Aesthetics of disaster as decolonial aesthetics: making sense of the effects of Hurricane María through Puerto Rican contemporary art

ABSTRACT

On 20 September 2017, Hurricane María made landfall on Puerto Rico causing unprecedented disaster. From that day onwards, the Puerto Rican multi-layered colonial, social and political context was further complicated by the traumatic acceleration of a human disaster via this natural disaster. This crystalized the urgency of using art as vehicle for (social) catharsis, a practice that continues to be used by individual artists, collectives, community organizations, art projects, and other art institutions on the island and abroad, through mural art, community paintings, art exhibitions, literature, music, and many other aesthetic expressions. This article examines, from a decolonial and critical cultural studies perspective, post-Hurricane María artistic expressions in contemporary art as decolonial aesthetics through the cathartic use of the frame of an aesthetics of disaster. It is argued that, an aesthetics of disaster aims to re-assert an artistic form that is able to accelerate the discursive nullification of a deeply rooted colonial, social and cultural problem by way of art as catharsis inspired by the way that Hurricane María unveiled these problems. The piece briefly contextualizes Puerto Rico, and it examines the idea of Puerto Rican contemporary art as catharsis. Then, it describes how Puerto Rican contemporary art exhibitions and associated aesthetic production are processing urgent post-hurricane issues through three illustrative pieces in exhibitions in PR and abroad in the United States (US). Lastly, decolonial aesthetics is reexamined and re-understood, informed by Édouard Glissant's view expressed in Poetics of Relation which aids to the conclusion that Puerto Rican contemporary art using the frame of an aesthetics of disaster functions as a powerful form of decolonial aesthetics.     

Young people and the gendered and aesthetic dimensions of ‘enterprise’: stories from a ‘Rust Belt’ city

ABSTRACT

In the ‘Rust Belt’ city of Geelong in Victoria, Australia, discourses of young people’s enterprise and innovation provide a counter-narrative to the prevailing material and symbolic consequences of industrial decline, job losses, and the growing insecurity of employment and income. GT Magazine is a weekly, large circulation magazine in Geelong with a significant focus on the activities and aspirations of enterprising young people. In this paper, we examine, by utilising techniques of content analysis and discourse analysis, the particular ways in which young people’s innovation and enterprise are framed and enacted in GT Magazine. Our analysis reveals that ‘youth’ and ‘enterprise’ are, in GT Magazine, given an embodied form that is powerfully marked by aestheticised, normalised enactments of gender, class and race. In doing this work, we make productive contributions to three key themes in contemporary youth studies: new work orders and the youthful self as enterprise; the gendered and aesthetic dimensions of affective labour in these new work orders; and the emerging spatial turn to examine young people's embodied, place-based experiences of employment and enterprise. We seek to make problematic the sense that solutions to multiple disruptions and crises in capitalism and the environment are to be found in young people’s enterprise. Particularly when that enterprise is given form in ways that are aestheticised, gendered, classed, individualised and responsibilised.     

元代回族诗人萨都剌与道教

元代萨都刺《雁门集》中保存有数十首涉道诗,是萨都刺寻访江南道教的历史记录。萨都刺作为东来的回回人,注意了解中国传统的儒释道文化。他足迹遍及江南道教名山宫观,与道门人士结为方外之友,这反映出在多元一体的中国社会中,不同民族宗教间的对话与交流。     

中国艺术进程中的“现代性”解读

"现代性"是中国艺术在不同时代都具有的客观属性,只是在20世纪以前东方文化的语境和语义并不习惯于这样的说法,有其理其行但无其言。时下人们习惯把"现代性"仅仅归于"现代艺术"的特征性,这种以定向和特指的观念无疑是个误区,客观认识中国艺术进程中"现代性"的审美思路,对建构我国当前的艺术发展观至关重要。     

现代派文学的感性学评析

现代派文学的诞生与美学的现代转型是互为参照的 ;“aesthetics”经历了由感性学到美学再到感性学的“游历”过程 ;在美学回归感性学的时代 ,现代派文学与审美现代性在非理性的价值诉求上是一致的 ,即美学经过了理性主义的“审美”阶段之后 ,随着“城市感性”的发育 ,进入了非理性主义的“审丑”阶段。而现代派文学的感性核心是关于身体的现代感性学     

新乡土世界的美学建构——新世纪河南女作家乡土小说分析

新世纪以来,一批河南籍女性作家开始崭露头角,并取得了引人注目的成绩。面对急剧转型的时代,传统乡土叙事经验已经无法涵盖已经发生巨变的乡土社会,河南籍女作家以一种更加开放的姿态面对新的乡土世界,她们的创作把日常生活经验转化成一种叙事伦理,从而以独特的乡土感知,细致的文字表述拓宽了传统乡土小说的表现领域,更新补充了乡土小说的叙事内涵,为河南乡土文学注入了新质。     

论方东美生命美学的理论来源及其特色

方东美立足于20世纪中国的苦难现状,有感于民族文化生命的花果凋零,自觉深入到本民族文化的清新源头,揽取《易经》积健为雄的入世精神和道家诗意飘渺的超逸情怀,同时又广泛地吸收了现代西方生命哲学美学如尼采的超人意志和柏格森的生命冲动等理论资源,形成了兼具古典幽怀和现代豪气的独具特色的生命哲学美学形态。在现代的文化图景中,这一美学形态也有明显的局限。     

自由主义与20世纪中国美学精神

中国自近代以来,始终存在着一个试图向社会独立发言的自由主义文化群体,它对美学的发展产生了至关重要的影响。本文认为,虽然20世纪中国美学体现出多元发展、不断调整的态势,但由于美与自由问题的本质联系,自由主义美学精神就必然构成了这一进程的主干。以康德美学为理论起点,以价值中立原则介入审美实践,以理想主义重建审美乌托邦,是自由主义美学在本世纪表现出的主要特点。     

论道教美学思想的民族特色

道教美学思想是中国人的意识形态，具有鲜明的民族特色。这种特色从三个方面区别于其他民族宗教的美学思想：一是它的神性美具有“此岸”化特点，它的宗教最高美具有“朦胧”倾向，二是它的宗教美学—伦理思想，以“忠”、“孝”为中心，具有较强的民族文化精神，三是它美学人性“内省”要求的基点和内驱力，因“承负”、“即身成仙”而更富吸引力。这使道教美学思想呈现中华民族文化特点，因而更有世界意义     

意美、音美和形美——许渊冲诗词翻译的理论与实践

许渊冲在汉语诗词外译的实践中认识到,翻译所涉及的两种语言各有劣势、等势和优势,因此在翻译中可运用浅化、等化、深化手段,力求在意似、音似、形似的基础上传达原诗的意美、音美、形美,从而使译者本人和读者都能知之、好之、乐之.这五个三,加上以诗译诗等原则,构成了许渊冲诗词翻译美学体系,而意美、音美、形美实为该体系的核心.许渊冲诗词翻译美学既来源于实践,更为难能可贵的是,他自己在汉语诗词外译中也一直以一贯之.