the desire to uphold a reputation for strong environmental protection, Bhutan adopts particular strategies (payment for environmental services (PES), ecotourism, and green tax structures) that align with a neoliberal conservation model. However, this adoption is conducted without a critical eye to underlying rationalities that drive such strategies. As a result, discursive processes promote particular environmental subjectivities and novel perceptions that cultivate new social and human-environment relations putting at risk the broader goals of the GNH agenda

Representation of ‘Europe’ in the Mediatized Discourse of Ukrainian Political Elites: thesis

This thesis attempts to explore discursive construction of ‘Europe’ in the mediatized discourse of Ukrainian political elites. The study rests on the assumption that Europe has long been a significant geographical, socio-political and cultural reference point for Ukrainian society. As such, it has turned into a crucial signifier in Ukrainian public discourse. Accordingly, the study aims at analyzing representation of ‘Europe’ as a signifier in the discourse of Ukrainian political elites. In particular, the study analyzes what identities of Europe, perceptions of Europe and relations to Europe are being constructed by Ukrainian politicians in their mediatized discourse. The thesis examines one particular instance of mediatized discourse, that is, the case of a popular political television talk show, hosted by Savik Shuster, which has been broadcasted on four Ukrainian TV channels under different titles since September 2005. The study covers a post-Orange period in Ukraine, as the Orange Revolution brought reinvigoration of ‘European choice’ notion into Ukrainian public discourse. The time frame of analysis, 2005- 2010, embraces the four years of the ‘Orange’ leadership in power and the first year of the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. Thus, the study aims at exploring key patterns of discursive construction of ‘Europe’, as well as possible discursive shifts with regard to ‘Europe’ in the post-Orange Ukraine. The research is largely guided by a theoretical and methodological framework of the critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach. By employing the CDA framework, the study investigates both, the content of the analyzed discourse, and conventions shaping discourse within a broader socio-political context. Analysis of the mediatized discourse of Ukrainian political elites has established that Europe is a much-contested signifier in the Ukrainian political discourse, which is evidenced by abundant references to ‘Europe’ within multiple contexts, on the one hand, and competitive representations of ‘Europe’, on the other. The study has identified a broad range of references to ‘Europe’ entailing different modes and dimensions of discursive representations. In particular, ‘Europe’ is most commonly referred to within such frames: ‘Europe as a model and a source of norm(s), ‘Europe as an advanced civilization’ and ‘Europe as a geopolitical pole’. The geopolitical framework of references to ‘Europe’ particularly suggests competing representations of ‘Europe’, ranging from a ‘destination point’ to a ‘rejector of Ukraine’. Apart from competitive representations of Europe, the analyzed discourse with regard to ‘Europe’ is characterized by a great degree of ambiguity, which illustrates ambivalent attitudes and foreign policy orientations of Ukrainian public undergoing complex process of national identity construction. At the same time, analysis suggests that Ukrainian political elites utilize the discussed ambiguity to convey their representations of Europe as commonsensical. The study has demonstrated that the analyzed discursive setting of the talk show has also contributed to the ambiguity of representations of ‘Europe’ constructed by Ukrainian political elites as the latter are largely unconstrained in their interaction in the talk show and widely resort to strategic formulations and rhetorical references to ‘Europe’, which largely entail ambiguous connotations

Research Developments in World Englishes

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Discussing key issues of current relevance and setting the tone for future research in world Englishes, this book provides new perspectives on the diverse realities of Englishes around the world. Written by an international team of established and renowned scholars, it is the inaugural volume in the new series Bloomsbury Advances in World Englishes, dedicated to advancing research in the field. Chapters discuss important topics in contemporary world Englishes research, including de-colonial approaches, emerging varieties in post-protectorates and international uses as communicative events to highlight the globalizing aspect of English as a semiotic code. The book also expands on cultural conceptualizations to investigate the connections between Englishes and localized cultural knowledge and ongoing changes and attitudes towards local forms in multilingual settings. Closing with an examination of how world Englishes and the use of English as a lingua franca could influence the future teaching of Englishes, Research Developments in World Englishes presents a detailed picture of contemporary research approaches and points the way towards exciting future directions

Local Portraiture

Photography is clearly not a mirror of daily life: that images are constructions is especially obvious in19th-century studio portrait photography. This book explores how indigenous Iranian photographers constructed their own realities in contrast to how foreign photographers constructed Iranians’ realities. Through an in-depth comparative visual analysis of 19th-century Iranian portrait photography and Persian painting, the author arrives at the insight that aesthetic preferences correlate with socio-cultural habits and practices in writing, reading and looking. Subsequently, she advocates for a place in a global history of photography for those unknown, local photo histories (such as the Iranian one) and for the indigenous photographers who produced them

Fantastic Beasts Of The Eurasian Steppes: Toward A Revisionist Approach To Animal-Style Art

Animal style is a centuries-old approach to decoration characteristic of the various cultures which flourished along the Eurasian steppe belt in the later half of the first millennium BCE. This vast territory stretching from the Mongolian Plateau to the Hungarian Plain, has yielded hundreds of archaeological finds associated with the early Iron Age. Among these discoveries, high-end metalwork, textiles and tomb furniture, intricately embellished with idiosyncratic zoomorphic motifs, stand out as a recurrent element. While scholarship has labeled animal-style imagery as scenes of combat, this dissertation argues against this overly simplified classification model which ignores the variety of visual tools employed in the abstraction of fantastic hybrids. I identify five primary categories in the arrangement and portrayal of zoomorphic designs: these traits, frequently occurring in clusters, constitute the first comprehensive definition of animal-style art. Each chapter focuses on the materiality and strategic placement of a different type of animal-style object: headdresses, torques and plaques often embellish the body of the deceased whereas felt, leather and silk textiles used as ceiling hangings, rugs, and coffin covers serve to define the tomb’s spatial parameters. Lastly, the dissertation also delves into the continuous retention of animal-style motifs in the arts of the Eurasian steppes after the dawn of the first millennium BCE thus challenging the narrative that animal art disappeared after the Iron Age. I demonstrate that elite members of the various pastoral societies perched along the peripheries of sedentary empires invented local interpretations of a common visual language made of tropes and devices (such as “visual synecdoche” and “frame narrative”) resulting from ingenious interpretations of the above-mentioned five categories. In so doing, they aimed to tackle an identical conceptual problem: the attendance of a real audience of a certain social stature during the funerary ceremony and the presence of an imagined (divine) one in the afterlife. The dissertation thus deconstructs the politically-motivated role of animal-style items in elite burials and argues that animal art was a constructed visual language intelligible to a small nucleus of elites whose sociopolitical status and network of influence were in fact inextricably linked to their level of fluency in it