Thing Theory
Thing theory is a branch of critical theory that focuses on human–object interactions in literature and culture. It borrows from Heidegger's distinction between objects and things, which posits that an object becomes a thing when it can no longer serve its common function. The Thing in Thing Theory is conceptually like Jacques Lacan's Real; Felluga states that it is influenced by Actor-network theory and the work of Bruno Latour. For University of Chicago Professor Bill Brown, objects are items for which subjects have a known and clear sense of place, use and role. Things, on the other hand, manifest themselves once they interact with our bodies unexpectedly, break down, malfunction, shed their encoded social values, or elude our understanding. When one encounters an object which breaks outside of its expected, recognizable use, it causes a moment of judgement, which in turn causes a historical or narrative reconfiguration between the subject and the object which Brown refers ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Critical Theory
Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are fundamentally shaped by power dynamics between dominant and oppressed groups. Beyond just understanding and critiquing these dynamics, it explicitly aims to transform society through praxis and collective action with an explicit sociopolitical purpose.Ludovisi, S.G. ed., 2015. Critical theory and the challenge of praxis: Beyond reification. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Critical theory's main tenets center on analyzing systemic power relations in society, focusing on the dynamics between groups with different levels of social, economic, and institutional power. Unlike traditional social theories that aim primarily to describe and understand society, critical theory explicitly seeks to critique and transform it. Thus, it positions itself as bot ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hoarding
Hoarding is the act of engaging in excessive acquisition of items that are not needed or for which no space is available. Civil unrest or the threat of natural disasters may lead people to hoard foodstuffs, water, gasoline, and other essentials that they believe will soon be in short supply. Survivalists, also known as preppers, often stockpile large supplies of these items in anticipation of a large-scale disaster event. Other items commonly hoarded include coins considered to have an intrinsic value, such as those minted in silver, or gold, as well as collectibles, jewelry, precious metals and other luxuries. According to previous studies, anthropomorphism, or the propensity to attribute human characteristics to non-human items, has been associated with hoarding. Additionally, the findings stated that younger individuals had more substantial hoarding and anthropomorphizing cognitions and behaviors, and women demonstrated stronger early anthropomorphizing behaviors compared to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism ( ) is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity on the planet. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism. From an anthropocentric perspective, humankind is seen as separate from nature and superior to it, and other entities (animals, plants, minerals, etc.) are viewed as resources for humans to use. It is possible to distinguish between at least three types of anthropocentrism: perceptual anthropocentrism (which "characterizes paradigms informed by sense-data from human sensory organs"); descriptive anthropocentrism (which "characterizes paradigms that begin from, center upon, or are ordered around ''Homo sapiens'' / ‘the human'"); and normative anthropocentrism (which "characterizes paradigms that make assumptions or assertions about the superiority of ''Homo sapiens'', its capacities, the primacy of its values, rits position in the universe" ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of the earliest American research universities and is a founding member of the Association of American Universities. In the fall of 2023, the university employed 8,189 faculty members and enrolled 52,065 students in its programs. The university is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". It consists of nineteen colleges and offers 250 degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The university is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2021, it ranked third among American universities in List of countries by research and development spending, research expe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church (Manhattan), Trinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York (state), New York and the fifth-First university in the United States, oldest in the United States. Columbia was established as a Colonial colleges, colonial college by royal charter under George II of Great Britain. It was renamed Columbia College (New York), Columbia College in 1784 following the American Revolution, and in 1787 was placed under Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, a private board of trustees headed by former students Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. In 1896, the campus was moved to its current location in Morningside Heights and renamed Columbia University. Columbia is organized into twenty schoo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Typewriter Eraser, Scale X
''Typewriter Eraser, Scale X'' is a sculpture of a large-scale typewriter eraser by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Constructed in 1999, this model is located at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Other models are also located at Seattle Center near the Museum of Pop Culture, and CityCenter, Paradise. Typewriter Eraser, Scale X is on view at the Norton Museum of Art The Norton Museum of Art is an art museum in West Palm Beach, Florida. The museum has a collection that includes over 8,200 works, with a concentration in Western art history, European, Visual arts of the United States, American, and Chinese art .... See also * List of public art in Washington, D.C., Ward 2 * List of works by Oldenburg and van Bruggen References External links''Typewriter Eraser, Scale X'' Janis Goodman, ''WETA'' 1999 sculptures Fiberglass sculptures in the United States National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Outdoor sculptures in Seattle Olympic Sculpture Pa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor best known for his public art installations, typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions of everyday objects. Many of his works were made in collaboration with his wife, Coosje van Bruggen, who died in 2009; they had been married for 32 years. Oldenburg lived and worked in New York City. Early life and education Claes Oldenburg was born on January 28, 1929, in Stockholm, the son of Gösta Oldenburg and his wife Sigrid Elisabeth née Lindforss. His father was then a Swedish diplomat stationed in New York and in 1936 was appointed consul general of Sweden to Chicago where Oldenburg grew up, attending the Latin School of Chicago. He studied literature and art history at Yale University [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nicholas Thomas (anthropologist)
Nicholas Jeremy Thomas (born 1960) is an Australian-born anthropologist, Professor of Historical Anthropology, and Director, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge since 2006, and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge since 2007. Career Thomas was born in Australia in 1960. In 1984 he travelled to the Pacific Islands to research his PhD thesis on the Marquesas Islands. He has worked in Fiji and New Zealand, various archives and museums in Europe, North America, and in the Pacific region. He was elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1997, and around that time was also the inaugural Director of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research (CCR) at the Australian National University. Thomas was elected to the British Academy in 2005, and became a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 2007. He participated in a workshop at the British Museum from November 2016 to examine the provenance of the Gweagal Shield, the sh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cross-cultural Communication
Cross-cultural communication is a field of study investigating how people from differing culture, cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communication, communicate across cultures. Intercultural communication is a related field of study. Cross-cultural deals with the comparison of different cultures. In cross-cultural communication, differences are understood and acknowledged, and can bring about individual change, but not collective transformations. In cross-cultural societies, one culture is often considered “the norm” and all other cultures are compared or contrasted to the dominant culture. Origins and culture During the Cold War, the economy of the United States was largely self-contained because the world was polarized into two separate and competing powers: the Eastern Bloc, East and the Western Bloc, West. However, changes and advancements in economic relationships, political systems, and technologi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis (; 11 March 1922 – 26 December 1997) was a Greeks in France, Greek-FrenchMemos 2014, p. 18: "he was ... granted full French citizenship in 1970." philosopher, sociologist, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of ''The Imaginary Institution of Society'', and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group. His writings on autonomy and social institutions have been influential in both academic and activist circles. Biography Early life in Athens Cornelius Castoriadis was born on 11 March 1922 in ConstantinopleDosse 2014, p. 13. (then part of the Ottoman Empire), the son of fabric merchant KaisarMeletopoulos 2008, p. 52. and Sophia Kastoriadis, Papachela (Παπαχελά). His family had to move in July 1922 to Athens, the home of Castoriadis' mother, due to the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22). He developed an interest in politics after he came into contact with Marxism, Marxist thought at the age of 13. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviour, while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values. The term sociocultural anthropology is commonly used today. Linguistic anthropology studies how language influences social life. Biological anthropology, Biological (or physical) anthropology studies the biology and evolution of Human evolution, humans and their close primate relatives. Archaeology, often referred to as the "anthropology of the past," explores human activity by examining physical remains. In North America and Asia, it is generally regarded as a branch of anthropology, whereas in Europe, it is considered either an independent discipline or classified under related fields like history and palaeontology. Etymology The abstract noun ''wikt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maker Culture
The maker culture is a contemporary subculture representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture that intersects with hardware-oriented parts of hacker culture and revels in the creation of new devices as well as tinkering with existing ones. The maker culture in general supports open-source hardware. Typical interests enjoyed by the maker culture include engineering-oriented pursuits such as electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, and the use of computer numeric control tools, as well as more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and, mainly, its predecessor, traditional arts and crafts. The subculture stresses a cut-and-paste approach to standardized hobbyist technologies, and encourages cookbook re-use of designs published on websites and maker-oriented publications. There is a strong focus on using and learning practical skills and applying them to reference designs. There is also growing work on equity and the maker culture. Philosophical emphas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |