MPhil dissertation in Arts, Creativity, and Education (Distinction)
Title: Liminal aesthetics in the time of COVID-19: unlearning and (re)forming habits of thought and action towards positive, collective world-making
Abstract:
My research focuses on existing, widely accessible practices that I believe are tools for the cultivation of ethical behaviour through embodied, aesthetic means. I have focused on the model of regular shared meals in our places of work and the KonMari method of tidying homes– both repeated, physical and sensory practices that I argue foster not only greater self-knowledge and satisfaction, but also more empathy and connectivity within communities and between people and the natural world.
In my final dissertation, I looked at four everyday acts in the context of COVID-19: virtual socialising; the buying, cooking, and sharing of food; going on walks; and going to the shops. Using these acts as a framework for critical analysis, underpinned by the theory and practice of Pragmatist Everyday Aesthetics, this project does the following: it illuminates why our everyday lives are worth serious academic consideration; it frames COVID-19 as a period of liminality in which we are unlearning everyday habits of thought and action that have been reinforced over a lifetime through cultural conditioning or our bodily interactions with our environment; and ultimately, it argues that focusing on embodied aesthetic experience during this moment could lead to the formation of more ethical and sustainable societies in the U.S. and the U.K.
Contributions
“Alexandra Ting’s Top Three Cambridge Chinese Restaurants,” No Appetite for Ignorance, 2020
Published Works
“Deconstructing the Art/Science Divide,” Kyoto Journal 86 [special issue on Taiwan], 2019
“Meld,” Kyoto Journal 93 [special issue FOOD!], 2019
Republished online here
“Treasuring Demachi Shotengai,” Kyoto Journal 89, 2017
“A House Living with Tea,” Kyoto Journal 85, 2016
