ARH 411 Theory & Methods ~ R Zink

  Blog Post Topic: " I Wanna be with you Everywhere (And I Am): Disability Justice Art as Freedom Portal" by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Our final reading was a chapter from a book by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, “ The Future is Disabled .” Most of the writing was about an art event (by and for disabled people) which the author attended in 2019 New York called “ I Wanna Be With You Everywhere (IWBWYE) .” It was so wonderfully accessible to disabled people that it set a whole new standard for what all of us can expect in Disability Justice. The reading itself was pleasant and flowed well, with relevant examples and explanations to make the author’s points clear. Researching the author after reading was also helpful to see, as I found even more intersectional justice on their website, and I recommend checking it out! ( brownstargirl.org )  Piepzna-Samarasinha’s explanation of the environment at IWBWYE was incredibly helpful in understanding just how magical the world ...

  Blog Post Topic: " Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs" by Jan Zita Grover Our shortest reading yet was this 6-page article from the magazine, “Stolen Glances, Lesbians Take Photographs,” called “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs,” written in 1991. The key points in this writing were about the marginalized lesbian community which was (and still is) severely underrepresented. As I learned in Business Management, representation is a form of power. It’s empowering for us to see ourselves reflected in art, and the way that is portrayed is important, too. As Jan Zita Grover explains in this article, imagery and unseemly representation of these under-represented groups are more heavily scrutinized because there are less (or almost no) opposing examples to contradict and humanize them. Scarcity becomes a problem, Grover wrote, that leads to very few in the community meeting an expectation of their ow...

  Blog Post Topic: " Epistemology and Research: Centring Tribal Knowledge " by Margaret Kovach This passage from Margaret Kovach’s book, “Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts,” is about tribal epistemology specifically, which is the theory of knowledge regarding interpreting validity of and ways to approach that knowledge. The chapter emphasizes the great contrast between Western and Indigenous methodologies with the thesis clearly stated as, “This chapter is devoted to epistemology, emphasizing the centrality of tribal epistemologies to Indigenous research frameworks.” Kovach’s writing was very interesting to read although lengthy, and I enjoyed learning more about Indigenous culture, especially their learning methods. Nehiyaw (Plains Cree) knowledge is a focus for part of the chapter because Kovach wanted to make a few points within studying Tribal Epistemology. She writes, “The purpose of integrating Nehiyaw epistemology as part of a chapt...

  Blog Post Topic: " Meaning, Identity,  Embodiment: The Uses of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology in Art History " by Amelia Jones Amelia Jones: USC Roski School of Art & Design Robert A. Day Professor of Art and Design / Vice Dean of Faculty and Research Photo credit: Harry Gamboa, Jr., 2019 roski.usc.edu/profile/amelia-jones This week we read another writing by Amelia Jones, "Meaning, Identity, Embodiment: The Uses of Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology in Art History," in Art and Thought was a tedious and extensive read. There were many long run-on sentences that wound around the same point several times. This reading was written about how you embody your own specific perspective while viewing and experiencing the world, which is called phenomenology when you study this phenomenon more in depth. Jones goes over how Merleau-Ponty was a great influence in her understanding of this phenomena, and wrote, “Merleau-Ponty, I will argue, provides a crucial way of thinking...