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

Knitting can be a revolutionary act.

Around the world, groups are forming which say no to the corporate, the mass-produced. Making things instead of buying them, using your body in a productive manner, can be a highly satisfying way to remove the consumerist mentality from our minds. A group in Calgary, the Revolutionary Knitting Circle, has become a global model for this kind of action...

RKC manifesto

RKC wiki page

I've been interested in fiber art as activism (particularly those kinds which have been historically labeled as "feminine," and therefore "crafts" instead of "art") for a while now--I even wrote a really long paper about it last year.

Long story short:

I would like to initiate some sort of knitting group (though any handcrafts would be welcome of course). The revolutionary part is optional--I just really like the sense of community it gives. I've done this in other programs, and it can be a great place to talk about class and life while also making fuzzy warm things to wear. Not knowing how to knit is no obstacle--I love teaching people to knit, especially men (irony makes life interesting!).

Would anyone else be remotely interested?

Times I am potentially available: Mon, Tue, or Thurs after 7, Wed any time, Fri after class. (I think Wednesday evenings, perhaps at a coffee shop or bar would be nice)

I am wondering about the causality of mental illness/madness-- i find it hard to believe that corporate psychiatry is anything less than an exploitative, institutional money-making scheme.

these are interesting...

the icarus project:

http://theicarusproject.net/

socialist patients collective:

•    Student blogs
•    Went out and performed observations on the SEM II smoker’s tent.
•    Around 35 smokers appeared
•    Observed social etiquette of the smokers tent-don’t sit next to someone, most people told us that they met most of their friends at the smoker’s tents.  The one by the dorms apparently are the “cool smokers” who are intelligent.  
•    Most people thought we were observing the tent for the school and gave opinions and input about how when they smoke alone, they feel isolated.
•    The body language was observed-arms crossed only enough to be “crossed” and not burn selves.  
•    Tent was NOT tall enough for someone tall to be seen-they look like a giraffe if one were not in the tent and walking towards it.  
•    Being the main social outlet (friend finder, conversation starter, cig stealing), the population observed in our 20 minutes seemed large for the non-smoking school.  

Mauss/Douglas articles

•    culturally creative; separate vs the individual-see the text in collective reason.  Some kind of model that behaviors originate-individual reaction and move away from the notion of having a soul.  Object of technique-body as an object.  Socialized behaviors
•    loss that all natural instincts are being honed into society-good or bad thing-etiology.  Increasingly more developed
•    gained through tradition and technique; studied societies and wanted to find ways to classify each.  Groups of people without tradition
•    natural; primitive; unconscious; uncontrolled/brutal
•    social; socialized; conscious; controlled
•   
•    mary Douglas-the two bodies are the self and society
•    more of a sense of agency-douglas had less than mauss
•    Evergreen’s culture.  No frats or sororities
•    Self-individual student, institution decides
•    The body is not just who we can view on the outside-note down visual and audio details about the body.
•    Thinking of systems of power
•    The more complex…disembodied spirits.

Foucault’s philosophy about the importance of confession in the West is completely fascinating. I have never considered this, even though the evidence that we are indeed a confessional society is everywhere. Would talk shows even be entertaining without confessions or self-help advice for those who are coming to terms with their innermost desires? I don’t think so.  It seems as though everyone is trying to “find” themselves, and many believe that the truth to one’s being is buried deep inside and must be uncovered in order to live one’s life to its fullest potential. Dr. Phil and other therapists make tons of money by listening to people confess their fears, dreams and desires and interpreting them in order to help the person in question come to terms with their existence.

 The difference between the Occident and the Oriental interest me, especially in relation to this topic. I just happened to be reading The Art of Happiness by The Dalai Lama. He speaks on what he believes to be the main psychological difference between the East and the West.

It seems as though people of the West use the act of confession to relieve the tension we accumulate because of our fear of the unexplainable, especially in relation to emotions and desires. It does seem as though we live by the clock, and as time seeps through our fingers we are left feeling anxiety due to our lack of self-knowledge. This is why psychological therapy is so important in Western society. I never would have thought of these obvious cultural factors had I not read Foucault’s thoughts on the Western obsession with confession.

" The most important elements of an erotic art linked to our knowledge about sexuality are not to be sought in the ideal, promised to us by medicine, of a healthy sexuality, nor in the humanist dream of a complete and flourishing sexuality, and certainly not in the lyricism of orgasm and the good feelings of bio-energy . . ."

Did we discuss this in class? I think I would have remembered it.  I'm not sure if I really have a question or comment about this.  I just thought that was an amazing blurb.

I noticed that a lot of the students in this class have macs. WooHoo!!! Go Mac!!! Anyway, I don't know if you have tapped the vast resources that is the all powerful widget, but they are great. And they just so happen to make an Oxford English Dictionary widget. Which means that you can always have the Oxford English Dictionary right at your fingertips. I use it constantly. Here is the link:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/reference/oxfordenglish.html

if you don't have mac, you can still get widgets, maybe even this one. I only found the link for the mac version.

For some reason, the link button won't work, so you will just have to copy and paste it. Sorry.

I noticed while perusing through my copy of Foucault for Beginners that there are several illustrations using Aubrey Beardsley's work. He is one of my favorite artists, and does some very interesting work- most of which deals with bodies. By that I mean- not just portraiture, but sex and sexuality.

Wikipedia says "Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (August 21, 1872 – March 16, 1898) was an influential English illustrator, and author, best known for his erotic illustrations."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_Beardsley

I would be interested to hear other's thoughts on his work and how this could relate to what Foucault has said about the abundance of discourses on sex and sexuality. Does art count as a discourse? I would say that it does.

http://www.loyno.edu/history/journal/1992-3/smith-e.htm

another interesting site about Aubrey Beardsley.

  What do you think about the statement by the unknown author of My Secret Life(pg.22), where he says that in order to justify his describing his sexual exploits,
"that his strangest practices were shared by thousands of men...the guiding principle...was the fact of recounting them all in detail..."

  He's obviously talking about men bragging about sexual conquests, as most men are prone to do.  Do you think that this is a form of confession in which the confessor actually holds the power as a storyteller over his audience, or another way that society has induced us to speak frankly on the subject?  I know that whenever a friend of mine tries to tell me of sexual encounters I picture Sam Malone @ the end of the bar telling his audience(Norm and Cliff) about some stewardess he had hooked up with the night before.

  If this is a form of confession, what is the guilt that the storyteller is trying to unburden themselves of?  What is the triad in this relationship?

  Also it is now commonplace to hear women doing the same bragging, while it seemed to be what women considered one of the more reprehensible acts perpetrated by men for the repression of female sexuality in the past.  In this age of Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives the discourse on female sexual pleasure has seemed to grow immensly.  What changed in our culture to make it commonplace to hear frank open conversations about topics previosly thought to be taboo?  Is it just the abundant proliferation of information and entertainment via the television and internet, that now makes it nescessary for the writers of such infotainment to push the envelope and shock the viewer into talking about the subject, which in turn makes the subject matter less and less shocking?