RELATED TERMS: Narratology; Reception theory and reader response criticism; Interaction Design Literary theory is the study and analysis of literature in general. Narratology can be considered a branch of literary theory. More recent literary theory tends to move away from earlier critical approaches, for example, Russian Formalism, New Criticism and French structuralist narratology of theContinue reading “Literary Theory”
Author Archives: aparsons474
Ergodic
RELATED TERMS: Aleatory The term ‘ergodic’ might be said to occupy a similar territory to that of aleatory. Bringing together two Greek roots, ergon meaning work and hodos meaning path, ergodic is a term borrowed from physics by Espen Aarseth (1997: 2) who uses it to suggest that a, “nontrivial effort is required to allow the reader to traverseContinue reading “Ergodic”
Critical Race Theory
RELATED TERMS: Afrofuturism; Afro-Pessimism; Black Studies; Intersectionality Critical race theory, as a movement, is a collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism and power. While traditional civil rights discourse stresses incrementalism and gradual progress, by contrast critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order,Continue reading “Critical Race Theory”
The Everyday and Design
RELATED TERMS: Alltäglichkeit; Dasein; De Certeau; Feminism and Materialism; Heidegger; Lefebvre; Lifeworld, Lebenswelt, Umwelt; Modernism; Sabi and Wabi-Sabi; Situationist International Use for: le quotidien “Ordinary life, [Barry Cryer] used to say, is badly written, so he infused it with jokes.” (Andrew Martin, 2023) “Design and the everyday are inextricably intertwined. Because it plays such aContinue reading “The Everyday and Design”
Fiction
RELATED TERMS: (Of) Grammatography In the early 15th century, ficcioun meant that which is invented or imagined in the mind. The word derived from the Old French ficcion, which meant dissimulation, ruse; or invention and fabrication in the 13th century. This, in turn derived directly from the Latin fictionem, meaning a fashioning or feigning. ThisContinue reading “Fiction”
Libidinal Economy – Part 1
RELATED TERMS: Design, Axiology and Value – Part 1; Fordism and Post-Fordism; Disciplinary Societies and Societies of Control “It is said that the reader of an American magazine was so disturbed by an article on the subject of smoking and cancer that he decided to give up reading.” (Anecdote cited by Tim Harford, 2025) InContinue reading “Libidinal Economy – Part 1”
Mimesis and Diegesis
RELATED TERMS: Diégèse and Diegesis Plato and Aristotle define literary and dramatic genres in terms of the form of enunciation. They distinguish between diegesis, reported speech which articulates the writer’s authorial voice, and mimesis, in which the writer speaks, as if directly, through the characters. This sense of diegesis differs from that developed by EtienneContinue reading “Mimesis and Diegesis”
Narrative environments – Celia Pearce
RELATED TERMS: Artifactuality and Actuvirtuality; Design of Narrative Environments; Narrative Environments The following entry brings to attention a number of key themes for the design of narrative environments. They include: storytelling; social imaginaries; immersion; spatial narrative; experience design; illusion of authenticity; agency; identity; community; persistent community; participation; to live; to visit; guest; citizen; stranger; polity;Continue reading “Narrative environments – Celia Pearce”
Whiteness Studies
RELATED TERMS: Black Studies; Intersectionality; Native Studies Use for: Critical Whiteness Studies Kenan Malik (2022) discusses the work of American historian Tyler Stovall, particularly his final book, White Freedom, a book, Malik says, that while demonstrating the significance of his work also exhibits the confusions that plague contemporary thinking about race. For Stovall, liberty andContinue reading “Whiteness Studies”
Ethnomethodology
RELATED TERMS: Actor-Network Theory; Anthropology; Ethnography; Method and methodology; Sociology; Participants Ethnomethodology is an approach within sociology initiated by Harold Garfinkel (1984, 1967). It seeks to uncover the methods and social competence that people, as members of social groups, employ in constructing their sense of social reality. Ethnomethodology is mentioned by Bruno Latour (2005, fn.Continue reading “Ethnomethodology”
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