Digital Initiatives in Higher Education

Following is my 17th blog! It's yet another step towards a major project that I want to take up shortly. Suggestions are welcome

Digital Initiatives in Higher Education

Guest Lecture on Indian Psychology by Anup Kumar Dhar

Dated: 3rd September '10.

Notes by: Sneha Sharon Mammen

..And quite naturally as we understand talking on 'Indian Psychology' is quite a herculean task because of the specific dimension it seeks to explore. Mr Dhar faced two problems: first, whether to deal with the 'Indian' as in an adjective (to see it as an adjective in front of 'Psychology' does trigger minds!) or to talk of it in an Americanized sort of a concept, that is, does 'Indian Psychology mean psychology in India? The class affirms a resolute NO! If it were that way, is it to be seen in terms of the Buddhist or a Vedantic selves? There is a third problem of getting at the exclusivity of the topic, does India really have something of a psychology to its credit?

Psychology as we popularly understand today is a nineteenth century Western European concept. Where does India feature that way? What has India today to its credit? Science, Feudalism or psychology? Meaning to say whether it can claim something like 'Indian psychoanalysis' to its benefit. The question is raised and a junior scholar assumes that Abhimanyu's example as per the epic, Mahabharata could be an attempt to see through Indian psychoanalysis. However, 'Memory' says Mr Dhar 'is not unconcious' and there is no theorisation of Mahabharata per se.

As Romila Thapar enquired whether India had slavery as much was prevalent in Rome; it is to ask whether India had Science as much as the West could claim for itself or even did we ever give to the world what Freud, Chomsky and Skinner have been credited for? Where then lies the logic of this part of the world? The basic historical problem haunting us thereby is the fact that most of us ponder as to whether there was any Indian counterpart to psychology!!

Supposingly, this nation did have psychology. Assuming it that way, can we have a benchmark too? Which of the following therefore is Indian:

1) Psychoanalysis - repression

2) Behaviourism - behaviour

3) Phenemenology- subjective

4) Cognitive -computer

5) Biological-brain ???

And the doubts prevail, Birth of psychoogy in India---- Buddhist period? Shankaracharya? Medieval? Modern period? WHEN!

There are however ways to look at it. There apparently are many logics of looking t the psyche with respect to the historical perspective. However the problem with history is 1) where you dont look back ( no respect for India?) SIMPLE- Seamless and continuous flow from origin to end? As step ladders? Fake/ Folk/ Faith leading to psychology where all preceeding steps are falsified or COMPLEX- with fundamental shifts, turns and breaks.

As an example, consider looking at the perspective of reaching heaven (in the Mahabharata). Here Heaven is equated to truth. The idea of ' dont look back' engulfs Draupadi as she is the first to fall while Yudhishthira is lucky to have not looked back at all and thus attain heaven with all its goodness.

Another example, how do you drive?- You drive ahead indeed. However, the rear view is an important component. You drive in the dialectic, between the windscreen and the rear view. Combine the two together, you get a fine driver/psychologist that is the one who merges history and the contemporary.

History (options to look at it)-- Modern

Medieval

Ancient

Pre historic

Non sense!

Mr Dhar shows the complex thread of time as a cluster of unkempt wool ball, Indian psychology being one such thread running simultaneously.

Freud in 1895- accredited with birth of psychology in Europe, to be specific, Germany alone. Interestingly in 1905, a committee is set up in Calcutta discussing the beginnings of a psychology department in its university. Thus, Brajendranath Sree develops psychology (1905-15) and works up a syllabus. The confusion thereby creeps in as to whether the syllabus to be introduced should be experimental or psychological, introspective?

With the coming up of asylums in 1758, 1805, 1921-22 in Bhawanipur, Bombay and Ranchi and the psychology department of Calcutta University( the first of its kind in India), where does psychology after all rest?

The first batch of M.Sc Psychology in Calcutta had a doctor as its student, G.S Bose, brother of novelist, Rajshekhar Bose. S.N Bose accredited for the famous 'Bossons', as also a critic of Einstein who differed in his own approach and G.S Bose with his thesis on the concept of repression against Freud, in constant correspondence with him to an extent that even his daughter went to Berlin to meet Freud, as also being a part of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis-- this was indeed the Glorious period of psychology which the common man often forgets to acknowledge.

'A New Theory of Mental Life' published in English for everyone to read forms an important assessment arena. Our mindset has always been to take theory from the west and apply it here. Ever wondered what we gave unto them? Ever dared pointing out where they went wrong?

G.S Bose:

Hypnosis--) Magic--) Medicine (1910)--) Psychology (1917)--) Psychiatry( National Medical College--) Concept of Repression (1921)

Yogasutra (Patanjali) (--- PSYCHOANALYSIS ----) swapna

Bhagvad Gita (1948) Puranapravesa (1934) Lal Kalo (1930)

NEW THEORY OF MENTAL LIFE

Therefore, birth of psychology in India is also birth of medicine and psychiatry.

What was Bose's concept of Repression? A rebel against Freud's thesis. Bose meant to show that in India we cannot soak in each of Freud's theory. His theories were but possible in the circles of Christianity where you are supposed to repress your sin, flesh, carnality and guilt or you go confess. Therefore, repression was not a framework. Behaviourism too was not a framework because we are by nature reflective/ ambivalent self. The theory of double wish prevails--wishing and not wishing something at the same time.

Logic of the psyche is thus an intraceptive self. Ashish Nandi in 'Antarmukhi', a translated work showed how we are intraceptive in front of the mirror- reflected self-- 'twoness of the self'.

Therefore it is not repression rather ambivalence that is, to be or not to be. 'Swapna' as aforementioned is the writing of Freud's 'Interpretation of Dreams'.

Lal Kalo is the battle between the red and black ants ( the red ants had ridiculed the black ants' queen!) Indignity of woman? Parallels could be drawn towards either a Sita or Draupadi. It is not guilt that comes into scene. It is but hurt and indignation for which Draupadi had rebelled with all her life.

Fundamental psychic drama is not premised on guilt. However, for Freud it was always guilt (consider: Oedipus Rex). For practical reasons it has on the contrary been the element of hurt.

Also, time moves cyclically in our psyche. Re read Patanjali and it shows that.

a 600 page book- psychiatrist's writing- re writing the Bhagvad Gita- an attempt to show that there were no Kauravas or Pandavas. Arjun's famous dilemma- How can I kill my kinsmen and to what good?- shows conflict of self with self- reflecting on self.

NEW THEORY OF MENTAL LIFE:

How do we become gendered man and woman?

The West came up with 'Oedipus Point'- gendering. He was trying to answer a foundational question.- Universal Psychology by an Indian.

Resource drain from India?

Tagore- Logic of Psyche- Sufi, Bhakti Movements

Gandhi - Bhagvad Gita (1921)

Aurobindo- Bhagvad Gita (1921)

Lokmanya Tilak -Bhagvad Gita (1921)----) Quite a contested field, open to examination!

Indian Psychology as according to the west is either being spiritual, transcedence, connectedness, inner self or God/Gods. (Religious-belief, worship, cultural attributes)

More of a Guru-Shishya Padhati (combining religion plus education or medicine plus religion)

Carl Jung's idea of ' a natural religious function', for Freud was the 'universal neurosis of mankind'.

Indian Psychology basically then traces itself back to six schools:

1) Vedanta

2) Vaisheshika

3) Nyaya (epistemology)

4) Sankya (Existence, what we are and where we come from)

5) Yoga (practice)

6) Buddhism/Jainism (knowledge/ existence/ethical living)

Amazingly, none of the above have a conception of God! Why then is India called a religious nation? The above, all of them have different mandates. As Buddha believed, one should be interested in the pot and not the potter/ never answered he believed in a 'one' almighty power. To top it all, Buddhist texts too are in a dialogic pattern. Brahma in the Upanishads is also not God, is rather a helpless person gazing up to the stars wondering!

As Amartya Sen puts it, the Indian tradition is a rational, argumentative form. He thus cracks the received idea of India.

A Response to Jijo's write on Zizek

Following is a response to Jijo's Write on Zizek's address in Kochi this year.
 Click here for Jijo's write up
----

Left always blossoms

Dear friends, I am extremely sorry for the delay. This article was prepared once I read the article of Jijo written on February 10, 2010. But my mental illnesses due to the losses of few of my friends havestopped me from finally editing this article. I believe Jijo cannot remember me because I have met him before three years in a conference. Any way I take this opportunity to meet and talk with my friend Jijo virtually. Jijo has not only written about the Comrade Slavoj Zizek but also about the communism and its future. Personally I believe his long time desire of attacking communism and its class perspectives came true by this seminar and he has done it successfully but not scientifically.The following can be considered as a response to his so called response to the Comrade Zizek.

There are differences between the Marxian theory and early Christianity though early Christianity was considered as the relaxation of the people those who suffer in the hands of feudal lords. So religion was addressed as opium by Karl Marx. It is really a deliberate attempt of reductionist understanding of Jijo comparing both Marxism and early Christianity though Christianity mostly relies on the socialstructure that is the superstructure of the society but the Marxism focuses mainly on the base of the society [for our understanding we could say Marxism is for capturing the statepower for the betterment of the majority of the people and before capturing power it would run a parallel government with the sea changes in the modes of production and in the productive relations that would change the depriving conditions of the poor simultaneously and radically]. So comparing the contours and the very aim of manifesto of communist party with the Apostles Chapter 4 and 5 of Bible is nothing but the childish act or a deliberate attempt of confusing the readers [even I could say this is nothing but revising Bible] conveniently carried out by Jijo. Apostles Chapter 4 and 5 rely on the mutual consents of all people to distribute the things equally. There is nothing mentioned in the Apostles what would people do if a few people is not ready to give up their unneeded surpluses when the majorities are suffering.

Thanks to Jijo. Because normally the allegation on Communism is it considers only the men in action but not their thoughts (Refer the arguments between Robert Pereira of Erstwhile Communist party of Chilon (Srilanka) and Krishnamoorty, a notable philosopher from India). The understanding of Jijo of a man is really pathetic that he considers that men in action are an individual. His arguments were not substantiated by the solid evidences but he has written mere sweeping sentences. Normally and apparently the human beings in idle always be considered as the individuals not the men in action. Since from the hunter gatherer society, men in action group themselves with their own identity rather than idle sitting hermit like. In order to separate people individually, religions especially Hindu religion preach inactions(All the happenings are going on as per the wishes of God i.e. Keep quiet). Same time let me quote few examples from the history of socialist states. Teacher Lenin is the one who strives hard to confirm the existence of individuality of all the dialects of USSR. Even the anti-communist writers who are from USSR itself could not conceal the individual importance given to people by the erstwhile USSR in their writings.  Let me request Jijo to compare the severaldepartments of languages and linguistics of universities of erstwhile USSR with so called democratic countries of present day. Marxism is never afraid to consider individuals as individuals but it was forced to divide the society into various classes by the ruling classes of rich core. Still no one forgets the importance given to various nationalities, dialects in the regime of Teachers Lenin and Stalin. (Read Stalin’s Book on “Nationalism and Language”)

Next let me deal with Jijo’s scathing attack on annihilation policy followed by the communist parties in action [in no way I mean the parliamentary communist parties or pseudo communists]. Let me say one thing that communists believe that all men are born as human beings not as rich or poor. But the brought up and their environment make the impact on them. I don’t know why Jijo conveniently forgets a word DECLASS that is very much famous and familiar among the communist parties and also among the critics of communism. Even Marx and Engels were born in the rich families but they declass themselves to live as equal to common beings. It is in the history that many chances are given and being given to the capitalist classes to declass themselves but they are adamant in exploiting the poor that put communists, the representatives of the poor people to annihilate them sometimes but not virtually always. [I still remember the words of Teacher Mao and how it was translated by friends like Jijo. At the time of The Great Cultural Revolution, Mao says “Bombard the Headquarters” that means throw away the leadership from its current position since they lost their moral responsibility to be the leaders of proletariat and revised the principles of Marxism- Leninism; but it was translated by revisionists as “Mao asked his comrades to demolish the headquarters of Communist Party of China”. Let me remind the story of how Lenin responds to his comrades when they try to demolish the Kremlin palace at the time of new democratic revolution of Russia]. So annihilation shouldnot be taken literallybut contextually. Same time I too accept that communists do annihilations literally too. But for that let me put forth a question to Jijo: Do you know what happened to Roman Catholic ‘father’ who asked people to go peaceful procession to beg bread from Louis XVI of France and his queen? Sometimes annihilation is unavoidable. Because we cannot decide what weapon we shouldtake up; that all will be decided by our enemy.For this Jijo may comment “Love all”.True human beings cannot have such patience, tolerant, compatibility and aesthetic sense to love a man who is raping an innocent girl. Still I remember my revolutionary Jesus Christ and his Silver Whip.

            Jijo tried his level best to revise the Marxism [though many tried; they could not succeed but still Marxists are waiting for such criticisms to reanalyse themselves again and again and correct themselves; So better luck next time Jijo]. He deliberately propagates that Marxism relies on hatred. But that is not the contour of Marxism. Love is the core and contour of Marxism. Marxists fight for the fight free world. Communists love people, so they could not see their own people suffering, they analyse and find out the reasons for the sufferings of the people and find out that few handful people exploit en masse of people, They persuade the capitalists but meet failure; (I request Jijo to read the autobiography of Bo Yee, the former king of China who spent his life in rehabilitation centre set up by Communist party of China) at last with no further words to persuade they start hating handful of people in order to protect en masse of people.  Dear Jijo, why don’t you ask capitalists to get rid of hatred? Because the history shows that they are the one who started hating first. Remember Jijo, we cannot ask Muslims and Christians to get rid of their defensive attacks though their defence seems like violence because they are not the ones who started the violence first but the Modi’s started it.

I request Jijo to avoid the sweeping statements and let me request him to give the quotations and evidences from the Marxist literature where he gets the knowledge that “Marxism has an unspecified assumption that there is extremely bad humankind”. There is no such saying in Marxism and its literatures.  When talking about violence, let me repeat it to my readers that violence is not communists’ wish but they have no options. (DearJijo, Ask MedhaPatkar, she will narrate a bundle of stories of peaceful demonstrations and their untold stories. Jijo tells communism is a fiction. If a theory based on such an unscientific assumption is to be read as a fiction or theory, then what would be the name of the sweeping statements of Jijo without any evidences? But still I request Jijo to write more; because communists are very tolerant to receive comments and criticisms from Jijo like people because these comments and criticisms alone can help communists to reanalyse and correct themselves as their teacher Mao advises. (Read Mao’s Collected Volumes)

Jijo speaks that capitalism has no ideology at all and it is the natural inclination of the human kind. But anthropologists and all historians of the mankind speak against that and it is well proved that communism is the natural inclination of the mankind. (I request Jijo to read The Origin of Family, Private property and State by Engels and I request him to counter it scientifically if he can). Pre communistic society is the first societal structure and the base of human beings.Human beings were born with the natural inclination of communism since they are social animals and so it is well proved that communism will come not because of the economic depression and all but because of the science and nature show our way there.

I could not understand the logic of the argument put forth by Jijo. He says the reason for the failure of Marxists in India is the distance between theory and praxis. In the last criticism, he points out that Marxism as anunscientific assumption and Utopia. But here he charges the Marxists for their impractical ability to implement it. If Marxism is the utopian principle, then in no way it can’t be successful. Jijo’s confused mind is revealed in his writings apparently. It is written in his article that the experience of applied communism was not available to Marx. But I would like to remind that the pre communal society and Paris commune had the rudiment form of earlier stage of communism and new democratic revolution respectively.

Understanding of democracy, capitalist parties and even the Marxist parties of Jijo is really funny. Because India is not at all a democratic country but it strives hard to become a democratic but this ruling class cannot give the leadership to a democratic society and it will not allow India to become a democratic country (If Jijo has any doubts of it, I request him to ask few of his friends in Gujarat and Mangalore, they can narrate the stories of democracies of our India). Obviously India is semi feudal and semi colonial country. There are no capitalist parties in India. Because capitalist parties won’t follow the structure of monarchy that is fatally followed in Congress party, whichJijo believes as a capitalist party.I personally believe and I can say it boldly what is followed in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura is not communism. If this is communism, then I ll be the first enemy of communism. The real embryo stage of communistic state is inside the forests of Dantewada [May be Jijo is in the faraway corporate cities like Bengaluru to see the realities. I request Jijo to read all the recent articles related to Dantewada published in EPW].

Jijo has to understand a point that Communists have not come to power because of the economic depression of 1930’s. The communist parties of Italy and Germany were stronger than the Communist parties of Russia but still Italy communists could not grasp the victories though the economic depression rate of Italy and Germany are higher than Russia. So here the fact of economic depression cannot create a revolution but it can increase or decrease it. Economic depression is one of the ends of capitalism and also one of the factors for new democratic revolution but it is not the deciding factor of new democratic revolution. Communists never rely on the economic depression of the capitalism for their revolution because Marxism has the understanding that capitalism will end up in the no way place, so communism is the scientific start of the humanbeings. It’s not like the Utopia but it is well proved in Das Capitals [I request Jijo to read all the communism literatures or at least the basic principles before he starts commenting on it]. Communists understand the realities correctly, so they are considered as the biggest threat of India. Though communists do not have the clear cut idea of how the communism will be, they have already proved that their model societies are much better than other capitalist models comparatively. Let me request the readers to compare and contrast the facilities given to people in erstwhile socialist countries and capitalist countries. India’s ration system and five year plans are none but the cut and pasting from erstwhile USSR. Though we do not have any socialist states currently in the world, it does not mean the failure of communism because ups and downs are always in life. Finally why to be afraid if the communism slowly moves to the university curriculum?[So Jijo means university curriculum is far away from action. Huh? Thanks I too believe so. Because these capitalistic institutions and curriculums are not meant foractions or action oriented syllabi]. Wherever communism goes, it has the same class struggle as its content till the communistic philosophiescome to prevalence. Because this is scientific philosophy and it’s the future of the mankind. Left never withers; but always blossoms.

Thanks to all the readers, my beloved friends Jijo and Anil.

Comradely yours,

Charles Antony

P.S: Comrade Slavoj Zizek is a philosopher [even the communist movements have their own internal contradictions with him; but they respect him for his writings] rather than an activist. Zizek is described as the living Patriarch of Marxism; but I could say one thing that even Comrade Zizek will not support this statement because it’s not the proletarian tradition. Let me quote the words of Comrade Lalhoj of Nepal “Communists are just the tools of people to accomplish the duties of communism”. May be they are the front runners, but as Teacher Lenin says “Revolution is people’s festival”.

II Year JPEng Questions from American Literature Course

What is knowledge? Is there a difference between knowledge in sciences and knowledge in social sciences? Is social science knowledge not sound? 

Is all knowledge, including that generated by science, male knowledge? If so is feminist epistemology possible/conceivable? 

What is language? Can we think of thought and language as two independent domains. Can language truly capture all our emotions and feelings? Are feeling and thought separate cognitive domains? what is the difference between idea, concept, thought? 

'When was Modernism'/ Report / MA Previous

Report by: Basreena Basheer

Raymond Williams was a welsh academic, critic and novelist. He is widely credited for the introduction of cultural studies and the cultural materialistic approach. His major works include Culture and Society (1958), The Long Revolution (1961), Marxism and Literature (1977).

In the lecture that was given on 17 March 1987 at the University of Bristol, William tries to critically analyse the cultural movement modernism, which spawned across Europe between 1890 and 1940. According to literary historians, modernism is a blanket term for an explosion of new styles and trends in the arts and aesthetics beginning in the later part of the twentieth century. The central image that is associated with modernism is a void or emptiness. Various innovations were brought about in literature, painting, music and so on. The main writers associated with modernism include T.S.Eliot, D.H.Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Ezra Pound and so on. Modernism also came to be considered an elite movement as it was restricted only to a handful.

In his lecture, Williams tries to confiscate the romantic element off the modernist movement. One problem with the selective appropriation of the movement is that in giving credit to only few writers who departed from conventional writing tradition, the older traditional writers are ignored. What is being overlooked here is the fact that without the older traditional writers, modernism could not have happened. In Williams’ words, “writers are applauded for their denaturalizing of language, their break with the allegedly prior view that language is clear, and for their making apparent in the narrative the problematic status of the author and his authority. But in excluding the great realists, this version of modernism refuses to see how they devised and organized a whole vocabulary and its structure of figures of speech with which to grasp the unprecedented social form of the industrial city.”

One possible explanation for this selective appropriation according to Williams was the change in the media of cultural production in the late nineteenth century and their ideological consequences. Photography, cinema, radio and television were gaining wide scale importance during that time. The public was getting increasingly drawn by these new mediums. Hence the sudden change in the field of arts and aesthetics was a reaction reacting to the sudden progression of media as an effort to defend their own territories. Therefore innovations like the stream of consciousness, interior monologue and the like.

In addition to this, this so called cultural reformation occurred only in the metropolitan cities, the new centers of imperialism such as Paris, Vienna, Berlin, London, New York. This could be due to the rapid migrations across borders. Writers like Joyce, Pound etc. were constantly moving in and around these cities. But with the World War I and the introduction of passports, borders got sealed for the first time, thus constraining the free movements of writers and intellectuals. The writers thus felt estranged and alienated in their new homes, and therefore produced works which depicted this isolation from the society. That is, these works only signified their emotions and state of minds, and so these works cannot be seen as representative of the period. These selective works according to William “achieved comfortable integration into the new international capitalism”, the modernists as well as their works moved from being anti-bourgeois to bourgeois. Thus the works got commodified and “its forms lent themselves to cultural competition and the commercial interplay of obsolescence.

WORKS CITED:

Pinto, Anil. Lecture notes. Christ University, Bangalore.

Williams, Raymond. “When was Modernism?” Art in Modern culture: An Anthology of Critical Texts. Eds. Francis Franscina, and Jonathan Harris. London/New York: Phaidon, 1992.Print

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Williams.nd.web.09 august 2010

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/amroth/scritti/willaims.htm.nd.09 august 2010

MA Western Aesthetics CIA 3 - Audio-visual Presentation

Notes by Sneha Sharon Mammen

Dated: 25th Aug, 2010.

GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO-VIDEO PRESENTATION:

1) Time limit: minimum- 10 mins, maximum- 30 mins

2) Structure:

Part A-- What is the essay about ( Answer in a few sentences)

Part B-- Explain the aforementioned. ( How the essay according to you is about it)

Part C-- Concluding remarks, your reflections on it (optional) and critical positions.

3) Naming of the file:

(Begin with the author's name, title of the essay underscore and your name, each word division separated by an underscore) for example: Raymond_Williams_When_was_Modernism_Basreena_Basheer

4) Evaluation Criteria: 70% for comprehensive analysis, 20% for effectiveness and creativity, 10% for language.

5) Date of submission: on or before 10th of September, 2010, 12 midnight.  

6) Sending the Assignments: Please upload your presentations to Youtube and send the links to Sneha Sharon and Anil Pinto on or before the date of submission.

ALL THE BEST.

How to Approach Your Research- For MA Previous

Notes by Sneha Sharon Mammen

Dated: 25th August, 2010.

The foremost thing to keep in mind is to CUT THE FACT that is to give what the question asks. A Giddens or an Eagleton might talk of a hundred things in a go but your approach should be selective, mapping the interaction between the self and society as Giddens talks of in his essay. Its not mere paraphrasing. Also, do not give biographical sketches if it is uncalled for. That Terry Eagleton was a student of Raymond Williams becomes an interesting factual analysis if only you could talk about how Wiliams' ideas evolve through Eagleton.

CITATIONS should be precise and accurate, not straightforwardly citing the professor if you use his ideas/borrowed ideas. Nonetheless, you should go in the apt details. Supposingly, if you use details from the blog, cite the person who has jotted it down there whether you use or do not use the person's ideas directly.

(If you mention someone's name with or without using their ideas, cite them. If you just refer to the books without directly using them, it becomes more of a bibliography.) When you mention the name of the book, underline it. In case of poems, articles, essays- single quotes and in case of direct statements from the piece use double quotes.

Academic writing also needs to be argumentative and clear. Do not forget to break your work into paragraphs. It represents the clarity and flow of thought. It should be arranged not only mentally but visually too. If the paragrapgh starts at the margin, leave one line space or else five spaces (one tab). It would also reflect your line of thought precisely bringing out your analysis and argument.

Portrait of a Motor Car by Carl Sandburg

Please click here to view Carl Sandburg's poem Portrait of a Motor Car

The digital classroom is here - Bangalore - DNA

Following are the two articles that appeared in DNA newspaper, which have mentioned about this blog and experiments done here.
The digital classroom is here - Bangalore - DNA by Shruti Gautham on 23 Aug 2010

Blogging and pinging a change by Noopur Raval on 23 Aug 2010

Global Virtual Conference on Technology for Blended and Distributed Education

There is a virtual conference on 'Technology for Blended and Distributed Education' organised by CEDBEC and TQMS, Christ University from August 18 to 20th, 2010. This space will attempt to cover a few of those sessions using live blogging.





Live blogging by CoverItLive. The conference is also being streamed live on UStream.tv

Mid Semester Materials for V semester students of Literary Theory

introduction to literary theory
V Semester Literary theory class notes 2
Structuralism notes by Anusha R.
Ferdinand De Saussure
Syntagm and paradigm
Claude Levis Strauss
Related links
Mapping the essay (Saussure
Levis Strauss
Humanist Literary Theory
Formalism



mid sem portions
works of Terry Eagleton
Literature as a construct
Birith of literature
Creative writing and Day Dreaming by Freud
more of Creative writing and Day dreaming
Psychoanalytic Approach

What is Literature by Terry Eagleton

What is literature?- Terry Eagleton
Mr. Pinto said "if there is any theory answers this question it must encompass all its dimensions, and even if one of the dimensions is missing the theory fails.

Terry Eagleton, in his essay challenges all the definitions of Literature that have been put forth and challenges the basic understanding of literature that we have. In fact he rejects the idea of any "basic understanding" of what is literature.

Literature as Imaginative writing

• He begins with Literature being defined as imaginative writing.
• With imaginative/fictional/creative writing such as works by Shakespeare, Milton etc. other works which were not exactly fiction or imaginative writing were included as a part for English Literature. Example: Sermons of John Donne,  Madame De Sevigne's letters to her daughter, philosophy of Descartes and Pascal. 
• There was no clear distinction between 'fact' and 'fiction'. 
• In the late 16th and early 17th century 'novel' used both factual and fictional events and even news reports were not considered purely factual. 
• Genesis read as fact by some and fiction by others. Therefore no clear cut difference between fact and fiction.
• Moreover  if one still goes by this definition, there are many works of fiction that are not considered to be Literature. Example: Mills and boon, Superman comics, Sidney Sheldon.
• "If literature is 'creative' or 'imaginitive' writing, does this imply that history, philosophy and natural science are uncreative and unimaginative?"

Literature as 'writing' that uses peculiar language

• It is because Literature uses the language in peculiar ways that it is different from everyday 'normal' way of speech.
• Roman Jakobson, speaks of Literature as  "organised violence committed on ordinary speech".
• Disproportion between signifier and signified: A mismatch between the signifier and the signified. For example when in Macbeth you read the line "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow..." you know that the character is talking of eternal bore dome and not of the literal meaning of the word 'tomorrow' therefore creating a mismatch in the signifier (tomorrow) and the signified (the next day).
• By bringing in peculiarity the language draws attention to itself. This is the reason when you read a fairy tale that starts with "Once upon a time..." you know that there is no real history associated with the line but it refers to a time in the story therefore drawing attention to itself or the text present in front of you.
• "The formalists started out by seeing the literary work as a more of less arbitrary assemblage of 'devices' , and only later came to see these devices as interrelated elements or 'functions' within a total textual system. 
• These devices included imagery, sound, rhythm, syntax, metre, rhyme, narrative techniques etc.
• These devices were used as literary elements to 'defamiliarise' or 'estragement'.  
• In other words "It was language 'made strange'; and because of this estrangement, the everyday world was also suddenly made unfamiliar".
• What he is trying to imply here is that in our everyday routine we get so used to the usual things that we hardly notice them, we become "as Formalists would say 'automatised', Literature, by forcing us into a dramatic awareness of language, refreshes these habitual responses and renders objects more perceptile."
• By defamiliarising or alienating us from the text or ordinary speech gives a fuller understand or a kind of revelation or the same experience. Its like after you have a fight or an argument, you sit alone and do a flashback of what happened and you try to hear your own words and put yourself in the other person's shoes and realise the damage that you might have done by saying certain things. In this process you are looking at your behaviour from outside, or other person's perspective, hence estranging yourself from you, and in the process gaining a better understanding of yourself.
• "Most of the time we breathe in air without being conscious of it: like language, it is the very medium in which we move. But if the air is suddenly thickened or infected we are forced to attend to our breathing with new vigilance and the effect of this may be a heightened experience of our bodily life.”

Literature as something special

• Then literature was looked by the formalists as a 'special' kind of language in contrast to the 'ordinary' language that we commonly use. 
• But the problem here arises is that there is no universal 'ordinary' language. In other words the so called ordinary/common language is different for different classes, gender, region, status and so on.
• "One person's norm may be another deviation"
•  Same is the case with 'estrangement' mentioned earlier. A piece of writing might estranging is one context or community but not so in certain other. Example: in a particular society if everyone uses the sentence "shall I compare thee to a summer's day.." in everyday life it will not be estranging to that society anymore.
• "Anyone who believes that 'literature' can be defined by such special uses of language has to face the fact that there is more metaphor in Manchester than there is in Marvell. There is no 'literary' device - metonymy, synecdoche, litotes and so on- which are not quite intensively used in daily discourse"
• Another reason why considering 'estrangement' as the definition is problematic is that any piece of writing or sentence can be read as estranging. 
• Example: a sign that reads -'Dogs must be carried on the escalator.' as unambiguous as it seems at first a close look at it reveals its ambiguity. Does it mean that you must carry a dog on the escalator, and in failing to do so you will be banned from the escalator?
• Also a drunk person may see hidden meanings in various hoardings or even road signs giving it cosmic significance.  

Literature as a non-pragmatic discourse

• When we read a poem referring to a woman as lovely as a rose, the poet is telling about women and love in general. Therefore we look at literature as non-pragmatic/practical as against a physics textbook.
• The problem with this way of defining is that non-practicality of a text cannot be defined objectively. Which means that it depends on how a reader prefers to read the text. 
• A reader can prefer to read Gibbon's account of Roman empire for information or prose style and so on. 
• "A piece of writing may start off like life as history or philosophy and then come to be ranked as literature; or it may start off as literature and them come to be valued for its archaeological significance."
• "What matters may not be where you came from but how people treat you."
• Therefore, Eagleton says, there is no essence of literature because any writing can be read non-pragmatically.

Value-Judgements

• Consider literature as being a highly valued kind of writing. If this were true, then any writing can be considered as literature. For me a letter written by my mother to be will hold a value higher than any piece of writing by Shakespeare. Therefore a value given to any writing must be subjective.
• Values on the other hand are variable and change from time to time.
• "The so-called 'literary canon', the unquestioned 'great tradition' of the 'national literature', has to be recognised as a construct, fashioned by particular people for particular time. There is no such thing as a literary work or tradition which is valuable in itself, regardless of what anyone might have said or come to say about it."
• By which Eagleton suggests that the value that any writing enjoys is the value given to it by certain literary canon, or authority and is subject to change. 
• Yet here he also says that value- judgements are unstable does not mean that they are subjective. 
• Value-judgements depends on the value system and social ideologies that one belongs to. 

For conclusion please read the last paragraph of the essay.

I think that this a very clear case of what Derrida calls Deconstruction, where Terry Eagleton has picked 'literature' and by taking all the existing definitions he has proved that there is nothing called literature.

Creative Writers and Daydreaming by Sigmund Freud

In 'Creative Writers and Daydreaming', Freud's basic question is where does the creative writer draw his material from? And, how do they evoke emotions in us through their writing? To understand this, he tries to find an activity that comes close to that of creative writing. He finds this in child's play as even a child creates a world of his own. The child links his imagination to tangible objects in the world.

When we grow up, this 'play' has to stop and so we have to give up pleasure. This, according to Freud is very hard to do once we have experienced pleasure. Therefore, as a substitute to playing, we indulge in fantasizing or daydreaming. Unlike the child however, the adult is ashamed of his fantasies and hides them from everyone.

To explain this further, Freud puts down few important characteristics of fantasizing. The source of fantasies is unsatisfied wishes, which are fulfilled by means of these fantasies. There are two kinds of fantasies, (1) ambiguous wishes that "elevate the subject's personality", and (2) erotic fantasies. For men, ambitious wishes are predominant while for women, it is erotic ones. He goes on to say that daydreams, just like dreams at night, function as wish fulfilment. The difference is that the repressed wishes expressed in night dreams are desires that we are ashamed of and so, conceal them from even ourselves.

Freud now connects this act to daydreaming with the creative process. He calls the creative writer, "dreamer in broad daylight". He focuses his discussion on authors of popular novels and romances rather than classics. He says that one common feature of all these works in the central character or hero. The hero's journey becomes the journey of the ego of the writers as well as readers. From here, he goes on to suggest, that a piece of creative writing (like daydreams), is a substitute for child's play.

Next, Freud talks of those writers who get their material from folk tales and myths. In such cases, too, the author expresses himself in the choice of material and in the subtle changes he introduces. Even if he does not change the myth, these myths themselves might reflection of the collective fantasies of entire nations.

Finally, he attempts to answer the second question, which is how the creative writers evoke emotions in us. He says that a daydreamer conceals his fantasies from others because he is ashamed of them. Even if he did, others would be repelled by them. So, he wonders why is it that we experience so much pleasure from the creative writer's presentation of his fantasies. He says that we can only make a guess about how this actually happens. He proposes two techniques. Firstly, he softens and disguises the character, and secondly, he couches the text with literary and aesthetic qualities.

Psychoanalysis can be applied to study literature in three ways:

1. Studying the author to understand the text

2. Studying the text to understand the readers and time period

3. Studying the author through the text (a reflection of his childhood)

Literary Theory: Psychoanalytic Approach

Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious is one of his greatest contributions to psychology. As a doctor, Freud was interested in studying how the human mind affects the body through illnesses such as hysteria and neurosis; and in devising a treatment method. As a philosopher, he was interested in finding how the mind interacts with structures of civilization such as taboos and religious beliefs.

In his work 'Civilizations and Discontents', he argues that there are two principles, namely 'pleasure principle' and 'reality principal' that are at work. The pleasure principle focuses in immediate gratification of needs, irrespective of social norms or any other regulations. The reality principle is the one that controls the pleasure by adhering to the societal rules. This process of subordination of pleasure, and channelling that energy into something more productive is known as sublimation. As we know, for Freud, all pleasure is of sexual nature. So, he argues that when we sublimate our sexual desires and channel that energy into a productive activity, civilization is born.

Now, the repressed pleasure does not just disappear into oblivion. It occupies a place in the mind and these repressed thoughts form the unconscious. Children up to the age of 2 or 3 years do not have an unconscious because they have no reality principle that can sublimate the pleasure principle. Young children are believed to focus only on immediate gratification. It is only as we grow up learning about the rules and norms that reality principle develops.

The conscious mind does not have direct access to the unconscious. However, there are three indirect ways through which we can access the content of the unconscious, namely, (1) dreams, (2) parapaxes and (3) jokes.

Dreams are a path to the unconscious. They mask the unconscious desires in two ways. First is through condensation, where a metaphor or single image is used to represent some unconscious wish. Second process is that of displacement, where one idea is replaced by something associated with it. In language, it related to metonymy, such as when 'fine hand' refers to good handwriting. Parapaxes, better known as slips of tongue are another way that the unconscious tries to assert itself. They reveal the repressed wishes in the unconscious. The third path to unconscious is through jokes, be they of any kind, because we derive pleasure out from it.

Pleasure seeking behaviour is thought to be innate in human beings. It begins since a child is born. He says that the child is polymorphously perverse, i.e. the child's libidinal drives are directed towards any object that might provide pleasure. The child experiences pleasure when any of the erotogenic zones are stimulated. (The first pleasure of the child is of an incestuous nature since it is derived from contact with the mother's body.) It is only when the child enters the latency period that these polymorphously perverse drives are put on hold. At the onset of puberty, these desires acquire a new aim, which is directed to an object outside. Psychoanalysis explains how a child moves from polymorphous perversity to forming a gendered and sexual self. A very important of this process is the resolution of the Oedipus complex. This process turns us away from incestuous sexual desire to exogamous sexual desire.

International Conference on Asian Culture Industries: A Comparative Study of India, Japan and South Korea (Call for Papers )

International Conference on Asian Culture Industries: A Comparative Study of India, Japan and South Korea (Call for Papers ) 21st December 2010 — 22nd December 2010, Bangalore 


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