Diversity in Defamiliarization

by Avery Rodriguez, Saba Khan, Brianna Ruiz, Cooper Babbes, Bryan Montalban

English 1151st December 2012

Defamiliarization

definition- an artistic technique forcing the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way

Sacred Space- A site that has a spiritual significance for a nation, a people, a community, or even an individual.

defamiliarization of spaces is where one is put in a different location and forced to familiarize with their surroundings

Sacred spaces inspire awe, mystery, and a connection with figures or moments in history

defamiliarization is only possible with two key components : the sacred space and the person

The Diverse People

There are about 7.74 billion people in the world and 276 million people are from the United States alone

Diversity is what separates us from one another to us meaning and purpose

It is that same diversity in people that defines the space we are in and allows us to be defamiliarized

It is because of our differences as a people and as an individual (history, backstory, bring-up) that we can or cannot relate and familiarize with the surroundings we are in

Public Sacred Spaces

An individual’s personality and past experiences may shape their point of view and opinion about a particular space.

Shopping Mall can be considered as a sacred space to someone

Someone might feel comfortable being around other people at the mall, and consider it a sacred space, while another person might be defamiliarized and anxious at the mall due to the hectic environment.

Their different personalities change how they feel about the mall.

Public vs. Private

The sacredness of a space is dependant on the individual’s memories, experiences, and emotional attachment, giving free range over any place or location to be special.

The Preface in Making Sense of Place: Multidisciplinary Perspectives introduces, “no place’s ‘sense of place’ is constructed without relations with and/or influences from elsewhere. Nor is any place’s associated ‘sense of place’ likely to be singular. Different social groups within any physical location may live those locations in very different ways.”

Public places like parks can be considered sacred to an individual or a group. Their perception of the space, together or alone, makes that location sacred to them despite any ‘strangers’ that are present.

The fact that others can go to the place freely is an insignificant factor. Seeing that others have their own reasons for visiting makes the individual’s own reasons more personal and sentimental.

Sacred Spaces

Sacred spaces are places that not easily defined because everyone tends to have a different definition of what constitutes as "sacred"

In "Sacred Spaces," Robert Atwan defines sacred spaces as "places we privately consider sacred."(Atwan 314)

In "The Way to Rainy Mountain," N. Scott Momaday states that his essay "brings together both the public and private dimensions of a sacred space: Rainy Mountain is a significant ancestral landmark for his people, The Kiowas, as well as the site near which his beloved grandmother is buried."(Momaday 315)

Depending on the individual, their opinion of what constitutes as a sacred space is defined by the experiences and memories that were created there.

Nostalgia

There is a society of people that celebrates the era of swing dancing.

The group of people who follow that era's lifestyle come together in their own sacred spaces, i.e. swing dance clubs.

They celebrate that lifestyle because they share a love for the communication of dance and even the values present in that era

Nostalgia is often viewed negatively: "Nostalgia is a longing for a home that no longer exists . . . It is a sentiment of loss and displacement, but also a romance with one's own fantasy" (Taylor).

Yet the type of nostalgia of this society is a celebration of the era, not a clinging onto it.

It is like a romance with a fantasy, but their lifestyles are actually improved because a huge part of it is from that simpler and many ways more genuine era of the 1920s-40s.

Difference in views

No two people are exactly the same, people think, act, behave, and coexist differently

We interpret and react to spaces differently, Though we may find similarities in opinions no two will be identical. Ex. Art Museums

Art museums are designed to hold works of art for the enjoyment of the public, it can be a space to find serenity and understanding

It is through our relation or lack of relation to the art pieces that we can further understand how we think and our imagination

A museums underlying purpose is to offer self-recognition, and an opportunity to make connections and meaning through sculptures, paintings, and photographs

“When Images Come To Us... Where Do They Come From?” (Barry 337)

Spaces and us

“While Iser's focus on the textual representation of a reader sidesteps the question of how individual readers might understand or interpret the text, the "implied reader" is a record of the author's decisions in shaping the novel” (Donovan)

Criticism and interpretation of children’s authors in Pakistan such as Suzanne Fisher Staples (Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind (1989) and its sequel Haveli (1993)

Differences in people spark up differences in interpretations and the affects of spaces

Defamiliarizing is different for everyone, it cannot be defined to a single idea or pre-connotation.

Works Cited

Atwan, Robert. "Sacred Spaces." Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 314. Print.

Barry, Linda. “When Images Come To Us... Where Do They Come From?” Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 337-339. Print

 Convery, Ian; Corsane, Gerard; Davis, Peter. Making Sense of Place : Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012. Ebook Library. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.

Donovan, Ellen Butler. "Disorienting Reading." Volume 32, Number 1, Spring 2007, 32.1 (2007): 29-46.

Momaday, N. Scott. "The Way to Rainy Mountain. Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 315-320. Print.

Taylor, Benedict. "Nostalgia and Cultural Memory in Barber's 'Knoxville: Summer of 1915'" JSTOR. University of California Press, 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2012.