Hey, Nicole sent these along to me, thought I'd share:
From Project Muse:
-Ruth B. Phillips, Re-placing objects
-Janet Wolff, women at the whitney
-thomas h. kane, mourning the promised land
from jstor:
mark v barrow, the specimen dealer
Read all of them? Some of them?
Monday, December 1, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Three Essays
SEXUAL ABERRATIONS
i'm curious about the "overvaluation" of the sexual object (16) in this essay. He doesn't go very far into it, but the overvaluation of the whole body -- an "extension" of the overvaluation of the genitals" -- obscures even the subject's intellectual capacities, making the subject "submit to the [sexual object's] judgements with credulity": "thus the credulity of love becomes an important, if not the most fundamental, source of authority."
There's a lot of claims being made here: the "overvaluation" of the object's whole body sounds like people's tendency to love "even their beloved's flaws"; Freud implies that a subject's intellectual capacities or capacities for rational judgement are related inversely to "the credulity of love" or the libido; there's also the notion that love can become a fundamental source of authority. This question of authority in its relation to overvaluation needs further investigation, I think. That idea has a lot of implications.
INFANTILE SEXUALITY
many of us have been noting the (quite alarming) passage on the infant's treatment of his own feces, which first seem an extension of himself and represent a sort of "gift" (as they entail the same regulatory structures as the withholding/giving of any gift) and later take on the meaning of "baby" (babies being "born through the bowels"). Apart from the symbolic shift in the account here of the significance of the baby's own feces -- it is first an extension of his body, then (or perhaps simultaneously) the "gift" if is own body, then the meaning of "baby" itself -- apparently Freud (in an essay written three years later) attached another meaning to the infant's feces: "The connections between the complexes of interest in money and of defaecation, which seem so dissimilar, appear to be the most extensive of all" (Freud, "Character and Anal Erotism"(1908), 172).
This fascinating essay extends the "gift" metaphor and presents an unconscious connection between feces and money: "In reality, wherever archaic modes of thought have predominated or persist—in the ancient civilizations, in myths, fairy tales and superstitions, in unconscious thinking, in dreams and in neuroses—money is brought into the most intimate relationship with dirt. We know that the gold which the devil gives his paramours turns into excrement after his departure, and the devil is certainly nothing else than the personification of the repressed unconscious instinctual life"; "It is possible that the contrast between the most precious substance known to men and the most worthless, which they reject as waste matter (‘refuse’), has led to this specific identification of gold with faeces";"Every doctor who has practised psycho-analysis knows that the most refractory and long-standing cases of what is described as habitual constipation in neurotics can be cured by that form of treatment. This is less surprising if we remember that that function has shown itself similarly amenable to hypnotic suggestion. But in psycho-analysis one only achieves this result if one deals with the patients’ money complex and induces them to bring it into consciousness with all its connections. It might be supposed that the neurosis is here only following an indication of common usage in speech, which calls a person who keeps too careful a hold on his money ‘dirty’ or ‘filthy’"
In a letter to Wilhelm Fleiss from around 1897 to 1902: "“I can scarcely detail for you all the things that resolve themselves into … excrement for me (a new Midas!). It fits in completely with the theory of internal stinking. Above all, money itself. I believe this proceeds via the word ‘dirty’ for ‘miserly’”.
From "History of an Infantile Neurosis"(1918):"It is equally agreed that one of the most important manifestations of the transformed erotism derived from this source is to be found in the treatment of money,1 for in the course of life this precious material attracts on to itself the psychical interest which was originally proper to faeces, the product of the anal zone. We are accustomed to trace back interest in money, in so far as it is of a libidinal and not of a rational character, to excretory pleasure, and we expect normal people to keep their relations to money entirely free from libidinal influences and regulate them according to the demands of reality"(71)
This presents new questions on the status of the gift in Three Essays. Keeping in mind the radical (albeit, as we've seen, questioned) difference between gift economies and money economies, I'm wondering what differences Freud would make of the two. Is he simply being imprecise in one of the essays? feces can't really be the gift and money: we've been learning that the shift from economy to the other is a disjunctive shift between two disparate, though related, forms of economy.
I'm wondering if Freud first saw feces as "gifts", then corrected himself three years later when realizing they have more in common with money. Another option would be that for the infant, his own feces are "gifts"; but the "gift" character of feces develops into a "money" character when the infant grows up; Freud's own examples in the essay of miserly and constipated neurotics are only images of adults.
Pablo
i'm curious about the "overvaluation" of the sexual object (16) in this essay. He doesn't go very far into it, but the overvaluation of the whole body -- an "extension" of the overvaluation of the genitals" -- obscures even the subject's intellectual capacities, making the subject "submit to the [sexual object's] judgements with credulity": "thus the credulity of love becomes an important, if not the most fundamental, source of authority."
There's a lot of claims being made here: the "overvaluation" of the object's whole body sounds like people's tendency to love "even their beloved's flaws"; Freud implies that a subject's intellectual capacities or capacities for rational judgement are related inversely to "the credulity of love" or the libido; there's also the notion that love can become a fundamental source of authority. This question of authority in its relation to overvaluation needs further investigation, I think. That idea has a lot of implications.
INFANTILE SEXUALITY
many of us have been noting the (quite alarming) passage on the infant's treatment of his own feces, which first seem an extension of himself and represent a sort of "gift" (as they entail the same regulatory structures as the withholding/giving of any gift) and later take on the meaning of "baby" (babies being "born through the bowels"). Apart from the symbolic shift in the account here of the significance of the baby's own feces -- it is first an extension of his body, then (or perhaps simultaneously) the "gift" if is own body, then the meaning of "baby" itself -- apparently Freud (in an essay written three years later) attached another meaning to the infant's feces: "The connections between the complexes of interest in money and of defaecation, which seem so dissimilar, appear to be the most extensive of all" (Freud, "Character and Anal Erotism"(1908), 172).
This fascinating essay extends the "gift" metaphor and presents an unconscious connection between feces and money: "In reality, wherever archaic modes of thought have predominated or persist—in the ancient civilizations, in myths, fairy tales and superstitions, in unconscious thinking, in dreams and in neuroses—money is brought into the most intimate relationship with dirt. We know that the gold which the devil gives his paramours turns into excrement after his departure, and the devil is certainly nothing else than the personification of the repressed unconscious instinctual life"; "It is possible that the contrast between the most precious substance known to men and the most worthless, which they reject as waste matter (‘refuse’), has led to this specific identification of gold with faeces";"Every doctor who has practised psycho-analysis knows that the most refractory and long-standing cases of what is described as habitual constipation in neurotics can be cured by that form of treatment. This is less surprising if we remember that that function has shown itself similarly amenable to hypnotic suggestion. But in psycho-analysis one only achieves this result if one deals with the patients’ money complex and induces them to bring it into consciousness with all its connections. It might be supposed that the neurosis is here only following an indication of common usage in speech, which calls a person who keeps too careful a hold on his money ‘dirty’ or ‘filthy’"
In a letter to Wilhelm Fleiss from around 1897 to 1902: "“I can scarcely detail for you all the things that resolve themselves into … excrement for me (a new Midas!). It fits in completely with the theory of internal stinking. Above all, money itself. I believe this proceeds via the word ‘dirty’ for ‘miserly’”.
From "History of an Infantile Neurosis"(1918):"It is equally agreed that one of the most important manifestations of the transformed erotism derived from this source is to be found in the treatment of money,1 for in the course of life this precious material attracts on to itself the psychical interest which was originally proper to faeces, the product of the anal zone. We are accustomed to trace back interest in money, in so far as it is of a libidinal and not of a rational character, to excretory pleasure, and we expect normal people to keep their relations to money entirely free from libidinal influences and regulate them according to the demands of reality"(71)
This presents new questions on the status of the gift in Three Essays. Keeping in mind the radical (albeit, as we've seen, questioned) difference between gift economies and money economies, I'm wondering what differences Freud would make of the two. Is he simply being imprecise in one of the essays? feces can't really be the gift and money: we've been learning that the shift from economy to the other is a disjunctive shift between two disparate, though related, forms of economy.
I'm wondering if Freud first saw feces as "gifts", then corrected himself three years later when realizing they have more in common with money. Another option would be that for the infant, his own feces are "gifts"; but the "gift" character of feces develops into a "money" character when the infant grows up; Freud's own examples in the essay of miserly and constipated neurotics are only images of adults.
Pablo
Marguerite's Questions
1. Freud keeps bringing up the notion of love in relation to sexuality, and I am wondering how such an abstract emotion fits into the formation of sexual objects and fetishes.
2. How do we go from the taking of nourishment to the orgasm?What is the connection between eating and sex, and is there any validity to or conclusion to be drawn from the link between the two?
3. Does pleasure always give rise to a need for greater pleasure?How does this fit in to a discussion of commodification and object desire?
4 (Essay on Fetishism). Freud describes the fetish as standing in for something (the mother's imagined phallus) that a boy once believed in and doesn't wish to forego. How does this fit in to a discussion of nostalgia?
--Marguerite
2. How do we go from the taking of nourishment to the orgasm?What is the connection between eating and sex, and is there any validity to or conclusion to be drawn from the link between the two?
3. Does pleasure always give rise to a need for greater pleasure?How does this fit in to a discussion of commodification and object desire?
4 (Essay on Fetishism). Freud describes the fetish as standing in for something (the mother's imagined phallus) that a boy once believed in and doesn't wish to forego. How does this fit in to a discussion of nostalgia?
--Marguerite
Monday, November 10, 2008
Questions
Fetishism
How is the assignation of value in commodity culture potentially analogous to the object choice of the fetish?
Three Essays
I. Freud posits a definition of the normal beginning with an exploration of the abnormal: “The importance of these abnormalities lies in the unexpected fact that they facilitate our understanding of normal development” (7). What groups does this classification of “normal” exclude and what effect does this have on the applicability of Freud’s ideas?
II. “Whoever can solve this riddle [of infantile amnesia] would, I think, have explained hysterical amnesia as well” (41). Here, Freud posits an understanding of the abnormal as rooted in the normal, reversing the binary established in the first essay. How does this and other binaries (for example male/female, dirty/clean) function, and how are they variously destabilized and strengthened?
III. The section of the third essay entitled “The Finding of an Object” (88) suggests that human sexuality requires external physical supplement in order to achieve sexual satisfaction. How can this object, endowed with both personal and cultural significance, function like a commodity?
--Nicole
How is the assignation of value in commodity culture potentially analogous to the object choice of the fetish?
Three Essays
I. Freud posits a definition of the normal beginning with an exploration of the abnormal: “The importance of these abnormalities lies in the unexpected fact that they facilitate our understanding of normal development” (7). What groups does this classification of “normal” exclude and what effect does this have on the applicability of Freud’s ideas?
II. “Whoever can solve this riddle [of infantile amnesia] would, I think, have explained hysterical amnesia as well” (41). Here, Freud posits an understanding of the abnormal as rooted in the normal, reversing the binary established in the first essay. How does this and other binaries (for example male/female, dirty/clean) function, and how are they variously destabilized and strengthened?
III. The section of the third essay entitled “The Finding of an Object” (88) suggests that human sexuality requires external physical supplement in order to achieve sexual satisfaction. How can this object, endowed with both personal and cultural significance, function like a commodity?
--Nicole
Questions on Freud
Part I: The Sexual Aberrations
It seems to be that Freud has absolutely no idea how to account for or explain bisexuality. What is the object and aim of bisexuals? Freud's argument seems unable to account for this sort of attraction separate from genitals. His use of the word "object" seems to focus more on the sexual organs, which are parts of a body as opposed to the entirety of the human form.
Part II: Infantile Sexuality
Freud claims that infantile sexual manifestations have three characteristics: they are attached to some vital somatic function, they do not have a sexual object (auto-erotic), their aim is dominated by an erogenous zone. So is infantile sexuality the first instance of the individual objectifying parts of the self? Do humans develop first by understanding pieces of themselves and then the whole? I'm trying not to delve into Lacan.
Part III: The Transformations of Puberty
Does viewing the mother as the first sexual object, according to Freud, lead to greater cases of inversion in females? In general, I'm wary of theories that suggest that parents are responsible for exposing their children to sexual and non-sexual love. It doesn't follow that puberty itself is responsible for fueling the transformations necessary to turn libidinal energy from the self/the mother to another individual of the opposite sex. Also, the bit about women changing their leading erogenous zones after puberty is false.
"Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defense"
If repression is the inevitable result of the ego splitting, how is this an effective defense mechanism employed by the mind? Seems to me that repression, more times than not, leads to worse consequences than acting on that desire.
--Nupur
It seems to be that Freud has absolutely no idea how to account for or explain bisexuality. What is the object and aim of bisexuals? Freud's argument seems unable to account for this sort of attraction separate from genitals. His use of the word "object" seems to focus more on the sexual organs, which are parts of a body as opposed to the entirety of the human form.
Part II: Infantile Sexuality
Freud claims that infantile sexual manifestations have three characteristics: they are attached to some vital somatic function, they do not have a sexual object (auto-erotic), their aim is dominated by an erogenous zone. So is infantile sexuality the first instance of the individual objectifying parts of the self? Do humans develop first by understanding pieces of themselves and then the whole? I'm trying not to delve into Lacan.
Part III: The Transformations of Puberty
Does viewing the mother as the first sexual object, according to Freud, lead to greater cases of inversion in females? In general, I'm wary of theories that suggest that parents are responsible for exposing their children to sexual and non-sexual love. It doesn't follow that puberty itself is responsible for fueling the transformations necessary to turn libidinal energy from the self/the mother to another individual of the opposite sex. Also, the bit about women changing their leading erogenous zones after puberty is false.
"Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defense"
If repression is the inevitable result of the ego splitting, how is this an effective defense mechanism employed by the mind? Seems to me that repression, more times than not, leads to worse consequences than acting on that desire.
--Nupur
Questions
Freud Questions:
Essay 1:
In a footnote added in 1924 to the bit about sadomasochism, Freud notes that he decided to assign sadomasochism to "a peculiar position" among the "'perversions'". Could this peculiar position, at least for the sadistic aspect (which I know, he says is inseparable in many from the masochistic, but bear with me) come from the unique need of sadism for an object that can feel pain? In other words, is sadism the only "perversion" that can't be moved over into a fetish in any way, since it so entirely depends on the idea of a conscious victim? Are we skilled enough commodity fetishists that we've given objects a strong enough theory of mind to really enjoy hurting them, sexually?
(See: office space?)
Essay 2:
This is a fact-based question: In the section, "characteristics of erotogenic zones", Freud says, "A child who is indulging in sensual sucking searches about his body and chooses some part of it to suck - a part which is afterwards preferred by him from force of habit; if he happens to hit upon one of the predestined regions (such as the nipples or genitals) no doubt it retains the preference."
Do babies suck their own nipples/genitals, and if so, does that persist? It seems like those are zones usually reserves for the mucous membranes of others to suck, whereas we get our own fingers and toes. Mechanically, it just seems difficult, and Freud saying that seems to take any significance away from the hands/feet as sole (ugh, bad pun) self-suck recipients.
Essay 3:
Is an analogue of sexual tension the driving force behind capitalism? I think it works especially in the idea of startups hoping to get big, court investors, then sell out when their brand is strongest. Is an ostensible democracy, like ours, then like the feminine quality freud describes, being forced to change its masculine monarchic character through repression at the puberty of revolution while the markets get to keep on forging ahead. Sorry, a little stretched, just stick to the first part, maybe.
Handout, #2:
I really don't understand the a-ha moment that Freud seems to be chuckling at with the "Glanz auf der Naze" thing. The idea of the change in language re-interpreting the fetish seems to cast it as a kind of mantra the kid would mutter to himself for a while before thinking it was something sexy, and during that muttering phase, he moved to Germany, and things got all wacky.
By the same token, if I was a baby, growing up in France, and fetishized grapefruits - pamplemousse - then went to northern Maine during the start of a strange environmentalist initiative, would I suddenly lust after pampered moose? Is language, and therefore its puns, what governs our sexuality?
-Sam
Essay 1:
In a footnote added in 1924 to the bit about sadomasochism, Freud notes that he decided to assign sadomasochism to "a peculiar position" among the "'perversions'". Could this peculiar position, at least for the sadistic aspect (which I know, he says is inseparable in many from the masochistic, but bear with me) come from the unique need of sadism for an object that can feel pain? In other words, is sadism the only "perversion" that can't be moved over into a fetish in any way, since it so entirely depends on the idea of a conscious victim? Are we skilled enough commodity fetishists that we've given objects a strong enough theory of mind to really enjoy hurting them, sexually?
(See: office space?)
Essay 2:
This is a fact-based question: In the section, "characteristics of erotogenic zones", Freud says, "A child who is indulging in sensual sucking searches about his body and chooses some part of it to suck - a part which is afterwards preferred by him from force of habit; if he happens to hit upon one of the predestined regions (such as the nipples or genitals) no doubt it retains the preference."
Do babies suck their own nipples/genitals, and if so, does that persist? It seems like those are zones usually reserves for the mucous membranes of others to suck, whereas we get our own fingers and toes. Mechanically, it just seems difficult, and Freud saying that seems to take any significance away from the hands/feet as sole (ugh, bad pun) self-suck recipients.
Essay 3:
Is an analogue of sexual tension the driving force behind capitalism? I think it works especially in the idea of startups hoping to get big, court investors, then sell out when their brand is strongest. Is an ostensible democracy, like ours, then like the feminine quality freud describes, being forced to change its masculine monarchic character through repression at the puberty of revolution while the markets get to keep on forging ahead. Sorry, a little stretched, just stick to the first part, maybe.
Handout, #2:
I really don't understand the a-ha moment that Freud seems to be chuckling at with the "Glanz auf der Naze" thing. The idea of the change in language re-interpreting the fetish seems to cast it as a kind of mantra the kid would mutter to himself for a while before thinking it was something sexy, and during that muttering phase, he moved to Germany, and things got all wacky.
By the same token, if I was a baby, growing up in France, and fetishized grapefruits - pamplemousse - then went to northern Maine during the start of a strange environmentalist initiative, would I suddenly lust after pampered moose? Is language, and therefore its puns, what governs our sexuality?
-Sam
¿questions?
1. I was wondering what people thought about the implications of Freud's theory of overvaluation of the sexual object. What does the over-investment of desire towards the sexual object and what Freud calls the "intellectual infatuation" with the object at hand create in terms of the subject's own perception of his relation to the object? Is the appreciations an obscuring? Does overvaluation have to exist at a primary level for people to exist with one another on a continual basis?
2. Freud's mentioning of scopophilia among children (p.58) and his earlier mentioning of sight as subsidiary to touch made me wonder how the relation between possession and viewing in modern media forms can be seen as a sort of pseudo-possession. Does this imply that looking can become a sort of power relation in terms of soothing the subject who cannot actually access the object of desire?
3. I am confused by Freud's claim under the 'The Barrier Against Incest' that states that children's sexual impulses towards their parents "are as a rule already differentiated owing to the attraction of the opposite sex"(p.93) in contrast to his claim later on that inversion is prohibited mostly by " authoritative prohibition by society." It seems as though he waivers as to whether object choice is meaningful or whether it is arbitrary. I guess the question is, can you clear this up for me?
4. The creation of a fetish as a masking of the lack of a penis acts as a means to obscure reality and accept reality at the same time. If this duel process is the case in terms of investing oneself in an object of desire, are all sexual object choices in some ways an acknowledgment of a personal lack on one hand, and a desire to obscure the personal lack, as if by association with the other one becomes it, on the other hand?
- george w.
2. Freud's mentioning of scopophilia among children (p.58) and his earlier mentioning of sight as subsidiary to touch made me wonder how the relation between possession and viewing in modern media forms can be seen as a sort of pseudo-possession. Does this imply that looking can become a sort of power relation in terms of soothing the subject who cannot actually access the object of desire?
3. I am confused by Freud's claim under the 'The Barrier Against Incest' that states that children's sexual impulses towards their parents "are as a rule already differentiated owing to the attraction of the opposite sex"(p.93) in contrast to his claim later on that inversion is prohibited mostly by " authoritative prohibition by society." It seems as though he waivers as to whether object choice is meaningful or whether it is arbitrary. I guess the question is, can you clear this up for me?
4. The creation of a fetish as a masking of the lack of a penis acts as a means to obscure reality and accept reality at the same time. If this duel process is the case in terms of investing oneself in an object of desire, are all sexual object choices in some ways an acknowledgment of a personal lack on one hand, and a desire to obscure the personal lack, as if by association with the other one becomes it, on the other hand?
- george w.
Questions on (for) Freud
1. Do the two xeroxed essays offer competing definitions of the fetish or complementary ones? Is there a relationship between trauma and the displacement of value?
2. I want to look at a footnote at the end of section 1 of "The Sexual Aberrations" on pg. 15. Are there any wider implications for Freud's belief that moderns are distinguished from ancients in believing that the sexual object must be a good object rather than the sexual object being good because it is a sexual object? How did this change occur? Why would Freud put it in a footnote instead of the body of the text?
3. What are the two "sources" of the infant sexual aim? Does Freud think pleasure works from the inside out or the outside in during infancy? Does this change as the individual ages?
4. If the fetish is the wrong sexual object, what is the wrong sexual aim? Why don't we have a word for the "dangerous" fore-pleasure that undoes end-pleasure? Can you imagine any implications of Freud's fore-pleasure in economic exchange?
---Andrew
2. I want to look at a footnote at the end of section 1 of "The Sexual Aberrations" on pg. 15. Are there any wider implications for Freud's belief that moderns are distinguished from ancients in believing that the sexual object must be a good object rather than the sexual object being good because it is a sexual object? How did this change occur? Why would Freud put it in a footnote instead of the body of the text?
3. What are the two "sources" of the infant sexual aim? Does Freud think pleasure works from the inside out or the outside in during infancy? Does this change as the individual ages?
4. If the fetish is the wrong sexual object, what is the wrong sexual aim? Why don't we have a word for the "dangerous" fore-pleasure that undoes end-pleasure? Can you imagine any implications of Freud's fore-pleasure in economic exchange?
---Andrew
Jordan's Questions
Freud’s Three Essays On the Theory of Sexuality
In Essay #1 of Freud’s Three Essays on Sexuality, Freud implements numerous edits to the concept of the “sexual object.” He states that overvaluation of the sexual object that is the primary genitalia leads to perversion, which can be “positive” or “negative.” The positive perversion is characteristic of viewing a mate’s entire body as a sexual entity, which is widely socially acceptable. Conversely, negative perversion deviates from the norm by substituting the drive for the primary genitalia for that of a solitary part of the body. Thus it appears a normative sexual view is that in which the whole body becomes object – the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” What’s wrong with this idea of a spectrum of perversion/sexual fetishism? In other words, why is it more acceptable to fetishize the entire body than a single component of it?
In essay #2, Freud touches on the childish idea of “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” as a sort of precursor to voyeurism. Moreover, he states that voyeurism, in the perverse sense, beckons reciprocity as well, as the voyeur is too an exhibitionist at all times. Are these innate forms of reciprocity in anyway analogous to that of capitalist and/or gift exchange? Could this inherent existence of sexual reciprocity be the subconscious root of these more modern forms of exchange?
In essay #3 Freud implies that our parents provide the model for our future mates/objects of desire. Then to what extent is dating/the search for a mate simply a matching game, consisting of finding identical parts?
“Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defence”
I was particularly intrigued by the author's use of the word "artful" to describe the mechanisms of disavowal of reality and fetishism as "displacement" of value. In what ways are these mechanisms analogous to the craft of artwork? And if similar, is it the subconscious process or the manifestations themselves?
~Jordan Carter~
In Essay #1 of Freud’s Three Essays on Sexuality, Freud implements numerous edits to the concept of the “sexual object.” He states that overvaluation of the sexual object that is the primary genitalia leads to perversion, which can be “positive” or “negative.” The positive perversion is characteristic of viewing a mate’s entire body as a sexual entity, which is widely socially acceptable. Conversely, negative perversion deviates from the norm by substituting the drive for the primary genitalia for that of a solitary part of the body. Thus it appears a normative sexual view is that in which the whole body becomes object – the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” What’s wrong with this idea of a spectrum of perversion/sexual fetishism? In other words, why is it more acceptable to fetishize the entire body than a single component of it?
In essay #2, Freud touches on the childish idea of “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” as a sort of precursor to voyeurism. Moreover, he states that voyeurism, in the perverse sense, beckons reciprocity as well, as the voyeur is too an exhibitionist at all times. Are these innate forms of reciprocity in anyway analogous to that of capitalist and/or gift exchange? Could this inherent existence of sexual reciprocity be the subconscious root of these more modern forms of exchange?
In essay #3 Freud implies that our parents provide the model for our future mates/objects of desire. Then to what extent is dating/the search for a mate simply a matching game, consisting of finding identical parts?
“Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defence”
I was particularly intrigued by the author's use of the word "artful" to describe the mechanisms of disavowal of reality and fetishism as "displacement" of value. In what ways are these mechanisms analogous to the craft of artwork? And if similar, is it the subconscious process or the manifestations themselves?
~Jordan Carter~
Freud Questions from Crow
1.) At the top of page 14, Freud derails a set of assumptions that had been operating in his analysis of inversion in order to allow for the many varied instances of "frequent" yet not "normal" occurrences, showing a disconnect between sexual instinct and sexual object. He has not yet established the idea that these sexual instincts appear to be influenced by sexual stimulation and parental affection in the infantile state, and after the period of latency during puberty in a further repression, and only then bringing about the possibility of fetishization. Even further, he goes on to reflect that the infantile stage is characterized by autoeroticism, which would seem to set up the self as the sexual object (if not the mothers breast etc.), which makes me wonder: What would Freud say about the fetishization of the self? Does that at all fit in with the ideas he is proposing?
2.) I find it hard to reconcile Freud's insistence that infantile sex instincts are autoerotic while he is incessantly (if not explicitly) pointing to the external factors for which bodily stimulation merely acts as emulation in the case of non-genital erotogenic zones (such as parental influence, the manipulation of seduction, the substitution of the thumb for the breast, etc.) Also, (how) can autoeroticism exist in notably penisless females? (bringing in ideas established in the other essays.)
3.) To what extent is it significant that the sexual object as fetish resulting from - among other factors in the two waves of sexual object preference - repression is necessarily unobtainable, in that the sexual appetite can be temporarily quenched, presenting periods during which sexual objects do not have desirability for normative instances of genital stimulation in the fashion of reproductive activity.
4.) Is this rift in the ego what might be considered depravity, neurosis, or perversion according to Freud's earlier works? Would these be abnormal tendencies, or do they find a parallel in fine line walked by the loving parent who stands to lose by faulting to either side of perfect balance of display of affection? Does the boy need to continue to hallucinate a penis, continue to masturbate, and simultaneously fear and deny the possibility of castration?
2.) I find it hard to reconcile Freud's insistence that infantile sex instincts are autoerotic while he is incessantly (if not explicitly) pointing to the external factors for which bodily stimulation merely acts as emulation in the case of non-genital erotogenic zones (such as parental influence, the manipulation of seduction, the substitution of the thumb for the breast, etc.) Also, (how) can autoeroticism exist in notably penisless females? (bringing in ideas established in the other essays.)
3.) To what extent is it significant that the sexual object as fetish resulting from - among other factors in the two waves of sexual object preference - repression is necessarily unobtainable, in that the sexual appetite can be temporarily quenched, presenting periods during which sexual objects do not have desirability for normative instances of genital stimulation in the fashion of reproductive activity.
4.) Is this rift in the ego what might be considered depravity, neurosis, or perversion according to Freud's earlier works? Would these be abnormal tendencies, or do they find a parallel in fine line walked by the loving parent who stands to lose by faulting to either side of perfect balance of display of affection? Does the boy need to continue to hallucinate a penis, continue to masturbate, and simultaneously fear and deny the possibility of castration?
QQQQQQQQQQQQQ
In Freud's description of shit as the child's "gift," feces become a peculiar possession. Since it is of the body, it aligns in some sense with Locke's sense of the body as one's own possession. Yet shit is constantly disavowed, expelled, controlled. Is the fuss over potty training, over creating the division between 'clean' and 'dirty' for the child, really just the beginning of property management? Is a tutorial in loss (of physical mass, of power, of emotion)? How does this relate to Freud's description of 'toxic substances' in the third essay (81-82)? How does the formlessness of shit in Freud relate to the formlessness of spit in My Cocaine Museum's poporo? Given the emotional significance of both processes, it seems that formless human discharge becomes twice a site of inscription.
How does Freud's description of the male child's train obsession and the significance of mechanical rhythm in bodily sensation locate the human body among machines?
Freud qualifies the acts of touching and looking by putting them on a trajectory that culminates in genital intercourse; they're perverse if not consummated ["So that lingering over the stage of touching can scarcely be counted a perversion, provided that in the long run the sexual act is carried further" (22)]. When considering the fetishization of objects, could one set up a similar system, where the concept of 'proper use' is aligned with Freud's telos of intercourse, and anything that falls short is considered perverse? Is the book collector who surveys his goods, marvels at the colors, strokes the spines, but never reads a word a pervert? A scopophiliac? It seems that many could consider him greedy or philistine or plain wrong in the way he considers his objects.
- Emily
How does Freud's description of the male child's train obsession and the significance of mechanical rhythm in bodily sensation locate the human body among machines?
Freud qualifies the acts of touching and looking by putting them on a trajectory that culminates in genital intercourse; they're perverse if not consummated ["So that lingering over the stage of touching can scarcely be counted a perversion, provided that in the long run the sexual act is carried further" (22)]. When considering the fetishization of objects, could one set up a similar system, where the concept of 'proper use' is aligned with Freud's telos of intercourse, and anything that falls short is considered perverse? Is the book collector who surveys his goods, marvels at the colors, strokes the spines, but never reads a word a pervert? A scopophiliac? It seems that many could consider him greedy or philistine or plain wrong in the way he considers his objects.
- Emily
Patrick's Questions
"The Sexual Aberrations"
"A certain degree of fetishism is thus habitually present in normal love, especially in those stages of it in which the normal sexual aim seems unattainable or its fulfillment prevented" (20)
Although Freud lays out the conditions under which fetishism becomes a pathology (when "the fetish . . . takes the place of a normal aim," and "when the fetish becomes detached from a particular individual and becomes the sole sexual object"), how might Freud's conception of the "sexual object" reintroduce the pathological in the normal? Or, in Derridean terms, can the concept of "fetish" be controlled, limited, expunged from the normal, or is it a sort of dangerous supplement?
"Infantile Sexuality"
I was particularly struck by Freud's concept of infantile amnesia. What is the role of nostalgia in this formulation? Is the retrieval of a repressed trauma nostalgic? Is there a nostalgia for a certain kind of continuity? For knowledge?
"Transformations of Puberty"
"A child's affection for his parents is no doubt the most important infantile trace which, after being revived at puberty, points the way to his choice of an object" (94).
How might we read Freud's emphasis on parents' role other than as a statement of fact? For example, as an effect of his milieu? As a legitimating myth?
"Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defence"
What interested me in this essay is not necessarily the specifics of the boy's case, but the way in which repression is formulated. In order to continue masturbating, the boy must repress his fear of castration, which emerges later as a symptom. My question: Is desire formulated as some kind of substance, as matter? Can the ego be similarly imagined as material?
"A certain degree of fetishism is thus habitually present in normal love, especially in those stages of it in which the normal sexual aim seems unattainable or its fulfillment prevented" (20)
Although Freud lays out the conditions under which fetishism becomes a pathology (when "the fetish . . . takes the place of a normal aim," and "when the fetish becomes detached from a particular individual and becomes the sole sexual object"), how might Freud's conception of the "sexual object" reintroduce the pathological in the normal? Or, in Derridean terms, can the concept of "fetish" be controlled, limited, expunged from the normal, or is it a sort of dangerous supplement?
"Infantile Sexuality"
I was particularly struck by Freud's concept of infantile amnesia. What is the role of nostalgia in this formulation? Is the retrieval of a repressed trauma nostalgic? Is there a nostalgia for a certain kind of continuity? For knowledge?
"Transformations of Puberty"
"A child's affection for his parents is no doubt the most important infantile trace which, after being revived at puberty, points the way to his choice of an object" (94).
How might we read Freud's emphasis on parents' role other than as a statement of fact? For example, as an effect of his milieu? As a legitimating myth?
"Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defence"
What interested me in this essay is not necessarily the specifics of the boy's case, but the way in which repression is formulated. In order to continue masturbating, the boy must repress his fear of castration, which emerges later as a symptom. My question: Is desire formulated as some kind of substance, as matter? Can the ego be similarly imagined as material?
Kristen's Questions on Freud
Q1
Freud discusses the abnormalities regarding gender, referring to gender not being only male and female. He states how these abnormalities "facilitate our understanding of normal development"(7). How are fetishes (discussed later in the text) classified as normal and abnormal, and if they are even talked about in terms of normalcy? Do fetishes also require a comparison of abnormal to define them?
Q2
"That it finds its object in the infant's own body" (63). This quote is referring to infants finding objects in themselves, which seems to be active. However, throughout the text, female is referred to passive, while the male is referred to as active. How does this relate to infants?
Q3
In sec 5 of Essay III, there is the discussion of finding the object. There is assigning of the object to the self, as well as to the other. The object assigned to the self is pre-puberty, and seeing an object in others is after puberty. But is it possible to see the object in oneself in adulthood?
Q4 (Xerox article #2)
How do women experience and develop fetishes? The article only explains how men do, through the fear of castration because of seeing a woman.
Freud discusses the abnormalities regarding gender, referring to gender not being only male and female. He states how these abnormalities "facilitate our understanding of normal development"(7). How are fetishes (discussed later in the text) classified as normal and abnormal, and if they are even talked about in terms of normalcy? Do fetishes also require a comparison of abnormal to define them?
Q2
"That it finds its object in the infant's own body" (63). This quote is referring to infants finding objects in themselves, which seems to be active. However, throughout the text, female is referred to passive, while the male is referred to as active. How does this relate to infants?
Q3
In sec 5 of Essay III, there is the discussion of finding the object. There is assigning of the object to the self, as well as to the other. The object assigned to the self is pre-puberty, and seeing an object in others is after puberty. But is it possible to see the object in oneself in adulthood?
Q4 (Xerox article #2)
How do women experience and develop fetishes? The article only explains how men do, through the fear of castration because of seeing a woman.
Ryan's Traumatic Freudian Slips
1. Sexual Aberrations
At the outset, Freud “Let us call the person from whom sexual attraction proceeds the sexual object and the act towards which the instinct tends the sexual aim.” (1-2). He later argues, “We are thus warned to loosen the bond that exists in our thoughts between instinct and object. It seems probably that the sexual instinct is in the first instance independent of its object; nor is its origin likely to be due to its object’s attractions.” (14). Does drive, therefore, “create” the object? Are object relations a “function” of drive?
2.Infantile Sexuality
“To begin with, sexual activity attaches itself to functions serving the purpose of self-preservation and does not become independent of them until later...the need for repeating the sexual satisfaction now becomes detached from the need...” (48). This shift, the process whereby satisfaction can become “detached” from need, evidences a shift in understandings of childhood sexuality: how does it also suggest a dynamic process for refiguring object relations?
3.Puberty
“at a time at which the first beginnings of sexual satisfaction
are still linked with the taking of nourishment, the sexual
instinct has a sexual object outside the infant’s own body...the sexual instinct then becomes auto-erotic...The finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it” (88)
Given this trajectory (with elisions, for space’s sake), doesn’t Freud’s model seem to set up two concepts of drive, where one suggests that libido could emerge as an independent force, and the other emphasizes earlier object relations? Or is this a model where these aspects are in productive tension? Is this related to, or distinct from the nagging presence of nostalgia (Stewart) and the imprint of loss (Weiner)?
Fetishism (1928)
“the boy had refused to take cognizance of the fact perceived by him that woman has no penis. No, that cannot be true...” (162)
Here, Freud sets up the idea of disavowal, or perhaps, to be more correct, a process where a given reality is simultaneously acknowledged and denied. Marx’s process of commodity fetishism also involves an operation upon acknowledgement, upon conditions of knowledge. How do they contrast?
***agreed, Hollis, page 88 continues to reign supreme...
At the outset, Freud “Let us call the person from whom sexual attraction proceeds the sexual object and the act towards which the instinct tends the sexual aim.” (1-2). He later argues, “We are thus warned to loosen the bond that exists in our thoughts between instinct and object. It seems probably that the sexual instinct is in the first instance independent of its object; nor is its origin likely to be due to its object’s attractions.” (14). Does drive, therefore, “create” the object? Are object relations a “function” of drive?
2.Infantile Sexuality
“To begin with, sexual activity attaches itself to functions serving the purpose of self-preservation and does not become independent of them until later...the need for repeating the sexual satisfaction now becomes detached from the need...” (48). This shift, the process whereby satisfaction can become “detached” from need, evidences a shift in understandings of childhood sexuality: how does it also suggest a dynamic process for refiguring object relations?
3.Puberty
“at a time at which the first beginnings of sexual satisfaction
are still linked with the taking of nourishment, the sexual
instinct has a sexual object outside the infant’s own body...the sexual instinct then becomes auto-erotic...The finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it” (88)
Given this trajectory (with elisions, for space’s sake), doesn’t Freud’s model seem to set up two concepts of drive, where one suggests that libido could emerge as an independent force, and the other emphasizes earlier object relations? Or is this a model where these aspects are in productive tension? Is this related to, or distinct from the nagging presence of nostalgia (Stewart) and the imprint of loss (Weiner)?
Fetishism (1928)
“the boy had refused to take cognizance of the fact perceived by him that woman has no penis. No, that cannot be true...” (162)
Here, Freud sets up the idea of disavowal, or perhaps, to be more correct, a process where a given reality is simultaneously acknowledged and denied. Marx’s process of commodity fetishism also involves an operation upon acknowledgement, upon conditions of knowledge. How do they contrast?
***agreed, Hollis, page 88 continues to reign supreme...
Evan's Four Questions
Fetishism: "it [the fetish] remains a token of triumph over the threat of castration and a safeguard against it" (2). Given the way that Freud describes the fetish as forming from a kind of instinctual or survivalist need, I couldn't help but wonder how this might help characterize other fetishistic creations. Is the act of gift giving perhaps a response to a fear of isolation, or the fetish of money perhaps a response to the impermanence of material wealth in that it fixes it to an unchanging solid number?
Sexual Aberrations: "A certain degree of fetishism is thus habitually present in normal love..." (20). Freud glosses over this "normal" fetishism and uses is primarily to contrast with the aberrant sort, but I wonder not simply about how this fetish comes about, but how this fetish is received in the process of "normal" love. With the stigma that becomes associated with the aberrants and so their fetishes, fetishism has, if anything, become a fetish itself for abnormality. How does the "normal" lover relate to his or her fetish, and what does the partner make of someone else's fetish. This seems to me more inherently an anthropological than a psychiatric question but one that interests me nonetheless.
Infantile sexuality: "it [infantile sexuality] attaches itself to one of the vial somatic functions; it has as yet no sexual object" (48). It is interesting to me that there seems to be a sense that a return to infantile sexuality (auto-eroticism and objectless, fetishistic pleasure) are identified as the abnormal or as the fetishizing. Just by Freud's analogizing between sexuality and all other basic somatic functions, it seems increasingly strange that this particular one of sexuality needs to fetishize personal needs with some other object. How strange too that this object must be another agent who fetishizes their own somatic needs. I guess my question would be why is it natural that sexuality be fetishized externally? Just that that's how biology works?
Transformation of Puberty: "the eye is perhaps the zone most remote from the sexual object" (75). I was intrigued by this idea that the eye could be seen (no pun intended) as on the same level as other erotogenic zones. What is interesting about the eye is that its only stimulation comes in imagining the touch (this is a completely unqualified claim, I'm just asserting that here). It seems as though the eye imagines the touch imagines the.... eventually ending in sexual fulfillment. If we can establish this progression then, where does it start? My question here would be what is the most preliminary and anticipatory stage of sexual gratification? Is it the eye? Or can we go further and say that some unknowable part of the mind imagines first what the eye will see? Where is the sex-drive, in other words.
Sexual Aberrations: "A certain degree of fetishism is thus habitually present in normal love..." (20). Freud glosses over this "normal" fetishism and uses is primarily to contrast with the aberrant sort, but I wonder not simply about how this fetish comes about, but how this fetish is received in the process of "normal" love. With the stigma that becomes associated with the aberrants and so their fetishes, fetishism has, if anything, become a fetish itself for abnormality. How does the "normal" lover relate to his or her fetish, and what does the partner make of someone else's fetish. This seems to me more inherently an anthropological than a psychiatric question but one that interests me nonetheless.
Infantile sexuality: "it [infantile sexuality] attaches itself to one of the vial somatic functions; it has as yet no sexual object" (48). It is interesting to me that there seems to be a sense that a return to infantile sexuality (auto-eroticism and objectless, fetishistic pleasure) are identified as the abnormal or as the fetishizing. Just by Freud's analogizing between sexuality and all other basic somatic functions, it seems increasingly strange that this particular one of sexuality needs to fetishize personal needs with some other object. How strange too that this object must be another agent who fetishizes their own somatic needs. I guess my question would be why is it natural that sexuality be fetishized externally? Just that that's how biology works?
Transformation of Puberty: "the eye is perhaps the zone most remote from the sexual object" (75). I was intrigued by this idea that the eye could be seen (no pun intended) as on the same level as other erotogenic zones. What is interesting about the eye is that its only stimulation comes in imagining the touch (this is a completely unqualified claim, I'm just asserting that here). It seems as though the eye imagines the touch imagines the.... eventually ending in sexual fulfillment. If we can establish this progression then, where does it start? My question here would be what is the most preliminary and anticipatory stage of sexual gratification? Is it the eye? Or can we go further and say that some unknowable part of the mind imagines first what the eye will see? Where is the sex-drive, in other words.
Hollis' Freud Questions
Xerox:
How does the suggestion that “everything has to be paid for in one way or another” become relevant in a discourse of commodity? How is trauma become essential in this dialogue of remuneration?
I.
Can the concept of ‘instinct’ be situated or juxtaposed with Marx’s theory of the human and the sensuous?
II.
On a footnote that runs from 59-60, Freud suggests that the manifestation of sexual symbolism coincides with the first years of speech. Stewart also uses language as a tool to pry open object relations. Is this a sort of linguistic determinism, or is it the inverse? Can Freud’s terminology be seen as furthering a commodification of sexual experience?
III.
On page 88 Freud suggests that the ‘finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it.’ How can this theory of recovery be seen as relative to the trauma of loss in Weiner?
*** Interesting to note that page 88 has caught everyone' attention thusfar
How does the suggestion that “everything has to be paid for in one way or another” become relevant in a discourse of commodity? How is trauma become essential in this dialogue of remuneration?
I.
Can the concept of ‘instinct’ be situated or juxtaposed with Marx’s theory of the human and the sensuous?
II.
On a footnote that runs from 59-60, Freud suggests that the manifestation of sexual symbolism coincides with the first years of speech. Stewart also uses language as a tool to pry open object relations. Is this a sort of linguistic determinism, or is it the inverse? Can Freud’s terminology be seen as furthering a commodification of sexual experience?
III.
On page 88 Freud suggests that the ‘finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it.’ How can this theory of recovery be seen as relative to the trauma of loss in Weiner?
*** Interesting to note that page 88 has caught everyone' attention thusfar
Hans' Freud Questions
1. The Sexual Aberrations
pg 35: Why does Freud wait until he splits the sexual instinct into ‘component instincts’ before defining the concept, qualities, and problems of the human sexual instinct?
2. Infantile Sexuality
pg 52: On page 52 Freud describes the ‘gift’ of fecal matter as a form of surrendering the masturbatory stimulus in order to achieve compliance with care givers. Are “surrender” and “compliance” universal qualities inherent in the act of giving? Second question: How does one determine the difference between fecal matter retained in order to achieve a masturbatory stimulus and fecal matter as a ‘gift’? By the size of the present?
3. Puberty
pg 88: “There are thus good reasons why a child sucking at his mother’s breast has become the prototype of every relation of love. The finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it.” Does the breast as an originating object turn us all into nostalgic creatures, continually working to recapture the past? Can nostalgia manifest itself through an unconscious act of “refinding”?
4. Fetishism
Can we trace Freud’s concept of “denial” as a universal agent operating throughout the various definitions of the fetish and fetishism that fall outside the realm of psychoanalysis?
pg 35: Why does Freud wait until he splits the sexual instinct into ‘component instincts’ before defining the concept, qualities, and problems of the human sexual instinct?
2. Infantile Sexuality
pg 52: On page 52 Freud describes the ‘gift’ of fecal matter as a form of surrendering the masturbatory stimulus in order to achieve compliance with care givers. Are “surrender” and “compliance” universal qualities inherent in the act of giving? Second question: How does one determine the difference between fecal matter retained in order to achieve a masturbatory stimulus and fecal matter as a ‘gift’? By the size of the present?
3. Puberty
pg 88: “There are thus good reasons why a child sucking at his mother’s breast has become the prototype of every relation of love. The finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it.” Does the breast as an originating object turn us all into nostalgic creatures, continually working to recapture the past? Can nostalgia manifest itself through an unconscious act of “refinding”?
4. Fetishism
Can we trace Freud’s concept of “denial” as a universal agent operating throughout the various definitions of the fetish and fetishism that fall outside the realm of psychoanalysis?
Jonathan's Questions for Freud
The Aberrations: "...in surprisingly numerous individuals, the nature and importance of the sexual object recedes into the background. What is essential and constant in the sexual instinct is something else" (15). Where does Freud draw the line between dispersing sexuality into different elements and unifying it into something 'essential and constant? Why is he so adamant about preserving something essential and constant when his project at this stage is precisely that of de-essentializing sexuality?
Infant Sex: On page 64 Freud refers to thumb-sucking as a relic of breastfeeding. In what ways is he transforming or dividing up sexuality into knowable things, which gain their own histories and characteristics? More importantly, what cultural effect does this have on the experience of sexuality and consciousness in general?
Puberty: "The finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it" (88). Is he positing an originary object, or is the Oedipal origin merely a provisional method of description? How does this relate to ideas of the gift, in terms of the supposedly unique quality of gifted items?
Fetishism: "Probably no male human is spared the shock of threatened castration at the sight of the female genitals" (163). Is this meant literally? Is it meant universally?
-Jonathan
Infant Sex: On page 64 Freud refers to thumb-sucking as a relic of breastfeeding. In what ways is he transforming or dividing up sexuality into knowable things, which gain their own histories and characteristics? More importantly, what cultural effect does this have on the experience of sexuality and consciousness in general?
Puberty: "The finding of an object is in fact a refinding of it" (88). Is he positing an originary object, or is the Oedipal origin merely a provisional method of description? How does this relate to ideas of the gift, in terms of the supposedly unique quality of gifted items?
Fetishism: "Probably no male human is spared the shock of threatened castration at the sight of the female genitals" (163). Is this meant literally? Is it meant universally?
-Jonathan
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Volatile
I am being very indecisive, but think I have settled on writing about The Volatile.
- Crow Jonah Norlander
Monday, November 3, 2008
The Gritty
I will be writing on the gritty. I find that the aggregate of the coarse, the dirty, the rotten, and the decaying is the gritty. As our readings have suggested, objects such as the miniature can function as mirrors of us as both objects and humans represent a container of sorts. Both the object-container and the human-container inevitably undergo a process of deterioration. Accordingly, we are disturbed by the gritty as it reminds us of not only the transitory nature of the lives of things but also the transitory nature of our own lives. The gritty represents an object at the terminal end of its "social life" as Appadurai would say. Comparably, as we age our skin become coarse and rough like the landscape of the gritty, our organs - the very stuff we contain - become rotten and contaminated like the raw interior of the gritty. Discomforting as it may be, the gritty provides a constant and often unwelcoming projection of our inescapable future: expiration. Thus, it is unsurprising that we do not desire to obtain or claim the gritty - its demand is minimal. But in a way, the objects that occupy the realm of the gritty are "inalienable possessions" in their own right, as we cannot escape the ramifications of the sheer existence of the gritty. Regardless of the mode of interaction (be it physical or cognitive), the gritty downright disturbs us, incessantly priming us with mortality.
~Jordan Carter~
The radioactive
I'd like to write a paper about the radioactive, how we define it (and control it) culturally. It is precisely its uncontainability that interests me. Also, its formlessness which is not simply form-defying but deforming. I will revisit gestures which domesticate the radioactive, such as the use of isotopes on luminescent watch dials, also ones that profit from the radioactive, like x-ray machines and finally nuclear power, a promise of labour without labor...limitless, free energy. Everywhere, however, there is the labor of containing the radioactive, and its menace. What is the true productivity of radioactivity but accelerated genetic mutation? I wonder if new calls for nuclear energy in these end-times of the fossil fuel are linked to changing attitudes towards "the radioactive."
At present, I am still casting about for a theoretical apparatus but god-willing it will be found, if I have to split the library to do it!
--Andrew
At present, I am still casting about for a theoretical apparatus but god-willing it will be found, if I have to split the library to do it!
--Andrew
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Elaine's bibliographic suggestions, round two
Evan's website museum:
Matthew Kirschenbaum, *Mechanism: New Media and the Forensics of the Image* argues that digital media are material.
Crow's duct tape museum:
www.madehow.com on duct tape for a detailed sense of how it is made
Sam's broom museum:
D. Rozenszbrock, *Brush* a catalogue of brushes, including brooms, from an exhibit I saw a few years ago.
Emily's pneumatic tube museum:
Patricia Conway George, "Mass Transit: Problem and Promise," Design Quarterly (1968) I found this on jstor after learning that first NYC subway was a pneumatic tube.
George's aspirin museum:
For the history of worker unrest at Bayer (where canny chemists invented both heroin and aspirin a few weeks apart):
Craig Patton, "'Proletarian Protest'?: Skill and Protest in the German Chemical Industry, 1914-1924." Journal of Social History 1992
Jordan's condom museum:
Ramasamy, P. *Plantation labour, Unions, Capital and the State in Peninsular Malaysia* (Oxford 1994). Back to the rubber of the rubber.
Nuper's flannel museum:
I. Peate, "Welsh Folk Industries," Folklore 1933 (jstor)
One fabric brings together the history of industrialization in Wales, lumberjacks and lesbians--what a textile.
Hans's rubber stamp museum:
Search the etymology of the verb "to rubber stamp" in American and English dictionaries. Correlate with rise of bureaucracy?
Matthew Kirschenbaum, *Mechanism: New Media and the Forensics of the Image* argues that digital media are material.
Crow's duct tape museum:
www.madehow.com on duct tape for a detailed sense of how it is made
Sam's broom museum:
D. Rozenszbrock, *Brush* a catalogue of brushes, including brooms, from an exhibit I saw a few years ago.
Emily's pneumatic tube museum:
Patricia Conway George, "Mass Transit: Problem and Promise," Design Quarterly (1968) I found this on jstor after learning that first NYC subway was a pneumatic tube.
George's aspirin museum:
For the history of worker unrest at Bayer (where canny chemists invented both heroin and aspirin a few weeks apart):
Craig Patton, "'Proletarian Protest'?: Skill and Protest in the German Chemical Industry, 1914-1924." Journal of Social History 1992
Jordan's condom museum:
Ramasamy, P. *Plantation labour, Unions, Capital and the State in Peninsular Malaysia* (Oxford 1994). Back to the rubber of the rubber.
Nuper's flannel museum:
I. Peate, "Welsh Folk Industries," Folklore 1933 (jstor)
One fabric brings together the history of industrialization in Wales, lumberjacks and lesbians--what a textile.
Hans's rubber stamp museum:
Search the etymology of the verb "to rubber stamp" in American and English dictionaries. Correlate with rise of bureaucracy?
My Hair Museum by Kibwe Chase-Marshll
STATEMENT:
In the most simplistic of contemporary Western assessments, hair is an organic extension of the body. Though it is often admired for the quality and quantity of its subjectively valued inherent attributes (texture, luster, length, thickness), like height, strength, or bone density it resides far from the domain of the commodity; capable of being bought and bartered, traded and treasured for its investment potential. The contemporary realities surrounding our relationships with hair tell a shockingly different story. Not only is hair farmed, produced, packaged and promoted in a manner analogous to more conventional resources (ironically symbolic textile fibers, like wool and cotton come to mind), its varying degrees of quality are stratified and assigned corresponding market value (not unlike the fur industry). But is this simply the “procured” as “prosthetic” in its cultural and aesthetic function? Yes and no; at times, the wearer’s inorganically achieved hair is treated by both the wearer and observer as “natural”. At other times, its artificial nature is acknowledged, appreciated…even venerated. These responses are often more about cultural positioning and perspective, than about the actual hair. Historically, hair’s ability to communicate gender, race, class, and age has been interrogated with much attention paid to implicit factor of the “haves and have-nots”. What do we make of a more contemporary consideration, because today most can go from have not to have (even to have more) for the right price.
INITIAL WORKS:
Horse hair sensitization in a woman with hair extensions made from horse hair
Annals of allergy, asthma, & immunology [1081-1206] Bagg yr:2008 vol:100 iss:1 pg:A66 -A67
Contact anaphylaxis from natural rubber latex used as an adhesive for hair extensions
British journal of dermatology [0007-0963] Wakelin yr:2002 vol:146 iss:2 pg:340 -341
Synthetic hair braid extension artifacts in panoramic radiographs
The Journal of the American Dental Association [0002-8177] Brown yr:1998 vol:129 iss:5 pg:601
Evaluation of polyamide synthetic hair - A long-term clinical study
Panminerva medica [0031-0808] Palmieri yr:2000 vol:42 iss:1 pg:49 -53
CHEMISTRY OF SYNTHETIC WIGS AND HAIR COLOR - CHEMISTRY IN DAILY LIFE
Kemisk tidskrift [0039-6605] [Anon] yr:1978 vol:90 iss:11 pg:58 -58
DEVELOPMENT OF DELUSTERED SYNTHETIC-FIBERS FOR USE IN WIGS AND HAIRPIECES
Textile chemist and colorist [0040-490X] KASWELL yr:1995 vol:27 iss:5 pg:21 -24
'The World of Wigs, Weaves and Extensions'
Toni Love
So You Want a Weave
The Jacksonville Free Press
Weave epidemic hits community hard
Cynthia Levy
New Pittsburgh Courier 2007
Getting wiggy with it
Audrey Adams
The New York Beacon 2006
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Kevin Merida
The Washington Post 2001
Bye-Bye, Bad Hair Days
By Allison Samuels
Newsweek June 2005
Nigeria; The Growing Trend of Street Hair Plaiting
Africa News April 23, 2003
LOCKS CAN BE DECEIVING IN THE WORLD OF BLACK HAIRDRESSING;
WHAT DO BLACK WOMEN DO TO THEIR HAIR AND WHY? LORNA LAIDLAW TELLS JO IND STRAIGHT.
Birmingham Post September 29, 1999
Monday, October 6, 2008
Hans’ Suggestions…
For
Burr,
Abstract:
Last month I gave the new Kenzo Amour to a friend of mine, a middle-aged white woman. Amour is an example of rather abstract perfume art, the scent of smelling (metaphorically) a flower on a high-definition television screen, a powdery, electrical, glassy, slightly otherworldly loveliness. One notices a certain power behind its softness, like the gentle sound of a jet in the sky whose distance obscures great force. My friend loved it. A week later, I saw her again. She wore an amused look. ''That perfume is very strange,'' she said. ''A gazillion people complimented me on it.'' Yeah, so? ''So every one of them was black.''Actually, this is not strange at all. Tastes in art, fashion, music, food and books vary between cultures (indeed, that's what creates and defines cultures), and the perfume business has known this for years. Kenzo's Jungle, for example, is spicy and strong and sells well in the heavily black
For
Jim and Tim’s Duct tape Gallery
http://www.ducttapeguys.com/dtgallery.html
For
Jackel, Susan. A Flannel Shirt and
For
Chen, Aric. “For the Love of Felt.” Interior Design. 73.11 (2002): 150-156
Abstract
Focuses on the interior design of the house of designer Christine Birkle in
I found a PDF copy on academic search premier. Lots of pictures of the house.
MY MEAT MUSEUM
Ryan Hartigan
Georges Bataille, colonialism, urbanisation, consumption, capitalism, sacrifice, Benjamin, barbarism.
THE PORKPIE - Modeled after the classic porkpie hat, this sharp number is made of genuine Louisiana pork.
http://hatsofmeat.com/
This source was Googled, and 'meat hats' were in fact my search terms - I directed a very disturbing production years ago.
Other sources, which will give a fair idea of some of the territory my museum explores:
(Worldcat/Academic Search Premier)
Bataille, Georges. 'The Notion of Expenditure.' Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927-1939. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985.
Benjamin, Walter. 'Eduard Fuchs: Collector and Historian' New German Critique 5 (Spring, 1975): 27-58.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.
Warehime, Marja. ' "Vision Sauvage" and Images of Culture: Georges Bataille, Editor of Documents.' The French Review, 60. 1 (Oct., 1986): 39-45
Also, as a starting point via google:
goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3256367/NZ-close-to-filling-US.html
Should anyone need further inspiration, feel free to listen to the wise words of Morrissey (and yes, this is extremely tongue-in-cheek):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzNSAU2qM64
Georges Bataille, colonialism, urbanisation, consumption, capitalism, sacrifice, Benjamin, barbarism.
THE PORKPIE - Modeled after the classic porkpie hat, this sharp number is made of genuine Louisiana pork.
http://hatsofmeat.com/
This source was Googled, and 'meat hats' were in fact my search terms - I directed a very disturbing production years ago.
Other sources, which will give a fair idea of some of the territory my museum explores:
(Worldcat/Academic Search Premier)
Bataille, Georges. 'The Notion of Expenditure.' Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927-1939. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985.
Benjamin, Walter. 'Eduard Fuchs: Collector and Historian' New German Critique 5 (Spring, 1975): 27-58.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.
Warehime, Marja. ' "Vision Sauvage" and Images of Culture: Georges Bataille, Editor of Documents.' The French Review, 60. 1 (Oct., 1986): 39-45
Also, as a starting point via google:
NZ close to filling US beef quota.
New Zealand's beef and veal quota to the US is expected to be filled quicker than expected due to making up a shortage caused...goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-3256367/NZ-close-to-filling-US.html
Should anyone need further inspiration, feel free to listen to the wise words of Morrissey (and yes, this is extremely tongue-in-cheek):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzNSAU2qM64
Evan's Suggestions
Ok, so as a general disclaimer I'd like to be the first to note that all of the sources I looked up to suggest are web sources. I noticed that a lot of people were very exclusively focusing on academic search tools, so I went out looking for some sources that were really unique to the web and that would not appear in a more academic context. Because the nature of the web is such that it often acts as an intermediary between consumer and producer rather than producer and what is produced, these sources are not clearly as steeped in the social relations of production as other sources one might find, but I nevertheless feel that they illuminate this topic in iteresting ways. So here goes:
@My Rubber Stamp Museum: this is a link to a software download for a piece of software that promises to be able to keep track of the stamps that a collector owns so that the collector can more effectively collect. I found it interesting that the production of stamps as collectors items kind of exclusively sustains the production of non-stamp, stamp-collecting paraphernalia.
"Stamp Collector." Tech Republic. 2008. Beaver Valley Software. 6 Oct 2008.
@My Condom Museum: this is a discussion forum in which people are discussing condom use in the fantasy videogame fable 2. I thought it could provide interesting insight into condoms as purely social objects that do not have to be produced, created, distributed, etc, and might throw some of that process of production into relief in terms of what influence it has over the social reality of the finished product condom.
"General Discussion Forum." Giant Bomb. 2008. Giant Bomb. 6 Oct 2008
@My Vinyl Museum: this is from an amazon discussion forum of music afficionados discussing vinyls. I found it interesting that what is presumably a major agent of the distribution and large influence on the production of vinyls was supporting a medium for discussion of the product that was not explicitly commercial and what that meant in terms of the social reality of the object and on what terms the sale and production of it could be considered.
"Vinyl Forum." Amazon.com. 2008. Amazon. 6 Oct 2008.
@My Nail Polish Museum: this is a link to a make-up company's site where they are "selling" their product by doing nothing other than providing a collection of clips from various news etc agencies that discussed their product. It was an interesting formulation I thought in terms of contemplating what went into the production of the product's image in the process of sale.
"The Buzz." Eyes Lips Face. 2008. JA Cosmetics Corp. 6 Oct 2008.
@My Rubber Stamp Museum: this is a link to a software download for a piece of software that promises to be able to keep track of the stamps that a collector owns so that the collector can more effectively collect. I found it interesting that the production of stamps as collectors items kind of exclusively sustains the production of non-stamp, stamp-collecting paraphernalia.
"Stamp Collector." Tech Republic. 2008. Beaver Valley Software. 6 Oct 2008
@My Condom Museum: this is a discussion forum in which people are discussing condom use in the fantasy videogame fable 2. I thought it could provide interesting insight into condoms as purely social objects that do not have to be produced, created, distributed, etc, and might throw some of that process of production into relief in terms of what influence it has over the social reality of the finished product condom.
"General Discussion Forum." Giant Bomb. 2008. Giant Bomb. 6 Oct 2008
@My Vinyl Museum: this is from an amazon discussion forum of music afficionados discussing vinyls. I found it interesting that what is presumably a major agent of the distribution and large influence on the production of vinyls was supporting a medium for discussion of the product that was not explicitly commercial and what that meant in terms of the social reality of the object and on what terms the sale and production of it could be considered.
"Vinyl Forum." Amazon.com. 2008. Amazon. 6 Oct 2008
@My Nail Polish Museum: this is a link to a make-up company's site where they are "selling" their product by doing nothing other than providing a collection of clips from various news etc agencies that discussed their product. It was an interesting formulation I thought in terms of contemplating what went into the production of the product's image in the process of sale.
"The Buzz." Eyes Lips Face. 2008. JA Cosmetics Corp. 6 Oct 2008
Kristen's Suggestions...
for "My Sneaker Museum"
Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers/edited by Girogio Riello and Peter McNeil
Ocofor;New York: Berg, 2006
at the RISD Main library, call number GT2130.S468 2006
description: Anyone who has ever shopped for a pair of shoes--especially anyone who does so with a passion--knows that shoes are much more than functional objects. From the sneaker to the stiletto, shoes have become potent signifiers of gender, class, personality, taste, and even politics. This lavishly illustrated work recounts the history of shoes with entertaining essays that cover everything from the eroticism of ancient shoe lacing, medieval fears about long-toed shoes, and the role of shoes in religious ritual to the infamous Chopine with a 23-inch heel and the modern cult of shoe designers. With 170 color photos and 30 black and white illustrations, the essays will entertain and inform casual shoe shoppers and fashionistas alike.
I just searched "sneakers" in the RISD library...a ton of things come up!
for "My Frame Museum"
Defining Edges: A New Look at Picture Frames/W.H. Bailey
New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, c2002
at the RISD Main Library, call number N8550.B33 2002
description: When I looked it up, the book seemed to have a detailed analysis of specific frames for certain famous works. I thought it might be interesting.
for "My Felt Museum"
The Art of Felt: Inspirational Designs, Textures and Surfaces/by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne
London: Thames & Hudson, 2008
at the RISD Main Library, call number TT849.5.T44 2008
description: I believe it's simply a "how to", but nonetheless, it seemed interesting.
for "My False Teeth Museum"
The Strange Story of False Teeth/John Woodforde
New York: Universe Books, 1970, c1968
at the RISD Main Library, call number RK641.W6 1970
I realize all of these are from the RISD library, but as Brown students, we have access, and they have a really great collection. Hope some of these suggestions end up being useful...they all seemed interesting.
Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers/edited by Girogio Riello and Peter McNeil
Ocofor;New York: Berg, 2006
at the RISD Main library, call number GT2130.S468 2006
description: Anyone who has ever shopped for a pair of shoes--especially anyone who does so with a passion--knows that shoes are much more than functional objects. From the sneaker to the stiletto, shoes have become potent signifiers of gender, class, personality, taste, and even politics. This lavishly illustrated work recounts the history of shoes with entertaining essays that cover everything from the eroticism of ancient shoe lacing, medieval fears about long-toed shoes, and the role of shoes in religious ritual to the infamous Chopine with a 23-inch heel and the modern cult of shoe designers. With 170 color photos and 30 black and white illustrations, the essays will entertain and inform casual shoe shoppers and fashionistas alike.
I just searched "sneakers" in the RISD library...a ton of things come up!
for "My Frame Museum"
Defining Edges: A New Look at Picture Frames/W.H. Bailey
New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, c2002
at the RISD Main Library, call number N8550.B33 2002
description: When I looked it up, the book seemed to have a detailed analysis of specific frames for certain famous works. I thought it might be interesting.
for "My Felt Museum"
The Art of Felt: Inspirational Designs, Textures and Surfaces/by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne
London: Thames & Hudson, 2008
at the RISD Main Library, call number TT849.5.T44 2008
description: I believe it's simply a "how to", but nonetheless, it seemed interesting.
for "My False Teeth Museum"
The Strange Story of False Teeth/John Woodforde
New York: Universe Books, 1970, c1968
at the RISD Main Library, call number RK641.W6 1970
I realize all of these are from the RISD library, but as Brown students, we have access, and they have a really great collection. Hope some of these suggestions end up being useful...they all seemed interesting.
Elaine's bibliographic suggestions, round one
Kristen's Perfume Museum:
Alain Corbain, *The Foul and The Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination*--a great history of how things smell and smelled
Alain Corbain, *The Foul and The Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination*--a great history of how things smell and smelled
Jeuin's Mercury Museum:
"Mercury Exposure from Interior Latex Paint" New England Journal of Med--I got it from Google. Mercury replaced lead in paint, damaging paint factory workers and consumers.
Jonathan's Vinyl Museum:
Motown's website
Dynamicsun.com--site of record factory in E. Newark, NJ
Pablo's False Teeth:
See denture-making program at NYC Tech College
See denture-making program at NYC Tech College
Nick's Microprocessor Museum:
AK Bagchi and R. Sanaddar, eds. *New Technology and the Workers' Response: Microelectronics, Labour and Society.* Microprocessors in India from a variety of political economic viewpoints accding to book review.
Montana's Sneaker Museum:
United Students Against Sweatshops
Nike website
See the work of Gary Simmons, a young NYC artist (or younger than me anyway)--he has a bronze sculpture of sneakered feet on the subway.
Jordan's Suggestions
Hey Everyone, my suggestions are as follows (Hope these are helpful!):
~For My Perfume Museum (Found through RISD library):
Burr, Chandler. The Perfect Scent: a year behind the scenes of the perfume industry in Paris and New York. 1. New York: Herry Holt, 2007.
~For My False Teeth Museum (Found through JSTOR):
"False Teeth Are Fitted to a Million-Year Old Ape". The Science News-Letter 31(1937): 218-219+222.
~For My Frame Museum (Found through RISD library):
Wilner, Eli. Gilded edge: Art of the Frame. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000.
~For My Website Museum (Found through JSTOR):
March, Luke. "Russian Parties and the Political Internet." Europe-Asia Studies 56(2004): 369-400.
~And finally, For My Aspirin Museum (Quote from unreleased short film - "Only Diamonds"):
"Never go to the nurse for aspirin, it's not worth the emotional roller-coaster" - maybe, you can do something with that, haha - it's just kind of my favorite ambiguous quote ever...
Sunday, October 5, 2008
My Sneaker Museum
Montana Blanco
history of the athletic shoe, utilitarian usage, intersections of gender and race in dress, media representation, vernacular, production and labor politics . . .
JOSIAH
Vanderbilt, Tom. The Sneaker Book: Anatomy of an Industry and Icon.
New York: New Press, 1998.
Eicher, Joanne, ed. Dress and Ethnicity: Change and Space Over Time.
Oxford; Washington D.C. : Berg, 1995
Tulloch, Carol, ed. Black Style.
London; V&A Publications, 2004.
JSTOR
Dale Coye "The Sneakers/Tennis Shoe Boundary"
American Speech, Vol. 61. No. 4 (Winter, 1986) pp 366-369.
MY MERCURY MUSEUM
EFFECTS OF MERCURY POISONING?!?!*
(Image found on Google Images. Illustration by John Tenniel for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
From the Providence Public Library:
Emsley, John. Elements of Murder : The History of Poison
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2005.
From JSTOR:
Seiya Yamaguchi, Hisao Matsumoto, Sachiko Matsuo, Shunsuke Kaku and Michiyo Hoshide. “Relationship between Mercury Content of Hair and Amount of Fish Consumed”
HSMHA Health Reports, Vol. 86, No. 10 (Oct., 1971), pp. 904-909
Keith Spalding. “A Theory concerning the Mad Hatter”
The Modern Language Review, Vol. 46, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Oct., 1951), pp. 442-444
Jeri Weiss, Luke Trip and Kathryn R. Mahaffey. “Human Exposures to Inorganic Mercury”
Public Health Reports (1974-), Vol. 114, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 1999), pp. 400-401
ALSO,
Various websites, New York Times articles, etc.
-Jieun Reiner
*while many hatters did indeed suffer from severe mercury poisoning, the “Mad Hatter” created by Carroll did not exhibit true symptoms.
My Vinyl Museum
“Moreover, as one young collector and disc jockey explained to me, records have served as a ‘vinyl museum’ for the preservation and maintenance of Caleño popular culture and identity”
JSTOR
Philip Auslander “Looking at Records” TDR (1988-), Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring, 2001), pp. 77-83
Eric W. Rothenbuhler and John Durham Peters “Defining Phonography: An Experiment in Theory” The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 81, No. 2 (Summer, 1997), pp. 242-264
SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE. By: Christman, Ed. Billboard, 7/19/2008, Vol. 120 Issue 29, p26-26
Mastering Vinyl. (cover story) By: Robair, Gino. Electronic Musician, Mar2008, Vol. 24 Issue 3, p54-59
'It kind of gives you that vintage feel': vinyl records and the trope of death. By: Yochim, Emily Chivers; Biddinger, Megan. Media, Culture & Society, Mar2008, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p183-195
Josiah
Setting the record straight : a material history of classical recording
Symes, Colin, 1945-
Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press, c2004
Fanning the flames : fans and consumer culture in contemporary Japan / edited by William W. Kelly Published Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, c2004 Descript'n ix, 202 p. : ill. ; 24 cm (Chapter 7: Vinyl record collecting as material practice : the Japanese case / Shuhei Hosokawa, Hideaki Matsuoka)
“The most recent technological development has, in any case, continued what was begun there: the possibility of inscribing music without it ever having sounded has simultaneously reified it in an even more inhuman manner and also brought it mysteriously closer to the character of writing and language.”
-The Form of the Phonograph Record
Theodor W. Adorno and Thomas Y. Levin
October, Vol. 55, (Winter, 1990), pp. 56-61
Perfume Museum
Kristen Schindler
The Perfume Industry of Mycenaean Pylos/Cynthia Wright Shelmerdine
Fragrance: The psychology and biology of perfume/S. van Toller and G.H. Dodd
JSTOR (articles)
Kewda Perfume Industry in India/P.K. Dutta, H.O. Saxena, and M. Brahmam
New York Times
Fragrance Market is Establishing a Foothold in China/Chandler Burr
The perfume market, how it's made, and how far back in history the notion of perfume goes are things I want to further explore.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
MUSEUM of FALSE TEETH
G. W.'S FALSE TEETH
Crubézy, E., Murail, P., Girard, L., Bernadou, J.-P. "False Teeth of the Roman World". Nature 391 (1998): 29.
Images from Google Image Search
Journal Articles (from JSTOR)
Jones, David. "Falsified Teeth." Nature 353 (1991): 608.
Orellana, Claudia. "False accounts for False Teeth in Germany." The Lancet 360 (2002): 1849.
Images from Google Image SearchBooks (Josiah)
Wynbrandt, James. The Excruciating History of Dentistry. New York: St Martin's, 1998.
Books (Google Books)
Woodforde, John. The Strange Story of False Teeth. London: Routlege, 1968.
"I imagine so," said Verily. "In fact, one of his extraordinary talents is the ability to see through the hexes of illusion. Did you know that? ... For instance, he sees through the hex you use to keep people from seeing that little trick you play with your false teeth. Did you know that?""Trick!" She was mortified. "False teeth! What a terrible thing to say!""Do you or do you not have false teeth?"Marty Laws was on his feet. "Your honor, I can't see what relevancy false teeth have to the matter at hand." ..."False teeth is a bit personal, don't you think?" asked the Judge."And accusing my client of seducing her isn't?" asked Verily.The judge smiled. "Objection overruled. I think the prosecution opened the door wide enough for such questions."
FROM ALVIN JOURNEYMAN, BY ORSON SCOTT CARD: FOUND BY GOOGLE BOOKS SEARCH
PABLO LARIOS
My Microprocessor Museum
From Google:
Intel Education. "Inside the Manufacturing Process; how chips are made." Intel Corporation. Accessed: 4 Oct 2008. http://www.intel.com/education/makingchips/index.htm
From Harper's Magazine Archives:
Turner, Frederick W. "Escape From Modernism: technology and the future of the imagination".
Harper's Magazine. November 1984. http://harpers.org/archive/1984/11/0025490
From EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier:
"Computers and Telecommunications." World Almanac & Book of Facts. EBSCOhost. 4 Oct 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24123414&site=ehost-live
From EBSCOhost Historical Abstracts:
Zatlin, Jonathan R. "Out of Sight: industrial espionage, ocular authority, and east german communism, 1965-1989." Contemporary European History. 2008 17(1). EBSCOhost. 4 Oct 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hia&AN=H800041768.01&site=ehost-live
--Nick Greene
Intel Education. "Inside the Manufacturing Process; how chips are made." Intel Corporation. Accessed: 4 Oct 2008. http://www.intel.com/education/makingchips/index.htm
From Harper's Magazine Archives:
Turner, Frederick W. "Escape From Modernism: technology and the future of the imagination".
Harper's Magazine. November 1984. http://harpers.org/archive/1984/11/0025490
From EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier:
"Computers and Telecommunications." World Almanac & Book of Facts. EBSCOhost. 4 Oct 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24123414&site=ehost-live
From EBSCOhost Historical Abstracts:
Zatlin, Jonathan R. "Out of Sight: industrial espionage, ocular authority, and east german communism, 1965-1989." Contemporary European History. 2008 17(1). EBSCOhost. 4 Oct 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hia&AN=H800041768.01&site=ehost-live
--Nick Greene
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Jordan's New Object - Condoms
So I've completely decided against constructing my museum around glass pipes/marijuana. Instead, I'm composing my museum on condoms - the history of their design (latex,non-latex,etc.), their purpose, their social ramifications, their conflicts with religion, and the disparity between condom usage in Western civilizations and that of African nations (where HIV is running ramped).
-My sources thus far are as follows (once again acquired through JSTOR):
Wulfert, Edelgard, and Choi Wan. "Safer Sex Intentions and Condom Use Viewed from a Health Belief, Reasoned Action, and Social Cognitive Perspective." The Journal of Sex Research 4(1995): 299-311.
Jobling, Paul. "The Politics of Pleasure and Gender in the Promotion of Condoms in Britain, 1970-1982." Journal of Design History 10(1997): 53-70.
Morroni, Chelsea, Jennifer Smit, Lynn McFadyen, and Mmabatho Mqhayi. "Dual Protection against Sexually Transmitted Infections and Pregnancy in South Africa." African Journal of Reproductive Health. 7(2003): 13-19.
Smit, Jennifer, Lynn McFeyden, Harrison Abigail, and Khangelani Zuma. "Where is the Condom? Contraceptive Practice in a Rural District of South Africa." Women's Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC). 6(2002): 71-78.
Walsh, Terri, Ron Frezieres , Karen Peacock, and Anita Nelson. "Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Nonlatex Condom: Results from a Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial." Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 35(2003): 79-86.
-My sources thus far are as follows (once again acquired through JSTOR):
Wulfert, Edelgard, and Choi Wan. "Safer Sex Intentions and Condom Use Viewed from a Health Belief, Reasoned Action, and Social Cognitive Perspective." The Journal of Sex Research 4(1995): 299-311.
Jobling, Paul. "The Politics of Pleasure and Gender in the Promotion of Condoms in Britain, 1970-1982." Journal of Design History 10(1997): 53-70.
Morroni, Chelsea, Jennifer Smit, Lynn McFadyen, and Mmabatho Mqhayi. "Dual Protection against Sexually Transmitted Infections and Pregnancy in South Africa." African Journal of Reproductive Health. 7(2003): 13-19.
Smit, Jennifer, Lynn McFeyden, Harrison Abigail, and Khangelani Zuma. "Where is the Condom? Contraceptive Practice in a Rural District of South Africa." Women's Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC). 6(2002): 71-78.
Walsh, Terri, Ron Frezieres , Karen Peacock, and Anita Nelson. "Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Nonlatex Condom: Results from a Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial." Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 35(2003): 79-86.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Aspirin
Risd/Athenaeum:
Ikenson, Ben. Patents : Bubblewrap, Bottlecaps, Barbed Wire, and Other Ingenious Inventions. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, Incorporated, 2004.
Josiah:
Leighton, Isabel. The Aspirin Age, 1919-1941. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1949.
Risd/Athenaeum:
Jeffreys, Diarmuid. Aspirin : The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug. Grand Rapids: Bloomsbury, 2004.
J-STOR:
hun, Beyond Willow Bark: Aspirin in the Prevention of Chronic Disease J. "Beyond Willow Bark: Aspirin in the Prevention of Chronic Disease." Epidemiology 11 (2000): 371-74.
Google:
www.aspirin.com and "the world of aspirin" link
Wikipedia Travels:
Vane, J. R. "The mechanism of action of aspirin." Thrombosis Research 110 (2003): 255-58.
A Time Article: Aspirin Scores Again
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=17&sid=b15a1400-1982-4182-bb64-a4cd892cce00%40sessionmgr8&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=18065366
-George Warner
Ikenson, Ben. Patents : Bubblewrap, Bottlecaps, Barbed Wire, and Other Ingenious Inventions. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, Incorporated, 2004.
Josiah:
Leighton, Isabel. The Aspirin Age, 1919-1941. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1949.
Risd/Athenaeum:
Jeffreys, Diarmuid. Aspirin : The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug. Grand Rapids: Bloomsbury, 2004.
J-STOR:
hun, Beyond Willow Bark: Aspirin in the Prevention of Chronic Disease J. "Beyond Willow Bark: Aspirin in the Prevention of Chronic Disease." Epidemiology 11 (2000): 371-74.
Google:
www.aspirin.com and "the world of aspirin" link
Wikipedia Travels:
Vane, J. R. "The mechanism of action of aspirin." Thrombosis Research 110 (2003): 255-58.
A Time Article: Aspirin Scores Again
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=17&sid=b15a1400-1982-4182-bb64-a4cd892cce00%40sessionmgr8&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=18065366
-George Warner
my baby formula museum
New York Times:
Are poor mothers given infant formula by aid agencies unwittingly starving their children?
Solomon, Stephen. "The Controversy Over Infant Formula," New York Times, December 6, 1981.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E2D61738F935A35751C1A967948260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=2
Recent coverage of contaminated formula in China.
Yardley, Jim. "13,000 Babies in Hospital for China Formula," New York Times, September 21, 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/world/asia/22china.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=formula&st=cse&oref=slogin
JSTOR:
A broad-ranging feminist analysis of techno-scientific mediation of motherhood, including formula use and breast feeding practices.
"The Virtual Speculum in the New World Order," Donna J. Haraway. Feminist Review, No. 55, Consuming Cultures (Spring, 1997), pp. 22-72.
Academic Search Premier:
The effects on breast feeding of direct-to-consumer advertising of baby formula in hospitals
Johnson, Teddi Dineley "Formula handouts affect breastfeeding," Nation's Health; Mar2008, Vol. 38 Issue 2, p4.
Followed a link on Wikipedia:
History of baby formula with additional links to primary sources.
"The Food Timeline – baby food history notes," The Food Timeline. Lynne Olver 2004
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbaby.html
patrick nagle
Are poor mothers given infant formula by aid agencies unwittingly starving their children?
Solomon, Stephen. "The Controversy Over Infant Formula," New York Times, December 6, 1981.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E2D61738F935A35751C1A967948260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=2
Recent coverage of contaminated formula in China.
Yardley, Jim. "13,000 Babies in Hospital for China Formula," New York Times, September 21, 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/world/asia/22china.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=formula&st=cse&oref=slogin
JSTOR:
A broad-ranging feminist analysis of techno-scientific mediation of motherhood, including formula use and breast feeding practices.
"The Virtual Speculum in the New World Order," Donna J. Haraway. Feminist Review, No. 55, Consuming Cultures (Spring, 1997), pp. 22-72.
Academic Search Premier:
The effects on breast feeding of direct-to-consumer advertising of baby formula in hospitals
Johnson, Teddi Dineley "Formula handouts affect breastfeeding," Nation's Health; Mar2008, Vol. 38 Issue 2, p4.
Followed a link on Wikipedia:
History of baby formula with additional links to primary sources.
"The Food Timeline – baby food history notes," The Food Timeline. Lynne Olver 2004
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbaby.html
patrick nagle
My Duct Tape Museum
I took a whirlwind tour of JSTOR, Google, Google Scholar, Josiah, Wikipedia, and the depths of my own collection of associations, and here are some things with which I came up:
Apollo 13. Dir. Ron Howard. Perf. Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon. 1995.
Constantine, Denny G. "Batproofing of Buildings by Installation of Valvelike Devices in Entryways". The Journal of Wildlife Management April 1982: 507-513.
Davis, Jeffrey L.. "A Device to Safely Remove Immobilized Mountain Lions from Trees and Cliffs". Wildlife Society Bulletin Autumn 1996: 537-539.
D.C. "Duct Tape Sticks It to Warts". Science News November 16 2002: 317.
And just in case Apollo 13 doesn't count as a source, here's this, too:
Priest, Dana, and Dan Eggen. "Terror Suspect Alleges Torture: Detainee Says U.S. Sent Him to Egypt Before Guantanamo."Washington Post 6 Jan. 2005: A01.
- Crow Jonah Norlander
My Frame Museum
The Fibonacci Sequence, Pistoletto on frames, Woolf on frames, 16th century conception of frames, framemakers, stolen frames, angry framemakers...
i found mostly everything through josiah
Woolf, Virginia. The Frames of Art and Life
New York: Miller, C. Ruth, 1988
Evans, Michael. Claude Simons and the transgression of modern art.
New York: St Martin's Press, 1988.
Verougstraete-Marcq, Hélène. Cadres et supports dans la peinture flamande aux 15e et 16e siècles
Heure-le-Romain : H. Verougstraete-Marcq, 1989
Heydenryk, Henry. The art and history of frames; an inquiry into the enhancement of paintings
New York, J.H. Heineman, 1963
i found mostly everything through josiah
Woolf, Virginia. The Frames of Art and Life
New York: Miller, C. Ruth, 1988
Evans, Michael. Claude Simons and the transgression of modern art.
New York: St Martin's Press, 1988.
Verougstraete-Marcq, Hélène. Cadres et supports dans la peinture flamande aux 15e et 16e siècles
Heure-le-Romain : H. Verougstraete-Marcq, 1989
Heydenryk, Henry. The art and history of frames; an inquiry into the enhancement of paintings
New York, J.H. Heineman, 1963
My Website Museum
A preview of upcoming installations and private collections etc:
Curator: Evan Donahue
Professor discussing place and use of websites and other technology in teaching
Koeber, Charles. "Introducing Multimedia Presentations And A Course Website To An
Introductory Sociology Course: How Technology Shapes Student Perceptions Of Teaching
Effectiveness." Teaching Sociology 33 (2005): 285-300.
Art student makes a website for an african culture public playground near her home and writes article about impetus, process, and result.
Colman, Alison. "The Kwanzaa Playground." The Kwanzaa Playground. 3 May 2000. 30 Sept.
2008.
Website calling attention to displaced refugees resulting from israel's instantiation.
Sakakini, ed. "Nakba." Nakba. InterTech Co. 30 Sept. 2008.
Company focused on offering training for design and maintenance of business website.
United Focus, ed. "United Focus." United Focus. 2008. United Focus. 30 Sept. 2008
.
Article concerning China's official policy stance towards web content.
"Chinese websites issue joint proposal for "civilized management" of Internet." BBC 11 Apr.
2006.
Curator: Evan Donahue
Professor discussing place and use of websites and other technology in teaching
Koeber, Charles. "Introducing Multimedia Presentations And A Course Website To An
Introductory Sociology Course: How Technology Shapes Student Perceptions Of Teaching
Effectiveness." Teaching Sociology 33 (2005): 285-300.
Art student makes a website for an african culture public playground near her home and writes article about impetus, process, and result.
Colman, Alison. "The Kwanzaa Playground." The Kwanzaa Playground. 3 May 2000. 30 Sept.
2008
Website calling attention to displaced refugees resulting from israel's instantiation.
Sakakini, ed. "Nakba." Nakba. InterTech Co. 30 Sept. 2008
Company focused on offering training for design and maintenance of business website.
United Focus, ed. "United Focus." United Focus. 2008. United Focus. 30 Sept. 2008
Article concerning China's official policy stance towards web content.
"Chinese websites issue joint proposal for "civilized management" of Internet." BBC 11 Apr.
2006.
My Broom Museum
1) From our libraries:
Swift, Jonathan. A Meditation upon a Broomstick, and Somewhat Beside;of the Same Author's. London: E. Curll, 1710.
2) From LexisNexis:
Mulchrone, Patrick. "Va Va Broom ; Handles Taped to Pedals by Legless Man in Car Chase." The Mirror November 29 2006, sec. NEWS: 27.
3) Also from LexisNexis:
Jr, Frank Morring. "Space Station Crew Pulls Out Spare ' Broom'." Aerospace Daily & Defense Report January 3 2008: 5.
4) Stokowski, Leopold, et al. Fantasia. Deluxe commemorative ed. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Home Video, 1992.
Specifically, the sorcerer's apprentice scene. Also, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUCpCimC2f4&feature=related
Jump to ~2:40 for the first broomy appearance.
-Sam Dean
Swift, Jonathan. A Meditation upon a Broomstick, and Somewhat Beside;of the Same Author's. London: E. Curll, 1710.
2) From LexisNexis:
Mulchrone, Patrick. "Va Va Broom ; Handles Taped to Pedals by Legless Man in Car Chase." The Mirror November 29 2006, sec. NEWS: 27.
3) Also from LexisNexis:
Jr, Frank Morring. "Space Station Crew Pulls Out Spare ' Broom'." Aerospace Daily & Defense Report January 3 2008: 5.
4) Stokowski, Leopold, et al. Fantasia. Deluxe commemorative ed. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Home Video, 1992.
Specifically, the sorcerer's apprentice scene. Also, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUCpCimC2f4&feature=related
Jump to ~2:40 for the first broomy appearance.
-Sam Dean
My Pneumatic Tube Museum
A study in mail and technology: New York's pneumatic tube postal system, 1897-1953, which moved mail underneath the city with suction in pipes; its demise and replacement with modern mail trucks; pneumatic systems for human transit, like the Beach subway, 1870; science fiction and conspiracy theories
Arlinghaus, Sandra Lach. Down the mail tubes: the pressured postal era, 1853-1984. Ann Arbor: Institute of Mathematical Geography, 1985.
“Excerpts from the testimony before the Joint commission to investigate the postal service ... also, report of the commission relative to pneumatic-tube service, submitted to Congress January 14, 1901.” United States Commission to Investigate the Postal Service. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1917.
Fuller, Wayne E. Morality and the mail in nineteenth-century America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003.
As the origin of the term “memory hole”:
"In the walls of the cubicle there were three orifices. To the right of the speakwrite, a small pneumatic tube for written messages, to the left, a larger one for newspapers; and in the side wall, within easy reach of Winston's arm, a large oblong slit protected by a wire grating. This last was for the disposal of waste paper. Similar slits existed in thousands or tens of thousands throughout the building, not only in every room but at short intervals in every corridor. For some reason they were nicknamed memory holes. When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building." Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Rosetta Books, 2000.
-Emily Segal
My Rubber Stamp Museum
My Rubber Stamp Museum
Israeli Passport Stamps, Rubber Plantations, Goodyear, Scrapbooking Moms, Librarians and Postal Workers
Newland, H. Osman. The Romance of Commerce: A Popular Account of the Production of Cereals, Tea, Coffee, Rubber, &c.&c &c. London: Seeley, 1920
Stanfield, Michael Edward. Red Rubber, Bleeding Trees: Violence, Slavery, and Empire in Northwest Amazonia, 1850-1933. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1998.
Janssen, Rudd. The TAM Rubber Stamp Archive. 25 September 2008 http://www.iuoma.org/rub_arch.html
Miller, Joni K. and Lowry Thompson. "History of Rubber Stamps." The Rubber Stamp Albumn. New York: Workman, 1978 http://www.tealdragon.net/rs/rshist.htm
--Hans Vermy
Israeli Passport Stamps, Rubber Plantations, Goodyear, Scrapbooking Moms, Librarians and Postal Workers
Newland, H. Osman. The Romance of Commerce: A Popular Account of the Production of Cereals, Tea, Coffee, Rubber, &c.&c &c. London: Seeley, 1920
Stanfield, Michael Edward. Red Rubber, Bleeding Trees: Violence, Slavery, and Empire in Northwest Amazonia, 1850-1933. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1998.
Janssen, Rudd. The TAM Rubber Stamp Archive. 25 September 2008 http://www.iuoma.org/rub_arch.html
Miller, Joni K. and Lowry Thompson. "History of Rubber Stamps." The Rubber Stamp Albumn. New York: Workman, 1978
--Hans Vermy
HAIR
I have chosen to create My Hair Museum.
Wall Street Journal article found on Yale’s website:
Angwin, Julia. “A Head Trip: Indian Hair Finds Parts in Hollywood.” Wall Street Journal. 30 Sept 2008. 21 Aug 2003.
From JSTOR:
Berry, Esther R. “The zombie commodity: hair and the politics of its globalization." Postcolonial Studies. 11.1 (2008): 63-84.
Leach, E. R. “Magical Hair.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 88.2 (1958): 147-164.
From an English-language German newspaper:
Sandberg, Britta. “Hindu Locks Keep Hair Tradu Humming.” Spiegel Online International. 30 Sept 2008. 19 Feb 2008.
--Nicole Halmi
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