Statement of Purpose
The
article further explores, via Foucault, the ethics of creativity as an
epistemological alternative of the rationales of value to the ethics of
universal or absolute Truth. The objectives of this study are to
re-present Foucault’s genealogical analysis of the operational
mechanisms of what he calls pastoral power as self-constitutive circuits
of power/knowledge or power/truth relations. This analysis instigates a
transactional critique of modernity, advanced in terms of the
possibilities of evaluating the normative or dis-empowering effects of
universal truth (Truth). The primary objective of this essay is to
clarify Foucault’s critical project by recasting it into more tangible
effects of its deployment onto the larger culture as a critique and
re-orientation of the coordinates of possible cultural values.
Sam Joshi
Statement of Purpose
Current issues in the literature: Feminist theorists of male sexuality
in the US have noted with
concern the pervasive tendency to view male sexuality in terms of
universal, mechanical norms of performance (Tiefer 1987; 2004:195-208).
This tendency, evident in the successful promotion of Viagra, neglects
issues like intimate relations, emotionality and culture. Feminist
scholars have discussed how the methods of an increasingly bio-medicalized
Sexology collude with the goals of an increasingly profitable sexuo-pharmaceutical
industry (Tiefer 1998:219-242). They have called for new methodologies
that examine sex from outside the narrowly bio-mechanical, clinical
model (Aanstoos 2001:85-88). Description of the study: Answering the
call for methodological innovation, my study apprehends sex from a
cultural, emotional and embodied perspective. For five months, I was a
participant observer of male sexuality in an actual culture of sex – the
public sex environment of an adult film theatre and video arcade in a US
metropolis. As a sex researcher, I took the unprecedented step of freely
participating in sex acts with other men in order to gather data. To
accomplish this study, I adopted an autoethnographic approach
(Ellis 2004), which allows for visceral engagement and evocative
description. Contribution of the study: Analyzing my data in light of
Max Weber's argument in “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism” (1998), I show how the norms of Capitalism saturate the
regnant ideal of male sexuality. More importantly, I go on to show how
the root concept of “Sexuality” itself is a recent concoction of
Capitalist ideology, the purpose of which is to make us conform to the
Capitalist economic order at the level of our most intimate desires. To
liberate ourselves from “Sexuality,” we must imagine alternatives to
dominant social science methodologies which themselves serve Capitalist
ideology.
George: Music and Apple Pie
Karen V. Lee
Statement of Purpose
The following story
is written in response to professional musicians becoming classroom
music
educators. It chronicles the journey of a professional trumpet player
during his university teacher
education degree. He is guided by his personal and artistic experiences
when shifting from
performer to teacher identity. I touch on the themes of family,
finances, teaching, learning,
fatherhood, performing, and musicianship as musicians are confronted
when changing careers for
financial stability.
This intimate account provides a deeper understanding about the
transformative nature of internal conflict as George discovers how to
reconcile identities. Ultimately, it is hoped this story allows others
to reflect on the challenges artists have when reshaping their
identities in order obtain financial stability.
Tangos for piano
Alejandro Cremaschi,
U. of
Colorado at Boulder, alejandro.cremaschi@colorado.edu
Statement of Purpose
This
file (total time: 11 minutes, movements: Evocación, Llorón, Compadrón,
Milonguero, Nostálgico) contains a live recording of the work for piano
Tangos (1941) by the Argentine composer Juan José Castro (1895-1968),
recorded by the pianist Alejandro Cremaschi in March 2005 at the Grusin
Auditorium, University of Colorado at Boulder. Castro was an influential
composer who experimented with a synthesis of nationalistic elements and
modern musical languages, as a reaction to the romantic nationalism of
earlier Argentine creators. Tangos is an example of this search for a
new type of nationalism. It combines elements of the popular tango genre
with dissonant and direct neoclassical sonorities reminiscent of
Stravinsky and other French neoclassical composers. My performance of
Tangos is the result of my research on Argentine composers, and of
Castro's style and musical works.
Click to
Play
Calisto Mudzingwa
Statement of Purpose
My short story highlights the challenges
that immigrants from Africa face in North America. It involves a family
of three that has moved to Canada in search of greener pastures. The
family faces huge challenges; the husband has problems getting a job
that is commensurate with his qualifications; lack of friends, relatives
and companionship; and raising a kid in a different cultural milieu. The
husband works long hours and is depressed—so is the wife. Due to stress,
the wife is hospitalized. Hospitalization of the wife helps the husband
to see how much his wife is going through.
Due Process
T. Berto
Statement of Purpose
After 9/11, five
Muslim-Canadians were captured, held without cause, and handed over to
American authorities for
'extraordinary rendition' or, torture in Syria. All have since been
proven to
have committed no crime,
nor terrorism: the Prime Minister and parliament have apologised and
paid millions to
compensate victims of this paranoia. This work explores such paranoia,
and the
reasoning that supports
it. To investigate how such injustices happen, the play imagines the
dignities and fears of
both those involved: the ‘threatened’ and the ‘threat’. It questions
what it
means to 'do good' in a
world where all positions are compromised.
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