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Show 41 college of humanities In Stephen Tatum's senior seminar in American Studies we were given this question: "What is the fate of place in a system marked by an accelerated production of homogenous or standardized spaces." Over the course of the semester we were asked to identify different conceptions of place and how they are repre-sented in literary texts. I am investigating similar questions using photography as a research method. The title for the research establishes the two themes for the inquiry: Fault Lines and Phantasms. The first theme is both literal and metaphorical. How do environmental pressures and constraints both limit and create "standardized spaces?" What new paradigms are presented when the spaces for resource extraction and dwelling are pushed ever closer? Where is "the grid," the infrastructure supporting and necessary for urban and suburban existence, ruptured? The metaphorical component to this question is: Who, if anyone, is at fault for both environmental degradation and increasing standardization of spaces? Who is implicated? What forces propel this? The second theme, Phantasms, is more abstract. Can one deviate, détourn (in the Debordian sense) or escape from homogenization of place? How is gridded space resisted? Furthermore, is there an equivalent homogenization of imagination and fantasy reflected in the interior, personal world? Does the standardiza-tion occur only in the physical space of built environments, or does it extend to personal spaces as well? FAULT LINES AND PHANTASMS: FINDING MEANING IN A MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPE Edwin Firmage (Stephen Tatum) Department of English University of Utah UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS Stephen Tatum Edwin Firmage |
