Art and the Human Condition: Incorporating Visual Analysis of Artworks into a Undergraduate Pre-Medicine Curriculum

This thesis project presents a sample class session for the course, The Human Condition: An Arts Perpective (ARTH 361), which will be a part of the optional Medical Humanities minor for the pre-medicine students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Dr. Margaret Lindauer, Associate Professor of Art History at VCU has directed the development of this course. She oversaw the creation of the preliminary syllabus, which includes readings and assignments relevant to the course. The Tour presented in this thesis project provides a model for planning other class sessions, some of which will be developed by Museum Studies graduate students, some of whom might not have previous experience facilitating gallery tours. I assert that tours such as the one proposed in this project provide pre-medicine students with the opportunity to practice observational skills outside of the clinical setting. In looking at art, pre-medicine students approach the act of observation from a different angle and discussion about art objects often have valuable insight about the medical profession they are entering into. This thesis report accordingly offers brief summaries of research studies that were consulted while the aforementioned tour was developed. It also includes the author\u27s experiences working with a group of pre-nursing undergraduate student at VCU, and it includes a summary of the devloped tour as well as feedback provided by a VMFA Education Department staff member

Symbolism in the Conceptualization of Contemporary Yoruba City Central Business District Urban Design

Design failure of central business district in Nigeria cities is traceable to colonial urban planning 'dual city' concept and 'tropical architecture modernism' philosophy that ignored culture in planning process. Culture creates the image that frames the vision of a city. Central business district planning with strong cultural expression as a backdrop projects meaningful values to the citizens. This paper explores cultural symbol inherent in King's Market (Oja-Oba) in the conceptualization of contemporary Yoruba cities central business district. The study is underpinned by place making and symbolic economy theories. The study adopted qualitative methodology. Data gathered through scoped literature on Yoruba urbanism and two hour each interview of ten sages on Akesan market at Oyo as typical traditional Yoruba central business district were analyzed using grounded theory. The paper revealed Oja-Oba as Yoruba city mindscape. It carries the economic, social, festive, religious, historic and work place images of the city as activities that enhance liveability. These activities were identified as 'place' themes that constitute local urban design context. The study evolved a CBD conceptual framework by grafting the 'place themes' on Yoruba city cosmogram. The paper concluded that urban designers should explore strategic thinking that accommodate Yoruba world view and situate sustainability within localized design to manage the stifling impact of globalisation. It recommends architectural hybridization where identified local urban design context serves as culturally sustainable rootstock to receive compatible architectural design values as scions.2. INTRODUCTIO

Archaeological Evidence of Historic Mining at Forestville Saltpeter Cave (15Ht94), Hart County, Kentucky

Forestville Saltpeter Cave is 1.5 km east of Mammoth Cave National Park on the WKU Green River Preserve. Historically, miners removed sediment from the cave to extract saltpeter for the production of gunpowder. Though dozens of peter-mining sites are known in western Kentucky, Forestville Saltpeter Cave is only the third site investigated by archaeologists. Intensive surface survey documented evidence of mining activity in the cave: working bays, rock piles, tally and other marks, tool marks, inscriptions, and lighting material. The mining likely occurred during the early nineteenth century. The operations were extensive throughout all passages and extracted 856 cu m of sediment

Morphomata. Kulturelle Figurationen: Genese, Dynamik und Medialität

Das griechische Wort mórphoma bezeichnet den Prozess der Gestaltwerdung und Gestaltgebung. Morphomata ist seit 2009 der Name eines Käthe Hamburger Kollegs in Köln, das als Internationales Kolleg für geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung mit Fellows aus aller Welt die Differenz von Kulturen in ihren künstlerischen Gestaltungen, in Artefakten, aufzuspüren versucht. »Freiraum für die Geisteswissenschaften« heißt die Initiative des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung, der sich die Entstehung des Kollegs Morphomata verdankt. Der Freiraum gebührt zuallererst den Fellows, die sich in ihren Forschungen im theoretischen Rahmen des Kollegs bewegen können. Das gilt im Besonderen für die erste Fellow-Generation, die an der allmählichen Verfertigung des Morphomkonzepts während der Aufbauphase beteiligt war und deren Ergebnis der erste Band der neuen Reihe Morphomata darstellt. Als wissenschaftlicher Terminus ist mórphoma neu. In drei Teilen gibt dieser Band eine Definition, eröffnet theoretische Perspektiven des Ansatzes und erschließt in Fallstudien die praktische Bedeutung für ein Verständnis konkreter Formen und der Nachhaltigkeit kultureller Figurationen

Research Reports from the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project, Volume Six

Table of Contents : Background and Introduction to the 2011 Season of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project / by Fred Valdez, Jr. and Marisol Cortes-Rincon (p.1-4) -- Investigations at Structure 3, La Milpa: The 2011 Field Season / by Debora Trein (p.5-32) -- Report of the 2011 Excavations at the South Ballcourt of La Milpa, Op A6 / by David Chatelain (p.33-44) -- Summary of the 2011 Activities of the La Milpa Core Project / by Brett A. Houk and Gregory Zaro (p.45-54) -- Summary of 2011 Field Season: Examination of Extended Lineages Associated with Courtyards 135 & 149 at La Milpa, Belize / by Brandon S. Lewis (p.55-58) -- Report on a Northern Residential Complex at La Milpa, Belize: Operation LM4 / by Deanna M. Riddick (p.59-62) -- Preliminary Notes on a Chultun Burial at La Milpa – LM-4 / by Stacy Drake (p.63-68) -- Excavations at Groups B and C, Say Kah, Belize, 2011 / by Sarah E. Jackson and Linda A. Brown (p.69-102) -- Hun Tun Archaeology: Report on the 2011 Field Season / by Robyn L. Dodge (p.103-114) -- Aguada Lagunita Elusiva (RB Lagunita), La Milpa East (RB LME) and Results of the 2011 Explorations along the LaMap East Transect Extension / by Estella Weiss-Krejci and Michael Brandl (p.115-126) -- Towards a Biography Of Place: The 2011 Season of Survey and Excavation at La Milpa North / by Eric J. Heller (p.127-144) -- Phase 2 Research at Wari Camp (RB-56): Summer 2011 / by Laura Levi (p.145-152) -- Summary Report of Investigations at the Site of Dos Hombres: Summer 2011 / by Rissa M. Trachman and Katherine MacDonald (p.153-158) -- Preliminary Report on the 2011 Activities of the Mount Allison University Archaeological Field School in Belize / by Grant R. Aylesworth (p.159-162) -- Tree Species Composition at Medicinal Trail Group A / by Nicholas Brokaw and Sheila Ward (p.163-164) -- Report on Some Stone Tools from RB 18, Northwest Belize: Guijarral and the Chispas Group / by David M. Hyde (p.165)Texas Archeological Research Laborator

Some Experiments in Art and Politics

The word “network” has become a ubiquitous designation for technical infrastructures, social relations, geopolitics, mafias, and, of course, our new life online. But networks, in the way they are usually drawn, have the great visual defect of being “anemic” and “anorexic,” in the words of philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, who has devised a philosophy of spheres and envelopes (...)