I plan to study how counter-culture is defined in terms of its aesthetics. To do so, I plan to research and answer to following question: What is the aesthetic of counter-culture, specifically squats?
By narrowing "counter-culture" or "anti-consumerism culture" down to squats, it keeps me within our group question, but provides a specific definition of the space I will be looking at. Researching aesthetics is problematic in that "aesthetics" is difficult to define, and even more difficult to document and analyze. In "Aesthetic Understanding of Organizational Life" by Antonio Strati, the point is brought up regarding the relationship between the researcher and the reader. The aesthetic understanding of the researcher and that of the audience, and even that of the "subject(s)" being studied may vary. I plan to conduct my research through a combination of observation (which brings in my own aesthetic understanding) and conversation with those "natives" of the culture (ie the squatters) in an effort to better understand their aesthetic. At the same time, being on site will provide me with the opportunity to absorb their aesthetic attitudes, or at least, experience them. My interactions with these native persons comes with potential human subject issues, especially concerning privacy of those individuals, and the way I conduct my conversations with them.
2 comments:
A very interesting article. I wonder if we should bring it into the class for discussion: it may speak to other people's conceptual approaches to their objects of enquiry.
Your group cd use Pierre Bourdieu's account of "habitus "in his opus "Distinction" as well. He synchs well with de Certeau--and in fact the latter has a critique of the former in *The Practice of Everyday Life*: ch. 4.
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