I love the color blue, and my attire today definitely confirms this--from my polo to my pants to my socks.
The shirt, from my eyes: If the light blue shirt, with the darker stripes running through it like the lines on college-rule paper, that I am wearing today could speak, it would say, "Thank you Ruben, for finally taking me out of the confines of your dark, much too stuffy closet, and allowing me to breathe the fresh spring air." Indeed, today is a celebration as it is the first time I have donned my "clima-cool" Adidas polo. In response to what my shirt might tell me, I would say, "Well, my dear polo made of funny synthetic fibers that keep me unusually cool, you should know that I have been waiting for just the right day to take you out of your nest because I only wear you when the cold and damp Seattle weather finally, and always suddenly, surrenders to the sun and heat." My polo would then be very happy that it serves as a synecdoche for spring rejuvenation.
The shirt, from someone else's eyes...Wow, I am feeling a bit of an out of body experience here...
What a beautiful shirt that wonderful chap is donning. It's relaxed, yet professional. It's mature, yet fresh. Its color resembles delicate spring clouds, and it flows just as freely as those clouds. And look at the ingenious material at the underarm; my skin is breathing better and I feel a cool breeze just by looking at it.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Lens Through Which We Observe: Choosing A Conceptual Framework
Latest Version of Our Research Inquiry:
How are various urban religious spaces in Amsterdam--namely mosques, synagogues, and churches--used, both physically and discursively, to address the issues of their respective communities and to negotiate between religious unity and metropolitan diversity?
Conceptual Framework:
The "looking glass" that I feel, thus far, would be most appropriate in our investigation of religious institutions in urban spaces is Mieke Bal's discussion of tradition in Travelling Concepts in the Humanities: A Rough Guide (2002). In the chapter on tradition, Mieke Bal discusses how cultural norms, traditions, and symbols are purposefully and consciously constructed and perpetuated. The idea fits into a larger discussion, largely situated in the filed of anthropology, of social construction--that there is nothing inherently "natural" or "organic" about culture, but that all cultures are produced and reproduced by both its own members and outside forces. This production, as post-colonial theorists like Edward Said (whom Mieke Bal in fact cites) claim, often is--and has historically been--inextricably linked with power relations.
As Charles C. Ragin points out in Construcitng Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of Method, "analytic frames are fundamental to social research because they constitute ways of seeing" (61). Seeing, then, religious spaces and the practices of those spaces through the lens of what I refer to as "critical constructivism" will allow us to produce one, but obviously not only, informed representation of religious social life in the urban hub that is Amsterdam.
Methodology:
1. By the very nature of the research question, we will be engaged in a comparative study of three religious groups in the city of Amsterdam.
2. We will be observing and close reading physical space (i.e. the religious buildings themselves) and physical traces (documents produced or provided by the religious institutions, like newspapers, flyers, or books found in the buildings).
3. We will also engage in participatory observation, by attending services held in the various structures--particularly paying attention to the sermons.
4. We will be conducting interviews with members of the religious institutions--most likely, the leaders, both spiritual and administrative, of the congregations.
5. We will also use virtual methods, primarily in two ways:
a. visiting the websites of the places of worship (if the institutions have websites) to gain more insight into the kinds of discourses and issues with which the communities are engaged, as well as to gain background historical information about the buildings and the communities they serve.
b. researching the histories of religious communities in modern Amsterdam, via both scholarly and journalistic writings, to situate our knowledge within the larger realm of the history and place of religion in Amsterdam.
How are various urban religious spaces in Amsterdam--namely mosques, synagogues, and churches--used, both physically and discursively, to address the issues of their respective communities and to negotiate between religious unity and metropolitan diversity?
Conceptual Framework:
The "looking glass" that I feel, thus far, would be most appropriate in our investigation of religious institutions in urban spaces is Mieke Bal's discussion of tradition in Travelling Concepts in the Humanities: A Rough Guide (2002). In the chapter on tradition, Mieke Bal discusses how cultural norms, traditions, and symbols are purposefully and consciously constructed and perpetuated. The idea fits into a larger discussion, largely situated in the filed of anthropology, of social construction--that there is nothing inherently "natural" or "organic" about culture, but that all cultures are produced and reproduced by both its own members and outside forces. This production, as post-colonial theorists like Edward Said (whom Mieke Bal in fact cites) claim, often is--and has historically been--inextricably linked with power relations.
As Charles C. Ragin points out in Construcitng Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of Method, "analytic frames are fundamental to social research because they constitute ways of seeing" (61). Seeing, then, religious spaces and the practices of those spaces through the lens of what I refer to as "critical constructivism" will allow us to produce one, but obviously not only, informed representation of religious social life in the urban hub that is Amsterdam.
Methodology:
1. By the very nature of the research question, we will be engaged in a comparative study of three religious groups in the city of Amsterdam.
2. We will be observing and close reading physical space (i.e. the religious buildings themselves) and physical traces (documents produced or provided by the religious institutions, like newspapers, flyers, or books found in the buildings).
3. We will also engage in participatory observation, by attending services held in the various structures--particularly paying attention to the sermons.
4. We will be conducting interviews with members of the religious institutions--most likely, the leaders, both spiritual and administrative, of the congregations.
5. We will also use virtual methods, primarily in two ways:
a. visiting the websites of the places of worship (if the institutions have websites) to gain more insight into the kinds of discourses and issues with which the communities are engaged, as well as to gain background historical information about the buildings and the communities they serve.
b. researching the histories of religious communities in modern Amsterdam, via both scholarly and journalistic writings, to situate our knowledge within the larger realm of the history and place of religion in Amsterdam.
I've Been Gone for A Minute, But Don't Fret
...just a "formalized" way for me to notify Clifford and Jessica that I will soon be posting various assignments that I have hitherto not completed. But, for now, allow me to resume with the present assignment...
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