A Hermeneutic Exploration of the Literature of Technology: Prometheus Bound, Frankenstein and Battlestar Galactica

There are few phenomena in contemporary culture that are more dynamic and impactful than technology. That said the understanding of technology held by most therapists is overly simple or, at best, based on one-dimensional critiques of technological life. The present study endeavors to build a broader understanding of technology that allows for both a robust critique and a more accepting recognition of its potential contributions. The present study explores the archetypally invariant structure of technology as well as the more culturally and historically contingent elements of several of its historically specific expressions. It engages this material through a series of three exceptional artistic works: Aeschylus\u27 Prometheus Bound, Mary Shelly\u27s Frankenstein, and Ronald Moore\u27s Battlestar Galactica. Furthermore, in order to broaden the exploration, the present work takes as a forestructure the late work of philosopher Martin Heidegger, the Freudian-Marxist and aesthetic sensibilities of Herbert Marcuse, and the metabletic analysis of psychologist Robert Romanyshyn. By bringing the thinking of these three into the analysis, the work claims a breadth that exceeds a simple literary analysis. Each of the literary sources of this work represents concerns about technology as well as its ongoing promise. For instance, the myth of Prometheus as it is represented in Prometheus Bound reflects technology as a force that supports humankind in an ongoing struggle against the harshness of the world as well as the need to maintain sensitivity to the broader natural world to engage in the full range of human possibilities. In contrast, Frankenstein struggles explicitly with the issues of control and a modernistic agenda of narcissistic control over the natural world. Finally, Battlestar Galactica captures a postmodern world and attends in particular to issues of fluid identity, plurivocality, and the integration of difference. Common areas of concern, including the place of hope, the role of community, the narcissistic structure of technology, and the relationship to figures of the maternal and the feminine are key to each piece of literature and reflect archetypal dimensions of the phenomenon. In contrast, the specific content and attitude reflected in each work varies, showing the gradual progress of technology from its balanced position with respect to broader meanings in the Ancient world, toward a program of command and control in the Modern milieu and finally toward a recognition and integration of multiplicity and aesthetic richness in the post-modern context

The Ghost of Olmsted: Nature, History & Urban Park Restoration in Boston\u27s Emerald Necklace

This dissertation examines the nineteenth-century production, the twentieth-century deterioration, and the twenty-first century restoration of Boston\u27s Emerald Necklace, a 1,100-acre series of parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. (1822-1903). Originally built to meet a particular set of aesthetic landscape tastes, over time this park system changed to meet the recreational needs of visitors. Throughout, the Emerald Necklace has served the interests of Boston\u27s urban elite. It is, therefore, an appropriate case for examining the historical relationship between power and landscape. The parks of the Emerald Necklace did more than provide pretty views and space for play; they advanced the upper-class economic and cultural agendas of boosterism, real-estate speculation, and cultural assimilation. When we look at the nineteenth-century political economic context in which Olmsted worked and compare it to the late-twentieth/early-twenty-first century political economic context associated with park restoration, an intriguing historical-geographical parallelism becomes apparent. In both moments, the Emerald Necklace operated as part a specific spatial fix to a variety of environmental, economic, and social problems associated with major crises of production within U.S. capitalism. I trace the development of Olmsted\u27s naturalistic design philosophy, beginning with his work in New York City\u27s Central Park through to his involvement with the Emerald Necklace. His naturalistic landscape parks helped improve sanitation in Boston, and shaped the further development and growth of the city. By the 1970s, the parks had been modernized. The original Olmsted design had been substantially modified and economic austerity measures led to neglect due to deferred maintenance. By the 1980s, they had become derelict havens of crime with degraded ecosystems in need of restoration. Efforts to restore the parks of the Emerald Necklace represent a new park typology: the Conservancy Park. This typology reflects the work of private park conservancies and not-for-profits as they seek to translate the entrepreneurial dimensions of neoliberal urbanism into the urban fabric. These conservancies, along with city and state officials, have relied upon the ghost of Olmsted to guide the restoration process. As part of an urban sustainability fix, the restoration of this park system is based less on scientific or technical criteria than on aesthetics and the economic fetishizing of the original Olmsted vision. Park restoration, therefore, reflects a symbolic economy associated with the redevelopment and gentrification of post-industrial neoliberal cities. This dissertation reframes the discussion about parks and urban sustainability to focus more on a progressive (future-oriented) restoration of urban parks. To date, park restoration in the Emerald Necklace, is past-oriented, conservative, and unsustainable. Instead, parks are a process, and not just as a thing. Twenty-first century American cities should focus on ecological function, rather than simply on the reification and recomposition of historic landscapes

Thinking In-Between: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Problem of Relations in South Asian Philosophy

The present dissertation represents a constructive cross-cultural analysis of the philosophical problem of relation (Sanskrit: sambandha). This involves general theoretical questions such as: What does it actually mean for things, or ideas, to be related? Are ‘relations’ real kinds of entities in the world, like a table or my keyboard, or are they merely conceptual constructions; that is, figments of the imagination superimposed on a reality that is essentially non-relational? If the latter, then how do separate, independent things come to be interpreted as things in a relation, i.e., as ‘relata’? In this project, I translate, analyze, and compare texts from three philosophical schools in medieval South Asia that provide distinct answers to these relational questions: (a) the ‘naive realism’ of Nyāya Vaiśeṣika; (b) the ‘eliminativism’ of Pramāṇavāda Buddhism; and (c) the ‘reformed realism’ of the tantric school of Pratyabhijñā Śaivism. Under the hermeneutical auspices of the classical American pragmatists, I employ a characteristically Peircean triadic taxonomy of analysis to bring into clear relief the presuppositions and entailments of these Indian schools in conversation with their 20th century Western counterparts. We come to find that these initially highly abstract relational commitments have far-reaching systematic and practical reverberations, ones that touch upon, among other things: the purported dichotomy between ‘realism’ vs. ‘idealism’; the temporality of causation; the reflexive nature of judgment; the significance of phenomenal continuity; the reality of freedom and value; the active vs. inactive status of the divine; and even the practice of religion and the project of its philosophical reconstruction. By way of conclusion, I gesture towards a constructive philosophical project that I call ‘groundless teleology.

GRACIOUS BUT CARELESS: RACE AND STATUS IN THE HISTORY OF MOUNT CLARE

Historic plantation sites continue to struggle with the legacy of slavery and black history, particularly concerning their significance in American culture. Although enslaved persons are erased from the contemporary landscape of Carroll Park in Baltimore, Maryland, the historical and archaeological record preserves their importance to the Carroll family and the plantation called Georgia or Mount Clare. I argue that historic preservation is a form of social justice when underrepresented historical groups are integrated into interpretations of historical house museums and landscapes. Enslaved blacks held essential roles in every aspect of Mount Clare from circa 1730 to 1817. They became culturally American at the intersection of race and status, not only through the practice of their own cultural beliefs and values, but those of elite whites, as well. Focus on white ancestors reveals only part of the history of Mount Clare: I demonstrate that blacks' own achievements cannot be ignored

"With the quiet sturdy strength of the folk of an older time": an archaeological approach to time, place-making, and heritage construction at the Fairbanks House, Dedham, Massachusetts

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityHistoric houses function as the stages for, and central figures in, processes of place-making and heritage construction. I offer the case site of the Fairbanks House (completed in 1641) in Dedham, Massachusetts as the subject of my investigation into these issues. Touted as the "oldest timber frame house in North America," the Fairbanks House is widely regarded as a significant example of early colonial architecture in the United States; it has operated as a house museum since it was purchased by the Fairbanks Family in America, Inc. stewardship group in 1904. This study expands beyond antiquity to include all eight generations of Fairbanks families who lived on the property. I argue that longevity, and a durational perspective that links the past with the present, is equally vital to peoples' understanding and appreciation. I trace the biography of the Fairbanks House from its creation in the early 17th century to its current use as a heritage site. This perspective emphasizes the continued saliency of accumulated individual decisions and actions, reified by both material culture and immaterial processes such as tradition and memory. I use archaeological, architectural, documentary, and oral sources to reconstruct the landscape of the Fairbanks farm and I demonstrate how residents made day-to-day choices, such as land purchases or neighborly socializing, to improve their socio-economic standing and establish a future for their children. In doing so for eight generations, they established a legacy that was celebrated beginning in the 19th century, when Fairbanks women living in the house promoted their family's history through storytelling and published media. These processes of heritage construction remain continuous and personal, as shown by the results of an ethnographic study that I designed, which reveals that Fairbanks House museum visitors define historicity not through specific facts about the Fairbanks family but through their own narratives based on their engagement with the site's material culture. In addition to providing an important example of how generations of modestly-successful New England farmers adapted their surroundings to fit their values and goals, this study positions local house museums as dynamic spaces for creative, personal engagements with the past

Following Tradition

Following Tradition is an expansive examination of the history of tradition— one of the most common as well as most contested terms in English language usage —in Americans\u27 thinking and discourse about culture. Tradition in use becomes problematic because of its multiple meanings and its conceptual softness. As a term and a concept, it has been important in the development of all scholarly fields that study American culture. Folklore, history, American studies, anthropology, cultural studies, and others assign different value and meaning to tradition. It is a frequent point of reference in popular discourse concerning everything from politics to lifestyles to sports and entertainment. Politicians and social advocates appeal to it as prima facie evidence of the worth of their causes. Entertainment and other media mass produce it, or at least a facsimile of it. In a society that frequently seeks to reinvent itself, tradition as a cultural anchor to be reverenced or rejected is an essential, if elusive, concept. Simon Bronner\u27s wide net captures the historical, rhetorical, philosophical, and psychological dimensions of tradition. As he notes, he has written a book about an American tradition—arguing about it. His elucidation of those arguments makes fascinating and thoughtful reading. An essential text for folklorists, Following Tradition will be a valuable reference as well for historians and anthropologists; students of American studies, popular culture, and cultural studies; and anyone interested in the continuing place of tradition in American culture.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1064/thumbnail.jp

Following Tradition

Following Tradition is an expansive examination of the history of traditio

Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, showing the operations, expenditures, and condition of the institution for the year 1873

Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution. [1585] Research related the the American Indian; acient mounds in America; etc

Compact Anthology of World Literature II: Volumes 4, 5, and 6

The Compact Anthology of World Literature, Parts 4, 5, and 6 is designed as an e-book to be accessible on a variety of devices: smart phone, tablet, e-reader, laptop, or desktop computer. Students have reported ease of accessibility and readability on all these devices. To access the ePub text on a laptop, desktop, or tablet, you will need to download a program through which you can read the text. We recommend Readium, an application available through Google. If you plan to read the text on an Android device, you will need to download an application called Lithium from the App Store. On an iPhone, the text will open in iBooks. Affordable Learning Georgia has also converted the .epub files to PDF. Because .epub does not easily convert to other formats, the left margin of the .pdf is very narrow. ALG recommends using the .epub version. Although the text is designed to look like an actual book, the Table of Contents is composed of hyperlinks that will take you to each introductory section and then to each text. The three parts of the text are organized into the following units: Part 4—The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Unit I: The Age of Reason Unit II: The Near East and Asia Part 5—The Long Nineteenth Century Unit I Romanticism Unit II Realism Part 6—The Twentieth Century and Contemporary Literature Unit I Modernism Unit II Postcolonial Literature Unit III Contemporary Literature Texts from a variety of genres and cultures are included in each unit. Additionally, each selection or collection includes a brief introduction about the author and text(s), and each includes 3 – 5 discussion questions. Texts in the public domain--those published or translated before 1923--are replicated here. Texts published or translated after 1923 are not yet available in the public domain. In those cases, we have provided a link to a stable site that includes the text. Thus, in Part 6, most of the texts are accessible in the form of links to outside sites. In every case, we have attempted to connect to the most stable links available. The following texts have been prepared with the assistance of the University of North Georgia Press in its role as Affordable Learning Georgia\u27s Partner Press. Affordable Learning Georgia partners with the University of North Georgia Press to assist grantees with copyright clearance, peer review, production and design, and other tasks required to produce quality Open Educational Resources (OER). The University Press is a peer-reviewed, academic press. Its mission is to produce scholarly work that contributes to the fields of innovative teaching, textbooks, and Open Educational Resources. Affordable Learning Georgia Textbook Transformation Grant funds may be used for services provided by the Press. To determine how the University Press can assist ALG grantees or anyone interested in developing OER with ALG, the University Press will provide advance free consultations. Please contact the Press at 706-864-1556 or [email protected]. “Textbook Transformation Grants” from Affordable Learning Georgia Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/english-textbooks/1018/thumbnail.jp