Critical Critique

Conversations in Religious Spaces: The Role of Religion in Amsterdam
Ruben & Emily Cernak

"What is the role of religion in Amsterdam?"

Methods:
- "Close Reading" of textual materials provided within churches/synagogues/mosques
- Interviewing these spiritual leaders
- Attend and Observe services at a church, mosque and synagogue

While Emily and Ruben have developed fantastically appropriate research methods to answer this question (for example, the close and critical examination of publicly distributed materials), however, I find the topic incredibly open-ended (not a bad thing!) a potential problem. It would appear to me that they will have to be very aware that they are only examining a single church/mosque/synagogue and, if Amsterdam is anything like the US, these specific institutions will not be representative of each religion as a whole - these are specific examples, which may or may not be exemplary.

Availability of Dutch Healthcare for Islamic Women:
Emily Sands & Lauren

Since the healthcare system has transitioned from a nationalized system to semi-privatized; how has this affected the availability of healthcare to specific minority groups (Islamic women) based not necessarily on financial barriers, rather cultural ones.

Methods:
- Surveys and focus groups to collect data

This group will certainly be facing the greatest challenge: both from the IRB and through the very nature of their project. It will be exceptionally difficult to find appropriate questions that do not compromise/pose risk to the individual or their family, but that will also be able to actually get at the heart of the issue and provide relevant information. I also see a potential issue related to the time constraints of the program: we only have a month to complete these projects, and while this is certainly a very intriguing topic, I am uncertain as to the feasibility of completion.

The Culture of Squatting: Culture vs Subculture vs Counterculture
Fiona, Isaac & Cassie

Squatting is the legal (in the Netherlands, but not the US) occupation of an abandoned space for habitation.

Fiona: Investigating the aesthetics of the squat: how do you personalize these spaces? How does this affect the culture/subculture/counterculture of squatting?
Isaac: Examining the gastronomy of squatting (the study of food and drink) and how does this affects the culture/subculture/counterculture of squatting?
Cassie: Exploring the socioeconomic background of squatters

This topic is really interesting and I will be curious to see how Cassie, Isaac and Fiona will execute this project. While squatting does not appeal to me in any way, shape or form, this seems like a really unique topic to be explored.

Blah blah Ethics blah blah Morality blah blah BLAH

Just kidding. I'm keeping it simple today; and by 'simple' I mean 'blunt'.

Preliminary Research Question:
How do people interact with architecture? How is behavior dictated or influenced by the physical design of a space? How is space used/misused?

Mmm. Yummy.

Methods:

Observation:
-Who uses this space?
-How do they use it?
-Does this comply with the original intent?

Survey/Interview (anonymous):
-(After observing how an individual uses this space) Why?
-How do you feel you should behave in this space? Why?
-Does your actual behavior reflect this perception? Why or why not?

Online/Library Research:
-Investigate original purpose of space/architecture. Is this reflective of present use? I.e. does function follow or deviate from form?

Toodles. I'm exhausted.

"History Begins At Ground Level, With Footsteps"

From Michel de Certeau's L'Invention du Quotidien: Vol. 1, Arts de Faire , or The Practices of Everyday Life. Michel de Certeau (1925 - 9 January 1986), obtaining degrees in classics and philosophy from Paris, Grenoble and Lyon as well as a seminal degree from Lyon (Jesuit), ordained in 1956 to do missionary work in China, going on to earn a doctorate in theology from Sorbonne in 1960. He is a student of Freud and a founding member of L'Ecole Freudienne in conjunction with Jacques Lacan. de Certeau is a cultural critic, who reads culture by studying semiotics; that is, studying signs. We can all read those big red octagonal boards that say S-T-O-P and observe the interactions therein; these are not the signs we are discussing. A sign, semiotically, is "The relationship between a signifier and a signified," JB so eloquently described.

Vocab list for reading de Certeau:

Strategy issued by an institution (governments, seats of power [thrones?])

Tactic creative modes invented by the individual; ways of meaneuvering around/in strategies (read above). A tactic is a mode of subversion; it is unmappable (read: cannot be located or represented cartographically) -slippery (like trying to catch a skateboarder) it is playful; it takes existing structures and works around them, or reworks them, using/deploying them in unexpected ways. Tactics are subconscious (link to Freud). Example of a tactical way of moving around a structure: jumping up on top of a chair and dancing around. Furthermore, a tactic is not an institutionally-supported method of experiencing structure. I.e. jumping on the chair and dancing, as opposed to sitting in it.

Structures physical objects and conceptual objects (i.e. a chair vs the structure of an institution)

de Certeau references Hobbes, primarily LEVIATHAN: the commonwealth (state), which is but an artificial man, though a greature stature and strength than the natural, for whose protection and devence it was intended; and in which hte sovereignty is an artificial soul, as giving life and motion to the whole body"

The Panopticon, a circular prison built around a central tower wherein prisoners do not know whether or not they are being watched, as it is possible to be watched at all times. As you are unsure whether or not you are being observed, you must school and moderate yourself and this, of course, is the cheapest, easiest and most efficient form of moderation. Unprecedented because of its uneven relationships: the prisoner could not see the observer or any other prisoner, but the watcher is able to see everyone (including himself should he posses a mirror).

Syne...Synech...SYNECDOCHE!

Gesundheit. Merci-todah.

Synecdoche: (sih-nek-doh-kee) a figure of speech used to represent part-whole relationships. Okay, yeah, that's nice, so what does that mean? A synecdoche is essentially, a semi-specific, one-word metaphor; it can't just be any metaphor, of course, the two things (objects/people/places/concepts) must be related in a part-whole kind of way. Examples:

Synecdoches:
- Part-Whole Relationship: My parents got me a new set of wheels; I need a KLEENEX, for a tissue (also an example of brand integration)
- Characteristics of a Species: Gentlemen prefer brunettes; He's a freshman.
-

Metonymies: the use of a word to represent a thing which is associated with the thing originally denoted by the word. Whew!
- Word, Meaning, and Metonymic use
- The Press, the Printing Press, the Media
- Sweat, Perspiration, Labor
- Knife, Tool That Cuts, Surgery

Asyndeton: removal of clear or annunciated transitions; think: hopscotch.
- "I came, I saw, I conquered"
Physical Representation: The Underground Railroad; it connects two places without traversing the institutionalized venue for railway transportation.

A synecdoche for my research project: de Bijenkorf, (Dutch for "beehive") roughly the Dutch equivalent of Nordstrom. Essentially a classy department store whose flagship was built in 1870 on Dam Square, Amsterdam.

Online Manifestation: Dutch Architecture, Public Spaces, Form & Function

Resources:
Architecture of Amsterdam
Amsterdam Centre for Architecture
Social interactions in urban public places
Netherlands Architecture Institute
CENTRE DE CULTURA CONTEMPORÀNIA DE BARCELONA

Research Topics

I changed my mind. Most importantly, I want to look at people + spaces. Namely, how do people interact with physical spaces/architecture? How do they use these spaces? Is this use different than the purpose for which the space was designed? I still really like how individuals interact in public spaces, but I am, I think, more interested in how these individuals interact with their environment first, and each other within that environment, second. 

Action on the Ave: Studying Environmental Behavior

       My research partner, Katherine, indulged me an adventure to the Ave - the affectionate nickname for University Way. Last Thursday evening from 7:00 - 7:30pm, as the sun faded beneath the flat gray blanket of clouds, we sat on the patio outside Starbucks, in the drizzle, camera and soon-to-be-soggy notepad in hand. We selected the Ave for several reasons: its busy nature, diverse population, and unique opportunity for interactions between individuals and their environment.

      The intersection we selected, NE 41st Street and University Way, houses several 'typically U-district' features: a Starbucks on the SW corner, Cafe on the Ave on the NW corner, a copy and print center on the NE and an Indian restaurant, Shalimar, on the SE. We observed in a removed, but not hidden, Zeiselian manner: we sat right outside the Starbucks entrance, notepad on the table, camera flashing, and documented our surroundings. On a more specific note, we conducted a 'continuous scan' for thirty minutes, documenting all of the behaviors on our impromptu ethogram. Certainly some perverse part of me was annoyed that no one approached us to inquire as to what we were doing: on the corner, beneath the portico, in the rain, taking pictures and notes on innocent pedestrians. 

       In any case, we noted individuals carrying umbrellas (even after it had stopped raining), individuals wearing Husky gear, with backpacks (or bags used to carry textbooks and notepads), using iPods and cell phones (texting versus speaking) and eating (while walking, not just escaping with takeout), smoking and, of course, a staple of a near-campus location: bicycles.  We noted, by tally, how often these (inter)actions occurred and have drawn several different conclusions. While perhaps half of the individuals walking the Ave were in not alone, more than half were 'plugged in' via cell phone or iPod, even though they were physically engaged with other individuals. We also noted that most of the traffic seemed to be composed of students (not an uncommon notion in an area so close to campus) but I was still somewhat surprised by the sheer volume of apparent students - not to mention those who were not as easily identifiable (visually) as 'STUDENT'. 

       Potential research questions: how do people interact with an intersection? What does this say about them/their relationships? How do people interact with each other in a movement-oriented public space such as this? Who uses the Ave? What are they doing there? Why? 

       My specific research interests lie in the public interactions between individuals, how people express themselves in public: through interactions with other individuals and the environment, and their physical appearance or even emotional 'appearance' via projection and body language. How I will carry this out in Amsterdam,  I do not yet know. 

'Submission' & 'Fitna': Islam in the Netherlands

This is an opinion piece. Kthnxbye.

     Submission: The film that started it all. An assuredly avant-garde endeavor, Theo Van Gogh blows open the issue of female oppression in Islamic culture. Van Gogh uses the camera as a character in itself; the camera is the object to which the women are speaking, in this case, they pleading to Allah. Garbed in faux-robes and veil, designed to preserve modesty in this case, provides just the opposite - all gauze and silk, her robes are translucent from neck to knee, she kneels - face covered by an opaque veil, only her piercing eyes locked on the lens. This short piece is an intimate intrusion into the private world of prayer, exploited to show the abuse, oppression and general mistreatment of Muslim women. It is intensely disturbing because it is personal; though we know absolutely nothing about this woman except that she is young and she is Muslim, we feel as if we know her; the way in which she presents these horrifying scenarios - stories of her past - is powerfully disturbing. Interestingly enough, despite your internal alarms blaring, there is no judgement made by Van Gogh or Ali; while there is this sense of pleading and want for change, it is only implied. The subtext, as I understand it, is that these women are so devoted to their religion that they, too, are in disbelief of these goings on and further, this is not a unique occurrence. Islam is not the only culture - religious or otherwise - in which these horrific events transpire, nor is it the only culture wherein these events are hidden away, thrust under the rug. 

     Fitna: Geert Wilders' response to Submission, released 27 March 2008 to Liveleak, but removed the 16 minute film from the site after reporting threats to their staff. It was reposted on 30 March 2008 after increasing security measures. This short film, in sharp contrast to Van Gogh's piece, is anything but artistic. It quotes the Qu'ran, shows media clips of the bloody and violent aftermath of extremist Islamic attacks around the world, and other clips from Muslim leaders supporting these equally violent quotations and proclaiming war on the world, death to all non-believers. Essentially a spiffed up slideshow, this short 'film' takes quotes out of context, shows violent connotative images, shown to incite an emotional response and disregard logic.  This film evokes a very intense emotional response, but it is not the least bit intellectual; it does not present any new information, merely highlights the actions of radical groups that are not the norm, are not the standard of behavior. The extremists ARE frightening, there is no denying that , but not every Muslim is an extremist and the way in which Wilder encourages the audience to 'overcome the Islamic threat' is much the same as the extremist leaders who want to eradicate non-believers. Where Submission attempts to promote awareness of an often hidden aspect of Islamic culture, something no one wants to admit to or claim ownership for, with the goal of changing something, of making progress - Fitna is no better than the extremists they are trying to destroy, advocating, essentially 'Destroy this extremists group! Listen to OUR extreme opinion!' They blame an entire culture for the actions of few; a very loud, frightening few, but few all the same. 

     To say the least, while I was impressed and disturbed by Submission, for its bold, yet somewhat subtle, attack on Muslim culture and the advocacy of women's rights; Fitna disgusts me and, in my opinion, is a contradiction in and of itself. 

God Made The World, But The Dutch Made Holland

"Historians are storytellers, as far as I'm concerned," Professor Ran Hennes remarked, by way of introduction and, perhaps, even persuasion to listen to his lecture on the history of Amsterdam and the Netherlands. For those of us who are geographically challenged, he smiled and provided a semi-topographical map of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. With a wink, he explained: "This green, waterlogged place in Northeastern Europe, that's Holland." 

"You see," he began, "1/4 of the country is below sea level, 1/4 is at sea level, and most of the citizens live in the West where they are face to face with the lapping waters of the North Sea." No wonder they wear wooden shoes - at least they would slog through the marsh and float through the wetlands... right? He goes on to describe the Dutch as "Merchants, pure and simple, no one mistook them for philosophers, these were hard-headed business men!" Throughout their colonial phase, the Dutch territories were not colonized to amass land or unite citizens, these lands were collected, invaded and occupied for profit. "At one time, the Dutch not only had the Netherlands but also what is now Belgium and Luxembourg. The Benaluxe states? Now you know!" 

iStructure? iRaspberry!

     After perusing the entire collection of 2007 blogs, I settled on my first impulsive choice, Julia Hamilton (aka Agent Xi) whose blog likely captured my attention for two reasons: the brilliant colour and her continual updates, including dozens and dozens of photographs. It is somewhat frustrating to note that most of these blogs have been sorely neglected, with posts ending in May or June; I think this is the most intriguing facet of Julia’s blog: her continuity and consistent activity. 

       Julia’s blog, one of the few to jump with colour, is a very feminine, witty and all together entertaining venue for reporting both her research and her experience in Amsterdam (and the surrounding area) at large. She makes this intimidatingly pre-formed and generic space her own; her ‘profile’ picture is colour-coordinated to her template, even her URL (iRaspberry.blogspot.com) indicates the tone of the blog. Like most of the Blogger-provided templates, designed by Doug Bowman and Co., there is little room for customization in terms of the actual page elements included in the template framework (without editing the CSS [cascading style sheets] which governs these objects). I am consistently annoyed by the archiving system provided, as it only allows for a chronological scroll-down of the blog posts, but does not allow for the selection of specific posts by date, subject or within the chronological flow of the blog as a whole. 

            Agent Xi uses her space as well as she is able; with classical text on the small-side, she effectively utilizes the space available to her (the centre ‘post’ column) while, despite the pink frou-frou-y template, maintaining a somewhat professional looking piece. She formats in dozens and dozens of photographs, creating a uniform pattern: introduction, short caption, photograph (lather, rinse, repeat) and concluding summary. She establishes this pattern early on and, seeing its effectiveness, or at least efficiency, sticks with it. 

       Within the framework of Lynch’s A Walk Around the Block featuring the collective adventure of 27 Bostonians (or pseudo-Bostonians as the case maybe) and their narrated walk around one square block in Boston, MA., Julia is certainly able to carve out her own space within this bland and generic canvas, and create a sense of structure and even rhythm, to which her writing conforms, flows and flourishes. In effect, she creates her own sub-template.

Close Reading

While in the past I have enjoyed the close reading and analysis of both poetry and prose, I have never thought to apply this tool to my written communications. Given this assignment, I was (and still am, to some degree) apprehensive about the close-reading of such a casual exchange.

This e-mail, from my RA on behalf of HFS, is a simple check-in regarding those effervescent red emergency packs given us at the beginning of the Fall Quarter. The tone is casual, noted not so much by the somewhat inconsistent punctuation, but primarily by the witty side-comments included in parenthesis throughout the message. The message conveys her speaking-style quite clearly, using typical Michelle-vernacular, from her habit of saying "Hey guys!" to the intriguing subject line 'Remember that red backpack...' and opening line '...you were given?' that is just so English major, she uses her casual tone to invite us to respond to a rather dull question which, if otherwise presented, probably would not have elicited any sort of response. 

Acting as HFS messenger (a dangerous task) she was able to turn one of those horrid ‘Please visit this link and respond regarding ’ messages into a simple correspondence from our almost-friend asking for a quick response which may be as brutally honest as we choose. Because of its casual and friendly nature, typical Michelle-style language and tone, this message was infinitely more effective. From her tone, however, you also gather that she knows this and is almost trying to make the best of a bad situation: you can tell she is obligated to send this message, not entirely thrilled about this prospect, but wants to elicit a widespread response instead of a few non-committal replies.

Though I do not think I could misread this message or misinterpret the subject, this is likely due to the very straightforward, unembellished nature of this correspondence.