Brainstorming: handmade and 3-D printed prostheses (fish, turtles, etc.)-don't need to euthanize the animals; shows humanity and compassion robots in the home: robots as machines and parts-can't connect to them; domestic robots-appliances; robots anthropomorphized; robotic pets-can connect to them more than machines and parts PARO, the baby seal robot-therapy and companionship for the elderly Haraway's definition of a cyborg: “A cyborg is a cybernetic organization, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction” (291). Robots and fiction

Digital Animals: Inhabiting the Intersections of Nature, Culture, and Technology. [Due June 1, 2015] full name / name of organization: TRACE Journal - TRACE@UF contact email: mbianchi@ufl.edu Digital Animals: Inhabiting the Intersections of Nature, Culture, and Technology TRACE publishes online peer-reviewed collections in ecology, posthumanism, and media studies. Providing an interdisciplinary forum for scholars, we focus on the ethical and material impact of technology. We welcome submissions in a variety of media that engage cultures, theories, and environments to “trace” the connections across and within various ecologies. The first issue of TRACE explores current conversations at the intersection of animal studies and digital media studies. Animal studies scholars argue that animals influence the ways we engage with philosophy, critical theory, literature, and filmic technologies. Moreover, posthumanist theorists, such as Cary Wolfe and Donna Haraway, challenge how humans relate to animals--decentering humans as the reference for understanding relationships between nature and technology. TRACE’s Digital Animals: Inhabiting the Intersections of Nature, Culture, and Technology extends conversations by examining the role of digital media in animal lives and representations. Building on recent conversation in Antennae’s “Virtual Animals” and similar publications, TRACE questions how digital technology augments human-animal interactions and reimagines alterity, agency, affect, identity, embodiment, and experience. Animals influence digital media by challenging anthroponormative approaches to technology use and design. From drone surveillance systems shaped like sharks to ipad apps for cats - animals drive innovations in digital technology. This issue invites scholars to explore the shared ecology of animals and technology. Contributions should make evident how cultures conceptualize nonhuman species, as well as illustrate how digital media can either reify or challenge established perceptions. Topics for papers may include: • Representations of animals in games, social media, apps, hypertexts, internet memes, etc. • Digital media designed for nonhuman animals • Digital imaging, modeling, motion capture, or 3D printing of or related to animals • Artificial intelligence • Animal robotics and prostheses • Microchipping, tagging, and other mechanisms of digital tracking • The roles of digital media in animal rights advocacy or ethics • Posthumanism and systems theory

Notes

The King of Masks

Summary from IMDB:

Wang Bianlian is an aging street performer known as the King of Mask for his mastery of Sichuan Change Art in a true story. His wife left him with and infant son over 30 years ago. The son died from illness at age 10. This left Wang a melancholy loner aching for a male descendent to learn his rare and dying art. A famous master performer of the Sichuan Opera offers to bring him into his act, thus giving Wang fame and possible fortune, but Wang opts for staying the simple street performer. Then, one night after a performance he is sold a young boy by a slave trader posing as the boy's parent. "Grandpa" finds new joy in life as he plans to teach "Doggie" (an affectionate term often used for young children in China) his art. All is well until Doggie is found out to really be a girl.

Master Liang, a famous impersonator of female parts at the Sichuan Opera, is enchanted by the art of the street performer Wang, known as the King of Masks. He offers him an engagement at the opera, but Wang says he is a solitary by nature. His only sorrow is that he has no male descendant who can carry on the art of the changing masks after his death. To solve the problem Wang buys an 8 year old orphan. His happiness turns into dejection, when he finds out that "the boy" actually is a girl. Despite his displeasure he keeps the girl and trains her as an acrobat. One evening he takes her to a performance of the opera "Attaining Nirvana". There Master Liang plays a princess, who hangs from the ceiling by a rope, which she threatens to cut if the officers don't stop the execution of her father, the emperor. Some days later the girl rescues a 4 year old boy from his confinement by some child-traders. Believing he is an orphan, she brings him to Wang, who she knows is longing for a male inheritor. But the boy is actually kidnapped from a wealthy family, and soon Wang is accused of the robbery and sentenced to death. To persuade Master Liang to help her rescue Wang, the girl climbs the roof of the opera house, ties a rope around her leg and hangs to it from the ceiling. She threatens to cut the rope, and when she actually does this, Master Liang throws himself forward and catches her. He is moved by her action and decides to do whatever he can to help the girl rescue Wang.

Ideas:
They're in the 1930s, still in feudalism.
Masks as folk tradition-tie to own culture/family
Masks as skill/job-he relies on it for survival, bread and butter.
Masks as performance-entertains townspeople; intersection of art/body
Masks as tools to hide emotions-escape from past/tragedy (escapism)
Her crossdressing is a mask (passing): equalization of sexes modernizes the old practice; the girl's cunning saves their lives; trickery/trickster/disguise/hide the truth-pretend to be something you're not
Masks as personal space-place to build relationship; student/teacher dichotomy-rapport becomes stronger
Masks as deceit: scammers, child traffickers, slave drivers, thieves, liars, cheaters

Masks of Modernity

The Masks of Modernity: Un/covering Global Modernisms (Proposals due May 15 )

full name / name of organization: Andrew Reynolds & Bonnie Roos

contact email: areynolds@wtamu.edu, broos@wtamu.edu

The Masks of Modernity: Un/covering Global Modernisms

The success of Modernist studies is attributable in part to its early recognition of its global scope and ambitions. However, despite laudable attempts to engage cultural difference and cultural studies texts within the discipline, a disconnect remains between transatlantic Modernist studies and global modernisms proper—from Hispanic and Brazilian “Modernismos” to Asian Modernisms to African Modernist works. In the history of Modernism/Modernity, for example, only one article has ever addressed the Spanish American modernist tradition. Very few have included examples of Asian or African modernisms. Our proposed collection seeks to begin a conversation about global modernisms in the broadest and most comparative sense.

The theme of masks serves as a common ground for various global modernisms. From Japanese Kabuki masks, African spiritual masks, Mexican pre-Columbian masks, to the masks of Greek Theater, masks have played a prominent role in Modernist literary, cultural, and artistic discourses. We think of masks not only as a search for identity through connection with the past and incorporated into various works of the Modernist period, but also as a universal construct of modern existence, a simulacrum, representing that which we must be to survive, that which we aspire to be in our dreams, or that which we fear we truly are. In this sense, we might understand masks as a metaphor, a façade that serves to reveal, veil, or underscore the “truth,” to describe the tensions and contradictions of Modernism in a given cultural context.
The proposed anthology will be produced in English, and seeks to explore representations of masks in Modernist texts in all of their varieties. Imaginative, interdisciplinary and cultural studies approaches are encouraged.

Please email 300-500-word proposals and a brief biography by May 15 to Andrew Reynolds, areynolds@wtamu.edu or Bonnie Roos, broos@wtamu.edu. Please forward as appropriate.

Possible topics might include (but are in no way limited to) the following:
• Masks in art, literature, cinema, dance, architecture, cultural studies, etc.
• The “Masking” of Eurocentrism through foreign experience and exoticized representations
• The use of fashion, kitsch and the everyday to “mask” artistic and literary intentionality
• The theme of masks and play as a Modernist trope
• Western vs. Non-Western masks during Modernism
• Modernism “masking” colonialist and imperialist regimes
• Masks as a part of ritual and performance in Modernist art and literature
• Masks and the intersection of art and the body during Modernism
• Visual and literary abstraction vs. realism through the use of masks
• “Masking” gender roles during Modernism
• The use of masks in folk traditions as represented in Modernism
• Psychoanalysis as a method of seeing behind the mask
• Robotics, Prosthesis or Cybernetics as masks of self
• “Passing” as a form of Modernist mask
• The mask as an iteration of the posthuman, decentered subject
• Masking as a representation/precursor of the collective mind
• Using masks to produce virtual and artificial spaces
• Costuming, cosmetics and design

notes for Pushing Daisies proposal

General piece on why Pushing Daisies appeals to our inner child
•Theory of neoteny: the retention of childlike attributes into adulthood, such as sensitivity, curiosity, creativity, humor, wonder, joy, imagination and playfulness believed to be essential to identifying and creating value, enabling people and organizations to embrace the intense change caused by the dynamic effects of technology on our society.
•Big production: We’re being told and are watching a story-third-person omniscient narration (“observe the situation either through the senses and thoughts of more than one character or through an overarching godlike perspective that sees and knows everything that happens and everything the characters are thinking”) and elaborate sets are theater-like; Visual images: bright colors, stage-like sets, costumes; music and musicals
•Word play/nomenclature
•Whimsy/imaginative/unusual situations-people die in “funny” ways (does this make death less scary?)

Pushing Daisies Nurtures the Inner Child
Neoteny, generally defined as “the retention of youthful qualities by adults,” has been a long-time scientific theory associated with the maturity of animals. However, in the past couple decades, psychologists have been associating neoteny with play and other psychologically-critical characteristics we retain from childhood such as sensitivity, curiosity, creativity, humor, wonder, joy, imagination, and much more. In my article, I would like to apply the theory of neoteny to show why Pushing Daisies is a show that appeals to the inner child in all of us through its production, word play, and quirky characters and situations.



Geeks and Geezers -Warren G. Bennis, Robert J. Thomas

“The dictionary defines ‘neoteny’ as ‘the retention of youthful qualities by adults.’ However, the authors argue that neoteny is much more than that, being positive qualities associated with being young: curiosity, playfulness, eagerness, fearlessness, warmth energy (20).

The authors exemplify Walt Disney who said, “People who have worked with me say I am ‘innocence in action.’ They say I have the innocence and unselfconscious-ness as a child. Maybe I have. I still look at the world with uncontaminated wonder” (20-21).

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul By Stuart Brown, Christopher Vaughan
“Neoteny has fostered civilization, the arts, and music” (58).

results

Bleh...didn't get to write this one, but it still interests me a lot, and I want to keep working on it for something in the future.

Next, I want to write a theoretical piece on Pushing Daisies. Yay!

Feedback from Noah

This is interesting stuff. Once I read the book I could probably be of more help, but, from what you've told me, it seems like this would be ripe for a post-colonial interpretation. For instance, the patriarchal notion that a Gorilla (third world) must be educated in the way of humans (first world) - that it must be saved from its primitive nature - smacks of imperialism. And yet, the gorilla doesn't use human means of communication, but instead employs a unique medium, telepathy, to demonstrate its worth. This mirrors one of the big themes in post-colonial literature. That is, the idea that the formerly colonized people of the world need to find a voice independent and free from the influence of remnant imperialist ideologies. Rather than shifting from an imperialism perpetrated by the threat of physical violence to one of cultural, intellectual, and economic violence, the idea is that the people's of the former third world should and are developing a new paradigm.

Anyway, that's the lit theory perspective. I don't really know about rhetoric stuff, though.

notes

PHILOSOPHICAL/RHETORICAL
Socrates [Wikipedia]-internal nature is more important than external nature; man > world
the knowledge that affects us is worthy of possessing
1) Know thyself. 2) Virtue is knowledge. 3) Virtue is happiness
spiritual degradation is mental degradation
Socratic questioning: To solve a problem, it would be broken down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually distill the answer you seek. The influence of this approach is most strongly felt today in the use of the Scientific Method, in which hypothesis is the first stage. The development and practice of this method is one of Socrates' most enduring contributions, and is a key factor in earning his mantle as the father of political philosophy, ethics or moral philosophy, and as a figurehead of all the central themes in Western philosophy.
To illustrate the use of the Socratic method; a series of questions are posed to help a person or group to determine their underlying beliefs and the extent of their knowledge. The Socratic method is a negative method of hypothesis elimination, in that better hypotheses are found by steadily identifying and eliminating those which lead to contradictions. It was designed to force one to examine one's own beliefs and the validity of such beliefs. In fact, Socrates once said, "I know you won't believe me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to question oneself and others."

POLITICAL
-need for environmental education; save the world one student at a time; we need to be retaught and learn to listen to nature (Derrick Jensen); BUT world can’t accept such a ‘revolutionary’ idea
-revisit the past to see mistakes made; consequences of those mistakes that we must live with
-need new perspectives/counterarguments
-imperialism, colonialism of zoos (domestication-curing primitivism; education-curing ignorance)
-man vs. beast, we marvel at how animals can communicate, i.e. Koko the ‘talking’ gorilla, sign language
-anthropomorphism – when we relate to animals, we apply human characteristics to them (imperialistic?) , i.e. Dog Whisperer
-need for (cultural?) diversity (that includes animals?), philosophy, and culture

QUINN/ISHMAEL
Story elements
-magical realism
-spiritual tone (Zen or Buddhist?)
-“Teacher seeks pupil, must have an earnest desire to save the world” – newspaper ad
-Socratic dialogue
-leavers vs. takers
-talking gorilla-strange and ungodly yet less disturbing than a telepathic gorilla but telepathic is more realistic. All about finding the connection/s between man and beast.

Characters
-erudite gorilla [spokesperson/representative for animals? silverback gorilla-closest to humans, easier to communicate with them] endangered animal – victim of poaching (gorilla head, feet, paws [ashtrays]), bushmeat, commercial hunting, killed for no reason-sport, habitat destruction, Ebola
can't speak but he's telepathic, learned human language and culture from benefactor, bend rules of science/possibility, wild --> zoo --> raised by benefactor-civilized--> omniscient (student has surpassed the master?) narrator sees him as gorilla first and 'person' (teacher/ friend) later

Questions:
-Why the name ‘Ishmael?’ Moby Dick’s narrator, tell it like it is, voice of reason? Watch Ahab destroy himself
-Why is Ishmael a gorilla? Why is he male? :P Why Socrates?
-Has Ishmael 'evolved?' or 'gone through evolution?'
-Why does Ishmael only ask for one student in the ad? How many did he expect—only one?
-Do animals have the capacity to teach us? (communication)

Need to find out:
-Is Ishmael literate? (read and write?)
-Does he employ positive listening rhetoric or dominate the convo like Socrates does?

notes from prompt

-the animal question, human-animal relation and its cultural, rhetorical, and political implications, representation of animals and the human-animal relationship in literature, film, and popular culture, discourses of modernity (interdependence of discourses of race and racism, patriarchy, heterosexism, colonialism, and animality), rhetorical function of animals in political discourse, postmodern art, philosophy, and poststructuralist theory; rhetoric of the animal rights movement (legal efforts to define some species of animals as “persons”), relation of animal cruelty to human violence against humans (serial and mass murder, terrorism, and genocide); domestication as rhetoric of domination; cultural function of zoos in a postcolonial world; the rhetorical and political uses of anthropomorphism; the ethics and politics of animal industries (factory farming and pet industries), complexities of our relationships with nonhuman animals and our ethical obligations to them

So many decisions...

the CFP i'm working on

Human-Animal Relation (Journal Issue; August 1, 2009)

Lynn Worsham/JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Poltiics
email: worsham@ilstu.edu

cfp categories: American, childrens_literature, cultural_studies_and_historical_ approaches, film_and_television, gender_studies_and_sexuality, postcolonial, theory, rhetoric_and_composition, science_and_culture, twentieth_century_and_beyond

CALL FOR PAPERS: Special Issue of JAC

In the context of the widespread intoxication with digital technology, JAC plans a special issue that reconsiders what Jacques Derrida calls “the question of the animal.” As we become persuaded by the ways in which “human being” and human existence are forever altered by digital technologies, the animal question continues to reassert itself, challenging us to develop a more rigorous understanding of the myriad ways in which nonhuman animals historically have served to define what it means to be “human.”

We invite full-length theoretical articles that address a wide range of topics related to the animal question, especially the human-animal relation and its cultural, rhetorical, and political implications. We are particularly interested in articles that explore the various rhetorics at work in the representation of animals and the human-animal relationship in literature, film, and popular culture.

We are also interested in historical articles that examine the discourses of modernity, especially the interdependence of discourses of race and racism, patriarchy, heterosexism, colonialism, and animality. Also of interest are articles that examine the rhetorical function of animals in political discourse, postmodern art, philosophy, and poststructuralist theory.

Other topics of interest include the rhetoric of the animal rights movement, including recent legal efforts to define some species of animals as “persons”; the relation of animal cruelty to human violence against humans, including serial and mass murder, terrorism, and genocide; the history and practice of domestication as a rhetoric of domination; the cultural function of zoos in a postcolonial world; the rhetorical and political uses of anthropomorphism; the ethics and politics of animal industries, especially factory farming and pet industries; and the complexities of our relationships with nonhuman animals and our ethical obligations to them.

Articles should be conceived as theoretical contributions both to the emerging interdisciplinary field of animal studies and to the interdisciplinary field of rhetorical theory, broadly conceived. We are not interested in sentimentalized personal narratives detached from scholarly and theoretical conversations about the human-nonhuman animal relation. JAC is an interdisciplinary theoretical journal devoted to the study of rhetoric, discourse, culture, and politics. Deadline for submissions: August 1, 2009. Send inquiries and submissions to Lynn Worsham, Editor, JAC at worsham@ilstu.edu; or to Campus Box 4240; Illinois State University; Normal, IL; 61790.

it's aliiiiiiiiive

I decided to resurrect my old research methods blog because it was a time when I was actively researching. Now, I'm going to use it as a way to brainstorm, keep, and organize all my new ideas. Also, I like the layout and the title ;)

*sniff sniff*

Always hard to say goodbye.

Well, I surely thank everyone with their support during the whole process. Dr. B, Eric, and Alex, you have been great!

I bid thee farewell, project, and may see you again when I go digging for dissertation topics. :)