Education Studies,

Education Studies (Early Childhood),

Modern Liberal Arts.

ES 2407: Art of Learning

Tuesday, 12.00 - 2.00: MA 7.

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Last updated 08.02.11.

This module introduces some of the philosophical problems associated with symbolisation through a study of figuration - a central aspect of representation, culture, and of education as well.  A very accessible account of figuration is provided by W. J. T. Mitchell's The Last Dinosaur Book, published by the University of Chicago Press, while a more philosophical account of the same processes is provided by Mary Midgley's The Myths We Live By, published by Routledge.  Both are recommended as background readers for this module. Midgley's position is that, to some degree, we can chose the myths we live by; Mitchell's is that there is an 'ecology' of cultural metaphors, and some become dominant for a time, some become extinct, and we should expect to find competition, parasitism, and even symbiosis operating between them. But rather apart from these two theorists there is Roland Barthes. He draws our attention to the 'semiotics' of metaphor, and so a third book to use as a background reader his early work, Mythologies. Finally, you should also note that we will be using a little Lacanian psychoanalysis to allow us to gain a better understanding of wish, fantasy, and desire.

Note that for ease of reference and illustration, Greek and Roman models are featured throughout the programme.  If you are familiar with another tradition and would prefer to work in parallel with that while following the module's sequence of topics this is possible subject to tutorial review - please see me near the start of the module.

Like all level two modules, this one should enable you to:

show engagement with primary sources;

show a knowledge of theoretical perspectives and/or works;

show an understanding of abstract concepts within theoretical perspectives;

and show an ability to work with theorists and their concepts in various forms of assessment.

Assessment is by portfolio and essay.  Each assignment carries 50% of the total marks available to you.

In more detail ...

Assignment 1: due Tuesday, week 6; return date Tuesday, week 8

Prepare and submit three figurations of contemporary life - they may be developed/identified separately, or located in relation to one another in a composite scene or triptych.  Note that it is an expected part of this assignment that all students will take part in the informal presentation unless they have been granted an extension.

Any representational medium may be used, including mixed media. Each figuration needs a title, and so if you want each one to be considered separately you will need three titles - equally, if the three figures are used to make up a single scene or figuration, then only one title will be needed.

 (Word equivalent 2000 words.)

Assignment 2: due Tuesday, week 13; return date after week 15.

(Word equivalent 2000 words.)

Using either Sophocles' play of Antigone or Euripedes' play, The Bacchae, as your source of figuration, discuss its significance as a source of metaphorical insight for education.

 

Weekly lecture/seminar topics: 

Bibliography

Archer, M. et al. ( 1997) Mona Hartoum London: Phaidon. 709.2/HAT 1 copy; 1 seven day - an artist working with embodiment.

Armstrong, R. (2006) Cretan Women: Pasiphae, Ariadne, and Phaedra in Latin Poetry Oxford: Oxford University Press; details and discussions concerning three key feminist figurations.

Bath, M. (1994) Speaking Pictures London: Longman; find out about emblems as combinations of visual and textual metaphor.

Botz, C. (2004) The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death New York: Monacelli Press; models of murder scenes - inspirational, in terms of framing.

Cameron, L. & Low, G. eds. (1999) Researching and Applying Metaphor Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; very useful if you are thinking of carrying out an individual study or FYP in this area.

Crewdson, G. (1999) Dream of Life Verona: University of Salamanca; a source of contemporary ideas for emblem thinking.

Daly, P. (1979) Literature in the Light of the Emblem Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Doughty, C. (2006) Prometheus London: Routledge; the imagery of fire as an essential of culture, and rebellion against authority. .

Draaisma, D. (2000) Metaphors of Memory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; useful illustrations of the involvement of metaphors and figurative thinking in the development of our understanding of memory.

Eisenstein, S., (1968) The Film Sense London: Faber & Faber; - refer to the sections dealing with montage.

Fauconnier, G. & Turner, M. (2002) The Way We Think: conceptual blending and the mind's hidden complexities New York: Basic Books

Falzon, C. (2002) Philosophy Goes to the Movies London: Routledge; introductory accounts of common philosophical ideas illustrated by means of film imagery.

Forceville, C. (1996) Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising London: Routledge.

Freeman, R. (1970) English Emblem Books London: Chatto & Windus.

Gibbs, R. (1994) The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language and Understanding Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Goodman, N. (1978) Ways of Worldmaking Hassocks: Harvester Press.

Grassi, E. (1980) Rhetoric as Philosophy Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press; a study of Vico and the place of figurative understanding in early modern culture.

Griffiths, E. (2006) Medea London: Routledge; imagery of witchcraft, child-murder, and a wronged 'everywoman'.

Haraway, D. (1991) Simians, Cyborgs, and Women; the Reinvention of Nature London: Free Association Books.

Haraway, D. (1992) Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science London: Verso; read the introduction, and then make selections. Haraway does not describe her work as iconological, as such, but she is acutely sensitive to the role played by metaphors and icons (she thinks of these as 'condensations') within scientific thinking.

Haraway, D. (1997) Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium.  FemaleMan_Meets_Oncomouse: Feminism and Technoscience London: Routledge; read the section on the foetus if nothing else.

Hassig, R. ed. (1999) The Mark of the Beast London: Routledge; see the section on pride, but you may also find the chapters on sex, the phoenix, and taboos interesting as well. 

Heartfield, J. (1977), Photomontages of the Nazi Period by John Heartfield London: Gordon Fraser Gallery.  Superb examples of montaged figurations.

Jenks, C. (ed.) (1995) Visual Culture London: Routledge; just the introduction.

Keller, E. F. (2005) Refiguring Life New York: Columbia University Press; both of Keller's books contain extended sections on models and the use of metaphor within science.  These illustrate to varying degrees the notion that Black puts forward: theoretical metaphors are believed by their proponents

Keller, E. F. (2003)  Making Sense of Life Cam. Mass.: Harvard University Press; as above.

Kofman, S. (1993) Nietzsche and Metaphor London: Athlone Press, chs. 1, 2, and 3.

Kövecses, Z. (2000) Metaphor and Emotion: Language, Culture and Emotion in Human Feeling Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kövecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; a useful complement to Lackoff and Johnson's text.

Lakoff, G. (1980) Metaphors We Live By Chicago: Chicago University Press; the first introductory work to Lakoff and Johnson's project.

Lakoff, G. (1989) More Than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lackoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1999) Philosophy in the Flesh: the Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought New York: Basic Books.

Lavin, M. (1993) Cut with the Kitchen Knife: the Weimar Photomontages of Hannah Hoch London: Yale University Press; examples of montage as a means to construct critical figurations - in this case nearly all to do with gender.

Lavin, M. et al., (1992) Montage and Modern Life 1919 - 1942 Cam. Mass.: MIT Press, pp. 60 - 81.

Livingstone, M. (1997) The Essential Duane Michals London: Thames & Hudson.

Lovelock, J. (1995) The Ages of Gaia: a Biography of our Living Earth 2nd. edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press; the principal speaker for ecological homeostasis and the extended metaphor of the earth as a single living entity (see also Solaris - both the recent film and the original story by Stanislaw Lem.).  As an object lesson in how a literary metaphor can become 'filled out' through use this one is hard to beat.

Lyn, D. et al. (1997) Mathematical Reasoning, Analogies, Metaphors and Images New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.; useful illustrations if you can allow some of the maths to shoot over your head!  (N.B. the cat. no. is 510.19 ENG)

Manning, J. (2003) The Emblem London: Reaktion.

McNeill, D. (1992) Hand and Mind: What Gestures Reveal About Thought Chicago: University of Chicago Press; of particular interest to those studying dance or drama.

Midgley, M. (2004) The Myths We Live By London: Routledge.

Midgley, M. (2001) Science and Poetry London: Routledge; useful and readable analysis of the place of imaginative envisionment in culture, with particular respect to science, politics, and philosophy.

Mitchell, W.J.T. (1986) Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Mitchell, W.J.T. (1995) Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Mitchell, W. J. T. (1998) The Last Dinosaur Book: the Life and Times of a Cultural Icon Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Nietzsche, F. (1993) The Birth of Tragedy London: Penguin.

Ortony, A. (ed.) (1986) Metaphor and Thought Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pinker, S. (2007) The Stuff of Thought London: Allen Lane.

Plato, The Gorgias - almost any translation will do.  This contains a major attack on rhetoric.

Plato, The Phaedrus - again, almost any translation will do, and although the line of argument is consistent with the Gorgias, this text is best known for its extended use of imagery.

Pompa, L. (1975) Vico: a Study of the New Science Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Praz, M. (1964) Studies in Seventeenth-Century Imagery Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura.

Ricoeur, P. (1978) The Rule of Metaphor London: Routledge and Keegan Paul; a re-reading of Aristotle's Rhetoric.

Roberts, J., (1998) The Art of Interruption: Realism, Photography and the Everyday Manchester: Manchester University Press; more on montage and critical documentary.

Robillard, V.& Jongeneel, E. eds. (1998) Pictures into Words: Theoretical and Descriptive Approaches to Ekphrasis Amsterdam: VU University Press; the first essay by Murray Krieger is very useful and particularly pertinent for anyone studying English or Drama.

Rorty, A. (1996) Essays on Aristotle's Rhetoric Berkeley: University of California Press.

Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (1995) Relevance: Communication and Cognition Oxford: Blackwell; relevance theory - an alternative to semiotics and some useful things to say about metaphor that is at variance with Lackoff and Johnson's views..

Sollers, P. et al. (1998) Francesca Woodman New York: Scalo.

Sonnino, L. (1968) A Handbook of sixteenth-Century Rhetoric London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Urbach, P. (1993) Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science La Salle, ILL: Open Point; find out about Bacon's 'idols'.

Willett, J. (ed.) (1998) Bertolt Brecht: War Primer London: Libris; more help for contemporary emblem-thinking.

Wolin, J. (1997), Written in Memory: Portraits of the Holocaust, San Francisco: Chronicle Books.