Towards a Philosophy of the Musical Experience: Phenomenology, Culture, and Ethnomusicology in Conversation

This dissertation engages the questions and methodologies of phenomenology, the philosophy of culture, the philosophy of music and ethnomusicology in order to investigate the significance of music in human life. The systematic orientation of Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms provides the overarching framework that positions the approach in chapter one. Following Cassirer, art in general and music in particular are not regarded as enjoyable yet dispensable pastimes, but rather as fundamental ways of experiencing the world as intuitive forms and sensations. Establishing the ontological significance of music entails unpacking the sui generis experience of time, space and subjectivity that characterize the musical experience. Phenomenology, in particular the thought of Alfred Schütz, provides a point of departure for thinking more concretely about the musical experience. The turn to phenomenology is motivated both by its systematic consanguinuity with Cassirer’s project as well as its insistent focus on the details of lived experience. However, bolstered by what is argued to be a more holistic description of the musical experience gleaned from the work of ethnomusicologists, Schütz’s phenomenological account of the music is challenged on a number of key issues such as music’s ontological status and the tendency to equate “music” with “musical works.” Despite the blind spots of his writings on music, Schütz’s phenomenology of the social world proves to be a useful framework for thinking about the multiplicity of ways in which music is experienced as meaningful and how the equivocality of the concept of musical meaning brings the social nature of the musical experience into view. Sociality also figures into a discussion of improvisation, an important theme that has only relatively recently begun to receive philosophical attention. Arguing that an adequate philosophical treatment of music must account for both the variety of musical cultures as well as the variety of musical practices, a consideration of improvisation helps philosophy think outside of the work-paradigm that was critiqued in chapter two

Journeys through Architecture: the Body, Spaces, and Arts in Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage

The inter-arts potential of Dorothy Miller Richardson’s life’s work, Pilgrimage, has been gaining critical attention since the end of the twentieth century, with continuous scholarly efforts dedicated in revealing the cinematic, painterly, and musical depths of the novel sequence. Building on such established foundation, this study responds to this inter-arts call of Richardson scholarship by taking an architectural turn, and contends Pilgrimage as a piece of architectural construct—a literary work that demonstrates the coming together of the body, spaces, and arts. Interdisplinary in nature, this study draws on diverse fields of inquiry in its configuration of the architectural as manifested in Pilgrimage, with two interconnecting sections. Merleau-Ponty’s perceptual phenomenology and recent theorisations of body-space interaction in various disciplines, such as cultural geography and anthropology, underpin the first section of the discussion, which attempts to explicate the spatial significance implied in Miriam’s (the protagonist) sensuous interactions with the different kinds of space around or within her. While the first section underscores how the art of literature embodies Miriam’s sensuous-spatial dynamics, the second section illuminates how the spatial arts of painting and architecture come into contact with Pilgrimage. Collaborating biographical, painterly, literary, and phenomenological approaches, the thesis considers the sequence’s manoeuver over the issues of simultaneity, instaneity, moment, and subject matter as the manifestation of literary impressionism. After contemplating Pilgrimage as a piece of literary impressionism, the discussion concludes by considering the sequence as a piece of haptic architecture, with the notion of ‘fragile architecture’ formulated by Juhani Pallasmaa. By re-examining how Miriam’s body, spaces, and arts interact and integrate throughout Pilgrimage, the thesis aspires to bring to light its architectural disposition

The inherent liminality of lesbian detectives: Shifting spaces and lesbian crime fiction 1984-2022

This thesis studies lesbian detective fiction and specifically considers this genre in its early decades (1980s-1990s) from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. This thesis postulates that out of a sample pool of a hundred novels, there are recurring patterns of behaviours and attitudes among the protagonists of this genre within certain physical and metaphorical spaces. These patterns demonstrate a destabilised identity, as the lesbian sleuth never ceases to explore and test the boundaries of her authority as an enforcer of law and order and of her suppressed spatiality as a member of a sexual minority. This causes her to live in a perpetual state of Insider/Outsider liminality and it causes queer trauma to be a fundamental aspect of her character. This thesis considers this concept as the result of long-standing, systemic homophobia and heterosexist normativity, and utilises the notion of queer trauma to interpret the way the lesbian sleuth is inescapably stuck between a sense of duty and justice and a yearning for belonging and self-affirmation. The interpretive process is supported by an extensive and in-depth theoretical research into the fields of history, culture, geography, feminist criticism, gender, and sexuality studies for the selected subject matter. The spaces selected and analysed in this thesis are the queer closet, the medical establishment, domestic settings, and the gay bar. These spaces have been chosen for the significant, emblematic ways in which the lesbian detectives interact with them and have been analysed in order of their importance for the protagonists’ characterisation. The introduction includes introductory statements and the theoretical framework, the first chapter overviews major detectives in the history of crime literature from a spatial perspective; the second chapter discusses the queer closet; the third chapter considers the space of the clinic and the topics of queer trauma and of the pathologisation of homosexuality; the fourth chapter analyses the domestic settings of the protagonists; the fifth chapter examines the context of the gay bar and its history; finally, the conclusion offers closing statements about the focus and originality of this thesis. The originality of this thesis lies in its focus on spaces and on the relationship between the protagonist and society, law and order, and Self and Other. This thesis contributes to the knowledge of queer literature by specifically considering the unescapable liminality of the lesbian/Outsider detective/Insider

Panoramic Still-Lifes: Art, Perception, and Being in the Works of Virginia Woolf

This project is an interdisciplinary study of Virginia Woolf’s artistic representation of perception in her writing and in particular in her early short story prose experiments, her posthumously published memoir, and three of her major novels. I use a phenomenological framework, drawing primarily from the ideas of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, to identify Woolf’s philosophical aesthetic, and to trace how she presents in her fiction an immersive and intersubjective form of realism through vivid descriptions of the object world. The first part of the project analyzes Woolf’s stylistic aims within the context of Post-Impressionism, examining, through interpretive comparisons between visual art and literature, how her approaches and artistic sensibilities aligned with those of Bloomsbury Group members, most notably, the art critic Roger Fry and her sister, Vanessa Bell, a distinguished avant-garde painter. The second part of the study engages in close readings of three of Woolf’s novels — Jacob’s Room, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Years — to reveal how Woolf’s understanding of time, perception, and embodiment prefigures and engages with early to mid-twentieth century phenomenological and materialist trends of thought in its articulation of the intervening spaces and interactions between humans and the object world

PROTOTYPING PLATEAU GEHRY_CONNECTIVES : Reading Frank Gehry’s experiments through Deleuze and Guattari

This thesis attempts to describe and interpret the design practice of an American architect, Frank O. Gehry through concepts developed by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and his collaborator, French psychotherapist, philosopher and activist, Félix Guattari. At the same time, prototyping a website-based interactive project called PLATEAU GEHRY_CONNECTIVES, it explores an alternative form for the Doctoral thesis. In addition to connections with visual arts, such as painting and cinema, the experimental project PLATEAU GEHRY_CONNECTIVES includes references to concepts and phenomena from various areas of knowledge revealing distinctive, unusual qualities of Gehry’s creative approach in the production of design artefacts. The thesis documents and discusses means of representation in architectural design fused into the specific creative culture of Frank O. Gehry. It notices that the discourse in architectural theory and practice, often neglects what occurs on a particular molecular level of the architectural design process. It shows that elements of micro-level of design procedures render Gehry’s idiosyncratic design phenomena intelligible and perceptible in a new way. It claims that it has been possible because Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts become perceptibly operational in the interpretation of such phenomena, at the level of elementary units of Gehry’s design procedures. Moreover, through this close-up perspective, the thesis’ investigations identify certain similarities in the operational modes of the architect and the painter. It demonstrates how Gehry, who has anchored his interest in painting, and specifically in what he defined as ‘immediacy in painting,’ was able to transform the practice of architectural drawing from projective to a cognitive one. It also shows, how the architect re-defines the commonly applied projective geometries from passive, arbitrary role to an active agent, and how the architect links drawing practice with the construction process on a new, almost palpable level. While stressing its the manual character, the thesis demonstrates that Gehry’s explorative culture of challenging means of representation employed in architectural design production facilitates the re-disciplining of architecture culminating in the integration of the CATIA system in the design procedures. This study of Gehry’s design actions and strategies can help the reader to understand the significance of experimental and intuitive design practices. The thesis proposes the Deleuzian interpretation of Gehry’s experiments in the aesthetics of design thinking and acting. It renders perceptions of patterns, according to which, other design practices can operate

Volume 28: Affect

The 2018-19 Editorial Collective is pleased to present the 28th volume of disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory. Our inspiration for this odd bundle of pages is rooted in the aesthetic of the self-printed zine. While we regret that we couldn\u27t sneak into Miller Hall in the middle of the night to guerrilla-copy the entire issue on a late-80s black-and-white Xerox, we are proud to say that each page of this volume was assembled entirely by hand. Every page is bordered or backgrounded by collages: these are pages that peel and flake, assembled from bits and pieces cut up and rearranged- not dissimilar, we believe, from how knowledge itself is made. The articles were printed off a wheezing home office Canon, cut on a crooked paper cutter, positioned and re-positioned on desks and bedroom floors, glued and taped, and (often, indeed, under the cover of night) finally scanned into the openly available and infinitely replicable digital artifact you find here

Tingles, tea boxes and sticky sounds – ASMR read diffractively with agential realism

In this thesis, I contemplate a phenomenon called ‘ASMR’ through and with a few of the most prominent concepts of a new material feminist scholar and theoretical physicist Karen Barad. The chosen theory, agential realism, merges physics and metaphysics and proposes a fresh and comprehensive contribution on how matter matters, and how agency is produced in material discursive practices involving ”human” and ”nonhuman” participants. Agential realism is formed in critical conversations with contemporary physics, science studies, (intersectional) feminist, posthumanist, and post-structuralist theories. Intra-action, matter, and agency are core concepts of agential realism, which is not realism toward entities (things), but realism toward phenomena. ASMR (’Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response’) is still a somewhat inscrutable topic, although it has become more and more recognized in public conversations. A bodily characteristic of ASMR is reported to be a pleasurable (non-sexual) tingly sensation, experienced in relaxed situations and triggered by certain multisensory stimuli. Private vloggers, playfully calling themselves as ASMRtists, are uploading millions of ASMR videos to spark tingles in the spectator. A YouTube community has formed around the phenomenon. Themes of ASMR videos vary from imaginary medical appointments to seemingly absurd play with household items. Peculiar to the videos is that they feature extraordinarily intent and durational engagements with ”human,” ”nonhuman,” ”animate” and ”inanimate” objects and materials (for example with human hair, light bulbs, foreign words, and velvet). At its simplest, ASMR can be defined as an example of visual subculture: ASMR videos are user-created content on YouTube, which is a site of participatory culture online. ASMR is a topical example of the emergence of phenomena in this era. Advertisements, opinions, politics, consumerism, resistance, trends, idolization and ideals are all entangled on YouTube channels. Making a living as a professional YouTuber has become an increasingly common wish for one’s occupation, alongside the more traditional aspirations to become an actor or a teacher. Research in art education, then, is a critical prospect towards and within (visual) culture; it is and should be attentive to the practices and relations that constitute matter and meaning. Posthumanist discourses, emerging with new formulations of feminisms, as well as theories that account for materiality again, are influencing today’s art education. My challenge is to expand the instantaneous perception of the ASMR phenomenon as a mere example of human culture’s production, a bunch of YouTube videos, and a human-centric physical-emotional sensorial experience. In this thesis, I contemplate how intra-active entanglements and the production of agency materializes and manifests in the ASMR phenomenon. I’m not only interested in what is produced as part of ASMR, but how it is produced. My method is diffractive reading, which can also be phrased as ”thinking the theory” (agential realism) ”while reading the data” (ASMR phenomenon, with two exemplary videos serving as concrete examples of the genre). As I get entangled with ASMR, I strive to think with and within the box, as much as from outside it.Opinnäytteessäni tarkastelen teoreettisen fyysikon ja uusmaterialistisen feministitutkijan Karen Baradin käsitteiden kautta ilmiötä nimeltä ASMR. Baradin teoria, agential realism (suom. agentiaalinen realismi), on kokonaisvaltainen ontologia, joka on muotoiltu kriittisessä vuoropuhelussa nykyfysiikan, tieteentutkimuksen, (intersektionaalisen) feminismin, sekä posthumanististen ja jälkistrukturalististen teorioiden kanssa. Agentiaalinen realismi sulauttaa kvanttifysiikan tulkinnat ja metafysiikan peruskysymykset yhteen, ja ottaa kantaa todellisuuden materiaalisuuteen ja materian merkitykseen. Teoria pyrkii selittämään toimijuuden (agency) materiaalis-diskursiivista toteutumista ilmiöissä, joihin kuuluu sekä ”inhimillisiä” (human) että ”muita kuin inhimillisiä” (nonhuman / other-than-human) osallistumisia. Agentiaalinen realismi ei ole entiteettien realismia, vaan sen sijaan se käsittää ilmiöiden olevan todellisuuden perusyksiköitä. ASMR (sanoista ’Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response’) on melko tutkimaton, suhteellisen hiljattain tunnistettu ja tunnustettu ilmiö, joka on viime vuosina alkanut herättää kiinnostusta julkisessa keskustelussa. ASMR-ilmiön ytimessä on spesifi, kihelmöivä hyvänolontunne (tyypillisesti ei seksuaalinen), joka koetaan rentouttavissa tilanteissa tiettyjen moniaististen ärsykkeiden yhteydessä.Yksityiset videoblokkaajat, jotka ovat leikkisästi nimenneet itsensä ASMRtisteiksi, lataavat miljoonia videoita YouTubeen, tarkoituksenaan synnyttää ASMR-kokemus katsojassa. Ilmiön ympärille onkin syntynyt nettiyhteisö, jonka keskiössä ovat ASMR-videot. Videoiden teemat vaihtelevat kuvitteellisista lääkärikäynneistä näennäisen absurdeihin leikkeihin tyypillisesti taloustavaroiden, tai vaikkapa ruoan kanssa. Erityistä videoiden sisällöissä onkin intensiivinen ja tarkoituksellisen pitkäkestoinen antautuminen kanssaoloon ”inhimillisten”, ”ei-inhimillisten”, ”elävien” ja ”elottomien” objektien ja materian kanssa (video saattaa esimerkiksi kulua hiusten, hehkulamppujen, vieraskielisten sanojen tai sametin parissa). Ykskantaan ASMR-ilmiön voisi lukea visuaalisen alakulttuurin muodoksi: ASMR-videot ovat itsetuotettua sisältöä YouTubessa, joka on eräs osallistavan online-kulttuurin areenoista. ASMR on kiinnostava esimerkki ilmiöiden toteutumisesta ja leviämisestä tässä ajassa. Mainonta, mielipiteet, politiikka, kuluttaminen, vastustaminen, trendit, ihanteet ja idolisointi ovat kietoutuneet YouTube-kanavilla. Itsensä elättäminen ”tubettajana” on yhä tyypillisempi toiveammatti perinteisen näyttelijän tai opettajantyön ohella. Taidekasvatuksella tehdyn tutkimuksen pitäisi ottaa kriittinen tarkastelukulma (visuaaliseen) kulttuuriin, jonka erottamattomana osana niin taide, kuin taidekasvatus toteutuvat. Tämä kriittinen suhtautuminen tarkoittaa virittäytymistä (visuaalisen) kulttuurin käytäntöihin ja suhteellisuuksiin, joissa materia ja merkitys toteutuvat ja tapahtuvat. Posthumanistiset ja feministiset diskurssit, sekä uusmaterialistiset teoriat ovat osa myös tämän päivän taidekasvatusfilosofiaa. Tässä tutkielmassa laajennan ihmiskeskeistä käsitystä ASMR-ilmiöstä silkkana kulttuurin tuotteena, fyysis-emotionaalisena aistikokemuksena, tai joukkona erikoisia YouTube-videoita.Tutkin Baradin käsitteillä miten, ja millaisissa intra-aktioissa (ei vuoro-, vaan kanssavaikutuksissa) toimijuus materialisoituu ja manifestoituu ASMR-ilmiön kontekstissa. Metodini on diffraktiivinen: olennaista on, että oivallukset eivät synny pelkästä aineistosta, ja sitten selity teorialla, eikä teoria määritä huomionarvoisia havaintoja, vaan teoria, aineisto (keskeisimpänä kaksi ASMR-ilmiöön kuuluvaa videota), ja minä toimimme kanssavaikutuksessa

Adjusting the margins: Building bridges between deaf and hearing cultures through performance arts

This study addresses a gap in scholarship on leadership styles in the Deaf community. There is an invisible style of leadership differing from the mainstream culture that has not been previously addressed in the literature at any depth. My study was composed of three interlocking parts in a sequence that constitutes the practice of anthropology: fieldwork, analysis, and presentation. The foundation for my fieldwork was an “archeology of the structure of the perceived world” (Merleau-Ponty), using the holding environment of the rehearsal process and the structural process of an acting technique called Del-Sign. Del- Sign is a fusion acting style that I created by combining American Sign Language and the Delsarte method. I also employed current qualitative methods described as “performance ethnography” (Norman Denzin and Ron Pelias). The fieldwork of creating discussion groups, which I call salons, provided the initial material, my analysis process turned that material into a performance script; and audience participation in the form of talk-back sessions after the performance provided documentation for the results of the presentation. I provided data for the fieldwork with journaling and videotaping events in rehearsals and performances, director’s notes, and observations. The participants in this study offered great contributions to the research design, and social and cultural contexts were shifted by their action in the research. Their participation was analyzed in the context of Action Research (Argyris, 1985). The resulting findings from the data were compared to anthropological and folkloric theories of performance and style. I was able to create and study a bridge, created through performance, between a hearing audience and a marginalized and, therefore, often oppressed Deaf culture. Analysis of the data indicted that this performance bridge was the critical element of potential “change” in my study, thus addressing the gap in scholarly literature. Individuals in both the audience and the cast reported a change in perception about the opposing culture. The study results also indicated a unique style of leadership by Deaf people within a Deaf community that is collaborative in nature yet values the individual. I trust further study into that aspect of Deaf leadership will indeed adjust the margins of society