Paperwork

Yeah, I got the email as well. I just logged into the site  for professional practice and answered the questions the best I could. It is designed for the end of a co-op experience at a firm, which this is obviously very different from. I am not sure what you are required to fill out because I only have access to my part of the paperwork, but I will do my best to help you out if you have questions. 

Don't worry, I know you are busy and I have been too. I am completing my last week of work and getting ready to go back to California on Monday. Here is the 'Itinerary,' if you will:

Aug 31st: SLC -> Napa (12 Hours Driving)
Sept. 14th: Napa -> LA (7 Hours Driving)
Sept. 16th: LA -> Flagstaff (7 Hours Driving), Flagstaff -> Albuquerque (5 Hours Driving)
Sept. 17th: Albuquerque -> AUSTIN (12 Hours Driving)
Sept. 18th: AUSTIN -> New Orleans (8 Hours Driving)
Sept. 20th: New Orleans -> Cincinnati (12 Hours Driving)

I am hoping to stop in the Flagstaff area for a few hours to poke around some of the ruins that are about 45 mins from the city.. I had originally planned on stopping in Houston but I have a friend living in Austin I can stay with, so I am going to leave Austin early, try to spend a few hours in Houston before going on to New Orleans. I am staying in New Orleans for a day to explore, I am interested in possibly spending my next co-op quarter there if I can find a job near the city. 

But yeah, working on going through my notes in and out of the book and considering how to format this book.. I have a few ideas on how it could develop but more on that once these notes are complete. 

Good Luck this week.

The Near & Elsewhere

Notes: process of collecting thoughts and ideas:

Finding a positive definition of Anthropological Research: 

-Question of the other [in the present]

deals with the other simultaneously in several senses. Unique to other fields it deals with all forms of the other: exotic, private, ethnic, ect. 

-Absolute individuality is unthinkable 

-Question: What would you call essential or private otherness?

"The need for essential, private, otherness is related to the need for individuality. It makes it impossible to discern between collective identity and individual identity" (??) PG 16

-What is Concrete in Anthropology? 

Something is to be seen in terms of orders of magnitude from which all individual variables have been eliminated. Mauss restricts and mutilates the idea of individuality. The individual is merely an expression of the group. The totality can only be expressed from a certain angle.

[does this mean, perhaps, the individual is not as simple as the group/totality? If the totality is only an aspect of the 'individual' does that not contradict Mauss' argument for the idea of individuality being impossible? Or is it that because all individuals fall within the totality of the group, despite their differences, their 'individuality' is lacking value?]

The Changing World 

-The contemporary world with its accelerated transformations is attracting anthropological scrutiny. These new conditions are bringing a renewed methodical reflection of otherness. 

Form of Excess #1: Time

-Our perception of time and how we use/dispose of it has changed.

"Time is no longer a principle of intelligibility"

-Principles of history have changed. Problems with Classic History: Method (anecdotal, not reliable), Object, Question of Usefulness. 

-Now it is not for these technical reasons that we have problems with history, but for more fundamental reasons. Because of the acceleration of time it is difficult to make time into a principle of intelligibility, let alone a principle of identity. Now contemporaries are showing us what we are by showing us what we are no longer. We are seeking to find what is different about us now, hoping to find within the spectacle of this difference, the sudden flash of an unfindable identity. 

"Deciphering of what we are in the light of what we are no longer" - Pierre Nora (pg21)

-An acceleration of history: 

History: a series of events recognized as events by a large number of people.

We have encountered an over-investment of meaning. We have a daily need to give things meaning, need to give meaning to the present. 

-The essential quality of the super-modern is excess

-It is our need to understand the whole of the present that makes it so difficult for us to give meaning to the recent past. (pg25)

Form of Excess #2: Changes in Space

-Rapid transport. 

-From your home you can see instant or simultaneous events occurring on the other side of the world (even if you presuppose that it is a manipulated selection of tainted viewing).

-We can recognize all parts of the world despite never experiencing it. 

-We live in a universe that is homogenous in its diversity 

-Spacial Overabundance : we are essentially a universe of recognition, rather than a universe of knowledge. The ideal would be to create "signifying spaces" in the world. Societies identify with cultures conceived as complete wholes. We desire a universe of meaning. (Pg 27)

- Territories in soil still exist but do not ACT as defining territories in reality. Physical space is penetrated by the technology of the contemporary. 

Non-Places: are in opposition of places (location in time and place), in opposition to Mauss, and in opposition of tradition. Unprecedented. 

As we create a world where the terrestrial world can be thought of in terms of unity, now we want particularism, a mother country, a place away from the clamor. "A land of Roots"

[we are STILL MORTAL, we still carry a need to DWELL, need for personal identity, a connection with ones environment, peace, cultivation, ect.]

Shifting of spacial parameters = spacial overabundance. 

Changes of scale, changes of parameter, we are now poised to undertake the study of new civilizations and new cultures. 

We do not understand our contemporary world because we have not learned how to look at it. 

"The world of supermodernity does not exactly match the one in which we believe we live, or we live in a world that we have not learned to look at. We have to relearn to think about space. 

Form of Excess #3: Ego

-In Western Societies the individual wants to be a "world in himself". He intends to interpret the information delivered to him by himself and for himself. Even in religion [ex: Catholics prefer to practice in "their own fashion"].

-Never before have individual histories been explicitly affected by collective history, but never before, either, have the reference points of collective identification been so UNSTABLE. 

"The individual production of meaning is thus more necessary than ever" Pg30

-Political Language: hinged on a theme of individual freedoms

-Character of Production: talks of body, the senses, and freshness of living

-"It is the person we consider healthy in mind who is alienated, since he agrees to exist in  a world defined by relations with others"

:Anthropological Place Still to Come:

Why Arch Daily keeps me up

OH! And I saw this last night... I thought it was quite entertaining... Had you heard of this competition? 

http://www.archdaily.com/32749/reburbia-design-competition-winners-announced/

Very Very Interesting....

2:30 AM

There is a lot more I want to say in response to what you posted (thank you again, for taking the time, by the way) but I just got off work and its 2:30 in the morning.. so UGh..

I could stay up all night writing. 

I am going to post tomorrow before work... mostly because I am way too tired to get into this now.. and IF I get into it, I will really get into it.. so.. 

As a quick side note:

1) Every Arch daily post I look at relates, in some context, to this project.. it is easier actually to look at something that is being developed now, with information of intent and purpose, than it is to imply or assume those reasonings. If you look at some of the new posts you can see my comments, you will laugh as they are strongly driven by what I have read. It is much easier to apply these ideas and concepts to things than to figments of things. If that makes sense.

2) I am not going to bother posting my notes from Auge.. some are organized in my notebook/sketchbook and some are written in margins, and unless you think it is necessary for me to post them here for you I will not. They have basically culminated into my current understanding, which will come through in the next bit of this process..

3) I need to read more specifically into Serres. Somehow I never really got around to it.. but it is on a list (a list that is finally getting shorter) of things I want to do before wrapping this up. 

4) I made money tonight that I will (more than likely) never see as an architect... Oh how depressing it is. Gotta love the college job though... 

Late thoughts

So one of my guilty pleasures/ habits is ArchDaily. Tonight, not able to sleep, I was scoping the new posts and saw this: A memorial at Lukishkiu Square in Vilnius, Lithuania.. now this is a place I know absolutely NOTHING ABOUT.. but this is what caught my attention: 

"The Freedom Field, a large indentation in the ground, “cradles” those walking in the memorial area.  “This indentation penetrates through all historical and cultural layers right to the roots of our national identity, it also reaches the authentic surface of the beginnings of Vilnius,” explained the team.

I will comment on this more tomorrow but I thought it was interesting in how it tied into Auge's thoughts. In the last pages of his book he mentions that one possible outcome of the spread of non-places/globalization/ect is a strong return to the specific, to the particular. He does not give it very much attention ultimately, but I think it is one of his best arguments.. And this particular project displays that quite nicely in a very general way.. To penetrate through all historical and cultural layers is also to penetrate the international influence, all to return to what is true to this specific place despite time. Although, according to Auge, an anthropological place is a location in place and time.. er.. something like that. But then to think of Heidegger, to think of his proposal of the desire to dwell as mans nature, that can never change. If Non-Places make it impossible to dwell then surely we will find a way to return to that, to fulfill the void in which we find our own humanity. Now I am not making any sense, but hopefully I can sort out what I was thinking when I wake up tomorrow.

Here is the link.

http://www.archdaily.com/32618/lukishkiu-square-tuleikis-antinis-vaiksnoras-lanauskas-vaitiekunas/#more-32618

Update

I am done reading, but I am collecting my notes and thoughts.. I should be posting later tonight. I will be working at starbucks without internet so whenever I get home tonight I should have something to update with. 

Almost there

Ten more pages. I still need to compile notes from my sketchbook and things I have scribbled in the margins of the pages, but hopefully tomorrow I will be able to finish the book and start the first step of responses. My goal is to organize my thoughts, conclusions, ect, over the next two weeks.. as I continue to observe, take pictures, draw, ect.. and then spend the time I have traveling from here to California, in Cali, and then traveling back to Cincinnati as a chance to capture more pictures for these ideas. I should be back in Ohio at least five or six days before the fall quarter starts which will give me time to make finishing touches/print/ect. I think having the opportunity to collect pictures from across the country will be much more interesting than if I were limited to this small area I am in now. It will also be an interesting collection of 'Non-Places'. Still trying to decide what my response to Auge is. . . stay tuned. 

The Here & Elsewhere

Non-Places: An Introduction to Super Modernity 

The Here and Elsewhere:

We have found difficulty crossing the threshold/frontier that lies between the here and the elsewhere

In the modern/contemporary world we have lost the ability to observe autonomous evolution in any human group. The human race has become interdependent. [This is seen as "world architects" build everywhere, technology from all over the world has emerged form the same logic, ect]. These factors have made it more difficult  to distinguish between the here and the elsewhere, the interior and exterior [the pentagon's national exterior with an international interior style].

-What would be the phenomenologists view of this idea? Because despite the fact that information is crossing over, trends, ideas, and customs are being shared; there remains a true identity, or at least a reminiscent one, to a specific time and place. I know Auge, in the coming chapter, argues that this is increasingly impossible because of the acceleration of time, overabundance of events, ect, but it still seems that there is more specificity in any context than he is admitting to. 

-On the other hand, if our cultures have been created by by our relationships to each other (as they interact, one by one), and now our communities are defined by the globe (countless communities simultaneously), have we redefined the real? The idea of things eventually becoming completely homogenous is understandable.. could this constant cross over eventually overrun  the foundations of these cultures that have developed over hundreds of years? Could that reminiscent identity be completely lost? In some ways to try and ignore the effects of globalization, to continue to hold true to what once was and no longer is, lacks truth. I can see how some cities are more omnipresent/ubiquitous than others, if it was simply how they have always functioned. For example, Cincinnati has served as an international hub for P&G, served as the threshold during the civil war, the industrial surge that brought people Germans, the world war that pushed the Germans out, Cincinnati has never held any particular culture for any significant duration. Cincinnati has been, in a sense, a non-place since the beginning. Is that in itself an identity?  On the other hand you consider a city like SF which has held a more consistent function and culture, which has a stronger identity attached to it. What are the characteristics that allow SF to keep its identity, at least longer, than some other places have? Or has it? 

As Auge Says, time is speeding up as is and as the access to the elsewhere  sources which cobble together our rituals, styles, cultures, religions,  ect. While our past has shown a detailed illustrated a slow combination and interweaving of cultures and influences , now our reach to various cultures and instant.. 

:: I am over half way through Auge and I have four more pages of notes I need to post and elaborate on.. but I am too tired tonight. Tomorrow I will try to type up the rest of my notes and get through the rest of the next segment. ::

In Response:

In response to your comment:

I am glad the Chicago trip was great! I have been itching to see the new Renzo addition, what we saw of it during construction was enough to get me excited. I am considering an overnight megabus trip right before school starts [staying in the hostel right downtown worked pretty well the first time I saw the city]. 

As for how this is going to 'conclude', I agree... I am opening up at least three cans of worms as far as I can tell and I don't know what to make, in terms of "answers," to most of it. . I have been trying to figure out what the product of this exploration will be and I really don't know yet. I am hoping with a little more reading from auge and a revisitation of Heidegger I can come up with something.. Thoughts I have, questions I certainly have, ideas I have, but conclusions ? I don't really know what there is to make conclusions of I suppose. If responses count as conclusions I guess I am good to go but.. well, well will see. 

I would prefer not to attempt a design of something in the matter of weeks, only because I fear it would not have the time for rendition and development that I would want.. maybe a paper in response to a space? as it applies to the context/time/place/dwelling.. Actually.. the Salt Lake City Library might be beautiful for that. It was designed by Moshe Sofdie, one of my personal favorite architects, and it an amazing space. Have you seen or heard of it? It would be a place I could also see how people create spaces for themselves, how they create territories, how they (or how they don't) dwell.. and I would love to attempt drawings of that building inside and out haha.. oh the perspectives would be insane.. and, as a civil building, as an international architects response to creating a SLC library, as  a place that allows learning... it might fit right in with Auge. I am not sure how you feel about that, I would love your ideas as well. I am not even sure how I feel about it considering I thought of it as I was writing this post BUT let me know. I want to finish Auge in the next week and be able to spend three weeks on whatever drawings, paper, ect that need to be developed. I will be leaving Park City after Labor Day and going home [ napa ] for the first time since Christmas. Depending on my lovely little car I am going to try and take the long way home, err back to cincinnati (down 1o1, through LA, across the gulf (which I have never seen), and through some cities I have never been able to get any idea of. I would probably head north from Atlanta if it all worked out but that would allow me to stop in a lot of places that would be interesting to follow up with after all of the reading and thinking this summer has entailed. 

I am glad I decided to continue with this, even if the "credit" I am getting for it has no real effect on my graduation and I could have been lounging like too many people I know in my section haha. It turned out to be more interesting than I think I predicted. Thank you for your help. 

Well, really now, off to bed. Its only, oh.. 2:30. awesome.

Auge, Part One

Alright, so a few things quickly before I crash because it is really late. 

#1 I see a lot of Auge in the research you are doing. I still agree and disagree to a certain extent, but it is interesting.

#2 Auge is a lot easier to get through then Heidegger, which I am SO thankful for

#3 I am sort of in the perfect city to be reading such ideas. While I realize most cities would serve as a great centre for these thoughts, park city is ironically different than most. Park city has a very low year round population [7-8,000 people].. but it still has these remnants of an old ghost town feel, a minors town, and, of course, a mountain town. To some extent, despite its growth boom of the last twenty years, it has held its identity. HOWEVER, in the winter time this city becomes an international hub. People from all over the world quadruple the population of the season residence, not to mention the tourist that only stay for a few days to a week. The implications of this are starting to dramatically effect the landscape and physical identity of this otherwise small town. They are opening a Waldorf Astoria here in Park City in the next month. . and the big resorts have only started establishing themselves dramatically since the olympics were held here in 2002. The other interesting part, for my personal perspective, is that I have been in this town since it was comprised of a single grocery store and mostly dirt roads.. I have home videos and arial pictures shot from hot air balloons of how this city was in the late eighties, right when they build the first golf course and just began their departure of becoming a ski town. 

I have only read the Introduction [to the second edition] and the preface but I will be reading a lot more in the morning and posting some of my notes from reading today. There is a lot already scribbled in this book and in my notebook. I have a few opinions on what I have been reading but I would prefer to wait and fully consider and write about them tomorrow after I have read a bit more. 

Until tomorrow, Jessica. 

=D

The books FINALLY came about twenty minutes ago.. I am going to get as far into auge today as I can since it is, conveniently, my day off this week. [Yes, only one, sad isn't it?]. Good news is Cassie and Raven have gone home and I work nights all week so I should be  able to invest a lot of time into Auge and The Poetics of Space. I have notes on "The Phenomenon of Space," That I will hopefully post tonight.. They are in my notebook now so I need to transcribe parts that are most interesting. . And then I will have notes on Auge, at least a beginning, tonight as well. I am happy to see that Non-Places is not the hunk of a book Camps has been.. =D a much easier chunk to bite off. I know I haven't posted but there should be more coming soon.