Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

The Strange, Charles Hartman Dec 2006

The Strange, Charles Hartman

English Faculty Publications

Presents the poem "The Strange," by Charles O. Hartman. First Line: fungus raised by the night's rain; Last Line: thread cubic miles of humus.


Liberty Of Ecological Conscience, Aaron Lercher Oct 2006

Liberty Of Ecological Conscience, Aaron Lercher

Faculty Publications

Our concern for nonhuman nature can be justified in terms of a human right to liberty of ecological conscience. This right is analogous to the right to religious liberty, and is equally worthy of recognition as that fundamental liberty. The liberty of ecological conscience, like religious liberty, is a negative right against interference. Each ecological conscience supports a claim to protection of the parts of nonhuman nature that are current or potential sites of its active pursuit of natural value. If we acknowledge the fallibility of each conscience in its pursuit of genuine natural value, a policy of indefinitely extensive …


Animism In Whitman: "Multitudes" Of Interpretations?, Rachelle Helene Woodbury Jul 2006

Animism In Whitman: "Multitudes" Of Interpretations?, Rachelle Helene Woodbury

Theses and Dissertations

Walt Whitman used animistic techniques in his poetry and prose, specifically "Song of the Redwood Tree," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," and Specimen Days. The term animism can be traced to the Latin root of the word, anime, which connotes a "soul" or "vitality." So, when one is talking about animistic techniques, one is speaking of the (metaphoric or realistic) ensoulment of natural objects. In the wake of a growing global crisis modern scholarship has begun reexamining the implications of this belief; often it introduces ambiguities into an otherwise comfortable relationship of unquestioned human domination. In Specimen Days, Whitman …


The Trope Of Nature In Latin American Literature: Some Examples , Becky Boling Jun 2006

The Trope Of Nature In Latin American Literature: Some Examples , Becky Boling

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

The article examines the trope of nature through selected texts from Latin American literature, from the writings of Christopher Columbus to more contemporary narratives such as those by Luis Sepúlveda and Mayra Montero. It focuses on the transition in the manner in which writers conceive of the "natural" world within their particular ideological contexts. From early manifestations of Utopian writing to texts extolling urbanization and development, the trope of nature undergoes several permutations which say a great deal about the ideological contexts of the writers and their conceptualization of the place of humans in the scheme of things. Late 20th …


Nature And Mystical Identity: Three Journeys To The Absolute, Mayada Mahmoud Al Shereef Feb 2006

Nature And Mystical Identity: Three Journeys To The Absolute, Mayada Mahmoud Al Shereef

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This thesis demonstrates three kinds of the Absolute and three different ways of approaching them. Farid Ud-Din Attar, Kate Chopin and Theodore Roethke take different roads to reach their Absolute. Similarities among the three works tackled in this thesis are represented by the role of nature in the spiritual journey to attain a mystical identity, and by having an ultimate goal of the journey called the "Absolute" . On the other hand, differences are represented by the different definitions of the Absolute that the three authors offer. This thesis also presents different notions like annihilation, unity and illumination that the …


Paradoxes And Puzzles: Appreciating Gardens And Urban Nature, Stephanie Ross Jan 2006

Paradoxes And Puzzles: Appreciating Gardens And Urban Nature, Stephanie Ross

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

To explore our appreciation of gardens and urban nature, I propose a recursive definition of original or wild nature together with guidelines for discerning degrees of naturalness. Arguing (contra Robert Elliott) that nature can be restored as well as degraded, I characterize four varieties of urban nature - interrupted, altered, constructed, and virtual. I build on Stan Godlovitch's comments about scale to suggest two modes of appreciation - macroscopic and fine-focused. I close by discussing some particular examples - parks, environmental art, gardens - and drawing some conclusions for the appreciation of vernacular gardens.[1]


Healing Interior: Using Eastern Design Principles In Hotel Design, Yunju Lee Koh Jan 2006

Healing Interior: Using Eastern Design Principles In Hotel Design, Yunju Lee Koh

Theses and Dissertations

The main goal of this thesis is to explore how interior spaces in hotel designs can provide a less stressful environment and promote health and harmony by using Feng Shui Principles. It will first discuss the principles of Feng Shui and general hotel design, and then move on to demonstrate how the application of Feng Shui principles can be used to create a hotel environment that encourages health and harmony in its occupants. This project will demonstrate principles that not only can be applied to hotel space, but also can be practiced in any other interior space. This thesis, therefore, …


The Art Of Emptiness: Buddhist Nature In Picture Books Of Miyazawa Kenji's Donguri To Yamaneko (Wildcat And The Acorns), Helen Kilpatrick Jan 2006

The Art Of Emptiness: Buddhist Nature In Picture Books Of Miyazawa Kenji's Donguri To Yamaneko (Wildcat And The Acorns), Helen Kilpatrick

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933), the author of Donguri to Yamaneko [3], is recognised as one of "the most imaginative spinner[s] of children's stories, of twentieth-century Japan" (Satô xvii). Moreover, Kenji, as he is commonly known, is probably Japan's most renowned Buddhist writer and his work is now taught in schools and universities. [4]He was writing at a time when Japan was undergoing rapid modernisation and much of his work, including Donguri, was created as a protest against the spiritual desolation associated with rampant industrialisation, commodification and consumerism. Donguri should be considered in this context as the story ultimately foregrounds a communion …


Bruno Latour And The Politics Of Nature, Graham Harman Jan 2006

Bruno Latour And The Politics Of Nature, Graham Harman

Faculty Book Chapters

Bruno Latour describes his Politics of Nature as work of political ecology. Its subtitle, "How to Bring the Sciences Into Democracy," suggests a specific and limited topic, albeit an interesting one. Yet what this book really offers is a full system of metaphysics, perhaps the first original system of the new millennium. Latour declares these large ambitions openly. In so doing, he is fully aware of the stones that might be showered upon his parade: he warns us jokingly of "a dreadful specter...the obligation to engage in metaphysics, that is to define in turn how the pluriverse is furnished and …


Trees, Kara M. Drinkwater Jan 2006

Trees, Kara M. Drinkwater

Theses and Dissertations

The intention behind my work is to draw the viewer's attention to the intimate, beautiful details found in nature. For example, I am awed and inspired by the unique qualities found in every tree whose varieties are seemingly infinite. The basic concept of my work is to portray the images of trees close to the viewer's eye to instill a sense of nature's grandness.


Natural Selection, Jeffrey A. Vick Jan 2006

Natural Selection, Jeffrey A. Vick

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis work is about imagination. I use the collaborative efforts of the viewer's mind and my sculptures, or specimens, to make associations of real life animals. I feel this engages the viewer and in turn invites them to inspect the work on closer level. This is my ultimate goal in the work, to take hold of the viewer's curiosity and have them examine the work on a closer level.


A Shift In Perspective, Andrew Patrick Ilnicki Jan 2006

A Shift In Perspective, Andrew Patrick Ilnicki

Theses and Dissertations

Responsible design practice should include environmental advocacy and a focus on community — subjects often lacking in design education. My creative project is the result of investigations into how designers integrate nature into their design process. By increasing their awareness for communal and environmental advocacy at the undergraduate level, students can develop responsible design practices at the beginning of their career. The result is the student's accumulation of integrity.


Foliage And Fabrication, Carrie Rosicky Garvey Jan 2006

Foliage And Fabrication, Carrie Rosicky Garvey

Theses and Dissertations

In my photographic work, I contrast natural and man-made objects abstracted by manipulation of scale. Details of the objects are blown up to proportions larger than life. By distorting the scale, I aim to allow the audience to view the image out of context, enabling the viewer to see it for its aesthetic value rather than the object's functional purpose.