RELATED TERMS: Narratology; Protagonist; Human Actantiality In The Hero with a thousand faces, Joseph Campbell examines many of the world’s heroic myths and stories. He ties the processes of transformation in those stories of the heroic journey to the quest to know the truest self, a task which, he avers, takes much time. Campbell shows how,Continue reading “(The) Heroic”
Author Archives: aparsons474
Happenings
RELATED TERMS: Avant-garde movements; Environments – Art; Installation Art; Performance and Performativity Happenings, the forerunners of performance art, emerged from the theatrical elements of dada and surrealism. American artist Allan Kaprow first used the term in his 1959 work ‘18 Happenings in 6 Parts’ which took place over six days from 4–10 October 1959 atContinue reading “Happenings”
Habitus
RELATED TERMS: Habitat The Greek term hexis was translated into the Latin word habitus. Hexis, habitus or disposition is a general term for a person’s readiness to act in a certain way. It finds expression in acts of particular virtues or vices like honesty, generosity, cheerfulness, jealousy or cruelty. The concept of habitus was introduced into anthropology by MarcelContinue reading “Habitus”
Habitat
RELATED TERMS: Architecture; Ecology; Habitus; Niche; Environment According to Prabakaran Mahdu (2013), “Habitat is not plain place of habitation. It is a field of negotiations. Habitats transform. The network of relationships, changes in membership patterns, transitions in the power and influence of constituents and the micro- politics of negotiations transform habitats. Transformed habitats gravitate the internal sinews andContinue reading “Habitat”
Genre
RELATED TERMS: Story (fabula) and Plot (sjuzet or sjuzhet); Defamiliarisation, Ostranenie or making strange Russian formalism distinguishes three aspects of story, i.e. fabula, sjuzet, and forma, which can roughly be translated as theme, discourse and genre. The first two terms, fabula and sjuzet, have been described by modern literary theorists as, respectively, the timeless orContinue reading “Genre”
Genealogy – Nietzsche
RELATED TERMS: Agonism and avant-gardism; Apparatus – Dispositif; Critical thinking; Historicism; Nihilism; Ontological designing; Philosophy Genealogy, as defined by Nietzsche, in as far as it is an approach to historicity, meaning-production and values, has great relevance for design practices, as it permits a particular kind of understanding of the limitations of historicism in understanding historicalContinue reading “Genealogy – Nietzsche”
Framing Narrative
RELATED TERMS: Narratology; Metalepsis; Use for: Frame narrative A framing narrative contains a second, or further, embedded narrative, or narratives, for which it provides a context or setting. Sometimes the framing narrative begins and ends the narrative as a whole, providing book ends. At other times, it is simply present at the beginning of theContinue reading “Framing Narrative”
Hochschule für Gestaltung
RELATED TERMS: Bauhaus; Black Mountain College; Deutscher Werkbund The Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm (Ulm Institute of Design) was founded in 1953. It closed in 1968 amid the cultural and political upheaval of the period. What made Ulm special was the idea that design should be understood and practiced as a socially relevant and ultimatelyContinue reading “Hochschule für Gestaltung”
Focalisation
RELATED TERMS: Agon; Agonistic politics – Mouffe; Dramatic conflict Use for: Focalization “Are you genuine? or just a play-actor? A representative? or the actual thing represented? — Ultimately you are even just an imitation play-actor … Second question for the conscience.” (Nietzsche, 1998: 9) Focalisation is a valuable concept for design practices because it facilitatesContinue reading “Focalisation”
The Commodity
RELATED TERMS: Alienation; Reification; Historical materialism – Marxism “A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.” Marx (1976: 163) “The belief systems of consumption and commodity have been exposed as empty.” (Brody, 2010)Continue reading “The Commodity”
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