The Depth of the World

"The mind becomes relatively disembodied when the body is severed from the depth of the world, i.e., when the world is split into commodious surfaces and inaccessible machineries."

--Albert Borgmann, "Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life" p.203

Holistic Ecology

The unit of survival is organism plus environment (Bateson 1972: 483 quoted in Zoe Sophia 2000).

On Changing the System and the Disenchantment of Action

"We must try to adapt to the system we live in, we must attempt to change it, we must look for the small opportunity of reform and the still smaller one of revolution" (Editor of Der Spiegel in interview with Martin Heidegger, "Only a God Can Save Us" p.110).

"The secularization and 'disenchantment' of action-orienting worldviews, of cultural tradition as a whole, is the obverse of the growing 'rationality' of social action" (Jurgen Habermas "Technology and Science as 'Ideology'," p.81).

"Short distance is not in itself nearness. Nor is great distance remoteness" (Martin Heidegger, "The Thing" p.163).

Arriving at the Unconcealed

Wherever [humanity] opens [its] eyes and ears, unlocks [its] heart, gives [itself] over to meditating and striving, shaping and working, entreating and thanking, [humanity] finds [itself] everywhere already brought into the unconcealed.
--Martin Heidegger 'The Question Concerning Technology" p.19

Autofictional

On the naming of this blogspot...in case you are interested in the academic status of the term/'field' of study, here's a bit of context.

I studied and wrote my master's thesis on autofiction. In the thesis I critiqued literary theories of autobiography from a feminist perspective. Using a case study of Diana Thorneycroft's artistic work.

Here's the title and abstract - you can find the full text online from ProQuest.

Autofictional Practices: Self-fashioning in Diana Thorneycroft's Self-portraits

"This thesis explores autobiographical practices and their relationship to autofiction, by focusing on practices of identity construction and artistic performance, as well as identity construction through performance. Emphasis is given to the ways gender and sexuality enter into, and shape, these practices by examining, in particular, the way they are expressed in Diana Thorneycroft's photographic performances. Chapter 1 discusses the history and key debates in autobiography theory, the ways gender has been introduced into the analysis of autobiography, and non-literary forms of autobiography. Chapter 1 also briefly discusses the (Western) history of art by women. Chapter 2 examines Thorneycroft's oeuvre and selected responses to it. Chapter 3 presents an analysis of autofictional practices through an examination of Thorneycroft's photographic self-portraits, thereby questioning the distinctions between autobiography and autofiction and suggesting that there is considerable overlap in their definition. The Conclusion briefly discusses agency in relation to autofictional (self-making) practices."

Copyright 2006. Photograph by Matt Surch, prints available for sale upon request.