Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

see attachment!

Note: I posted my actual questions and rubric a couple of posts down, but I thought it might be useful to also provide the examples I drew from to form my questions, so here are my responses to the various steps of the question-and-answer making process: 

5 key concepts or ways of thinking about something that you learned either from faculty or fromyour peers:

1) The importance of cutting things up and reorganizing them to create a different perspective or reveal creative, unexpected ideas like Julia did in “The Paper Suit.”

2) The importance of “the blind spots, or the space-off” DeLauretis mentions on page 25.  While going through my notes from Julia’s “Mugshots and Screentests” lecture I also found a quote from Julia that reminded me of this idea of DeLauretis’.  In regards to Greta Garbo’s 1949 screentest Julia said, “Backgrounds are important to get a sense of what’s not there.”

3) From Elizabeth, the way the body’s behavior reflects the hierarchical position of a space.  For instance, a person with their hands in their pockets, walking single-file is evident of a demand for order in a highly regarded space, whereas outdoor markets with no walls or carpeting are lower in the hierarchy and one does not have to adhere to the same bodily performance demands that are expected in a “high space.”    

Statement to Translate:

"In an era where colonial power had made epidermalizing into a dominant principle of poltical power, Dr. Fanon used the idea of indexing the estrangement from authentic human being in the body and being in the world that colonial social relations had wrought. Epidermalized power violated the human body in its symmetrical, intersubjective, social humanity, in its species being, in its fragile relationship to other fragile bodies and in its connection to the redemptive potential inherent in its own wholesome or perhaps its suffering corporeality, our being towards death."

-Paul Gilroy, "Race Ends Here" page 255.

Definitions of Unfamiliar Words from the Oxford English Dictionary:

epidermal - Adj. Of or pertaining to the epidermis, whether in animals or plants.

epidermis - Noun. Anatomy term. The outer (non-vascular) layer of the skin of animals; the cuticle or scarf-skin.

non-vascular - Adj. Of fibers, tissue, etc.

intersubjective: Philosophical term meaning existing between conscious minds.

corporeality: Noun. The quality or state of being corporeal; bodily form or nature; materiality.

corporeal: Adj. Of the nature of the animal body as opposed to the spirit. Of the nature of matter; material. Physical; bodily; mortal.

My Translation of Gilroy's Quote:

In a period of history in which exploitative dictatorship assigned importance to the color of one's skin, Dr. Frantz Fanon pointed out the alienation people felt toward the way they were perceived in the colonial environment and the way they perceived themselves - which was as genuine human beings regardless of the shade of their skin. The process of applying significance to skin color was damaging to the human body because of the limitations, uniformity, and predictability the concept demanded from delicate, sensitive people living amongst other delicate, sensitive people. The idea that skin color alluded to something meaningful also threatened the human body's connection to the redeeming capabilities it possessed, which are fixed in its own health-preserving or possibly enduring physical form for which death is inevitable anyhow.

FREE-WRITE:

The imagery in this film was very pertinent to today, despite the fact that it was made 80 years ago.  I recently read a quote from Studs

Terkel about how machines have replaced natural sounds and become the norm; birdsongs are now exotic, while mechanical sounds and hums from appliances and technology have become constant and static.  This quote reminds me a lot of the garden scene in Metropolis, which made me think about how nature has been sort of ushered out and overtaken by cities and technological projects or devices.

I also thought it was interesting to think about how Metropolis the city was like a body itself; the skyline and lights were its lovely

exterior, while the machines were beneath the "skin"/ground of the city, almost like its skeleton.  There were these machines holding the city up and keeping it functioning; "The Heart Machine" especially kept the city pulsing.  Even the water during the flood reminded me a bit of blood, and the people always in motion made me envision them as the joints flexing the city and making it stronger as long as these people stayed in order and command of the machines.

It feels very strange to be in such close scrutiny of you four seminar facilitators.  I feel like I am a fish in an aquarium with a small audience.  I am not certain that I am even in range of the camera -- I am over by the window, but I still feel very boxed in just knowing that your four faces are looming behind me and watching my peers and I as we write.  It reminds me a little bit of when you would take a test in high schol and the teacher would wander around the classroom, looking down at everyone to make sure they weren't cheating or copying someone else's exam. 

I am not exactly fearful of this sort of video communication technology taking over, but I am reluctant for it to be used in place of face-to-face communication. 

At the Suheir Hammad presentation I was so far in the back of the lecture hall that I didn't feel as though I was under a magnifying glass or surveillance.  I did feel a need to remain well-mannered though, considering the respect a performer deserves from the audience and the fact that I was at school rather than at home on the couch. 

I am Barbie Soundbox! I was born in 2001 in China. I'm not quite sure how I ended up all the way in Olympia, Washington. Even though I am only six years old, I have been through a lot. My arms broke off, so now I can no longer stylishly hang from someone's jeans or shirt pocket. I still have a lot of energy though! I like to exclaim motivating messages like "Yeah!" and "Get up and dance!"

I have four eyes that are my favorite shade of purple. Their names are SFX, Rhythms, Songs, and Speech. Underneath my eyes I have a voice box called "Echo" that lets me amplify what people say to me through a microphone. At least, that's how it used to work. I haven't seen my friend Microphone in ages. We used to be so attached, literally. I also have a big pink mouth that lets me communicate my messages nice and loudly. The years have aged me a bit though, so I have trouble speaking sometimes.

As you can see by looking at my outfit, I love bright colors and flowers. I have always been proud of my portability and unique, cute shape. Even though my arms are gone and I am a bit scratched up by my left ear, Mic 1, I still seem to allure many people of all ages. I love to make people dance and smile with my catchy sounds and happening tunes. We're groovin' now!

Earlier this year my boyfriend and I set to work on building my prosthesis; my computer.  We knelt over the shiny black walls of the computer case and snapped in wires and boards.  The computer's graphics card was far superior to any that I had possessed before and its screen was flat and wide.  We soon began to spend many hours together.  My computer protected my documents, offered entertainment through games, played my favorite songs, and organized my photographs.  I groomed it often by blowing out the dust particles that built up in the keyboard and giving the mouse fresh batteries.  My computer and I had a rather tumultuous relationship; its sleekness could make me smile, but if it crashed or loaded a program slowly, I would begin to fume.  After awhile I began to get cold feet about continuing to commit so much of my time to this machine.  I was relying on it so heavily.  We had to have some distance between us!  

Over the summer, I began seeing movies instead.  I traveled as well, and took classes on campus.  Once fall rolled around, however, I was like a moth to a flame.  My computer took me back and I fell in love all over again.  We see each other several times each day and there is no end in sight to our happy times together.