Summary

My Summary

This series for me has been one of the highlights of the semester. I have thoroughly enjoyed the seminars, the literature and the journey through which we have just emerged. I definitely feel more learned and I remember the first thing that confounded me at Paul’s first seminar was how little I knew about the world staring point blank at me!

I have learned a great deal in a very short time about current issues, history and even the future as the journey this module has taken me on now makes me the world quite differently and aid me in forming better informed views.

We have seen the recent world through the eyes of cynical, the optimist, the pessimistic, the academic - Lefebvre and not so academic – King Vidor. Through the eyes of the ascetic - Veblen and hedonists – Rodolfo Valentino, through the eyes of radicals – The Beat Generation etc and I feel I have had an unbiased education in this module. I can now interject trivial conversations amongst my friends with a deeper view and understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in our seemingly transparent world.

Some of the literature have also made me more aware of the sad situation of my third-world home country and I have come to understand better the sort of tragedy that was bound to befall its middle class nationalists struggle to wriggle itself free from colonialism.

Virtue is another theme that comes to mind over this reminiscence. A quality that has become so rarefied but was portrayed powerfully by Thorsten Veblen and contrasted by Mr Ford.

And what will the whole journey be without the stark realisation of that ancient conflict – The individual against the collective? Indeed, much of the wrongs in our world today stem from that source.

I may not have 20/20 vision yet but the passion has been ignited and I eagerly look forward to future sessions in the quest for enlightenment.    

Short Cuts

Short Cuts – John Lanchester

It is all together fitting and proper that the metaphorical spectacle we started with culminates in the actual spectacle complete with some naming and shaming and jaw dropping figures!

This deal with Northern Rock and Virgin Money! Whichever way one looks at it, it is the profit machine at work here and at the expense of the hardworking taxpayer too. We pay £1.4 billion for a reckless bank, we may get £1 billion back depending on profits increment (I wonder if profit means before or after lavish bonuses?) and the new bank will be 15% less safe than the former. What happens to the spare capital? The taxpayer has to lick his wounds and forget that a penny of the spare capital will ever cross his/ her sight?

The MF Global scandal accentuates the perceived recklessness of financial institutions and could serve as a preamble to global financial crisis. Irresponsible and greedy speculations of a few people based on hypotheses alone left countless more dangerously exposed to financial ruin. And as if that is not enough, to ‘mislay’ customers’ money, $1.2 billion of it? This is hardly a needle in the haystack scenario.

Jon Corzine, former governor and erstwhile Master of the Universe was swaggering all the way to the end. Vanity Fair dissects Corzine's MF Global debacle in its February issue, and adds this little tidbit: Corzine and wife Sharon went chateau shopping in France -- two weeks before MF Global filed for bankruptcy.

For those of you who didn't take French 101, a chateau is not a fancy hat but a triple sized McMansion with provenance. Sacre bleu!

Corzine resigned from the leadership of holding company MF Global days after it filed for bankruptcy – the eighth largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. The company's troubles were rooted in its bets on European sovereign debt.

Corzine testified before Congress that he did not know what had happened to the $1.2 billion in investors’ money that investigators found missing, earning him the dubious distinction of being The Star-Ledger’s 2011 Knucklehead of the Year. (http://www.nj.com/njvoices/index.ssf/2012/01/jon_corzine_and_the_mf_global.html)

Wow indeed!!!

The Olympus scandal again highlights the difficult prospects of the individual against the collective with Woodford bearing the brunt of it all. Was he wrong to have raised concerns or is the board determined to keep the lid on a much more sinister activity? To have lost three-quarters of its value in less than a year may suggest that Olympus is perhaps going for a Henry Ford (Tin Lizzie – Dos Passos) 1920s style financial manoeuvre but to arouse suspicions of involvement with criminal activity, leaves more questions unanswered.  

Again, suggestions offered by Badiou and Eagleton will prove very pertinent to disseminating this ‘vicious obscurity’. There is an urgent need for both political and ideological rupture where new forms of belonging which are multiple rather than monolithic, can challenge the status quo and create a very different order of things. 

The Dos Passos Chapters

Tin Lizzie (USA) – John Dos Passos

This is concise biography of Henry Ford’s paints the picture of a gifted and ruthlessly entrepreneurial Ford who always had an obsession with machinery. Born to a farming family, he was not a keen labourer but was good with his hands and worked hard in his spare time to develop a motorcar.

When he was forty, he started his own production company with the innovative vision of speeding up production rather than following the mainstream idea of racing to advertise. He came to demonstrate shrewd business acumen which brought him huge success. But he was characteristically restless with an appetite for profits seemingly irrespective of the means.

His restlessness and penchant for ideas would bring him to purchase a newspaper to peddle his ideas. This would put him in a position to think he could stop the war, needless to say a delusional thought. Target of much ridicule, he returned home ‘under wraps’.

The Americans joined the war two years later. Ford’s restlessness will see him manufacturing ammunitions and weapons and promised to give his profits to the government. Again he seemed to fail in his promise.

A selfish, tactical business manoeuvre in 1920 saw Henry Ford become even wealthier when he defaulted on loan repayments, shifted his liabilities onto his dealers, cancelled his orders from suppliers and shut down his business. Both dealers and suppliers were annihilated but he and his business emerge unscathed when he reopened.

Ford’s restlessness lead him to dabble into politics, made him the richest man in the world and his corporation exploited workers ever more ravaging until they went home at night ‘gray shaking husks’.

Ford eventually goes senile and four degenerate protesters, consequences of a financial crisis, looking for work were shot dead at Ford’s in 1932.

As an old man, Ford becomes a passionate collector of antiques. He walls himself up in paranoia on his father’s farm, which as a young man he could not stand, and lived in a seemingly intentional oblivion to the plight of everyone else but that which was his he guards passionately selfishly. He tries to recreate everything he had despised and left behind in his youth. A dissatisfied and sad old Ford wanted all creations of recent history far away from him.

This informative text again highlights the point that material success does not guarantee true sense of fulfilment. Henry Ford’s story is very reminiscent of Professor Silenus’s analogy of life as the revolving wheel. It seems Ford had gone through, ruthlessly obliterating anything and everything in his path, to reach the hub of that wheel but in the end, he despises his achievements and might well have stayed in Wayne Country.

The Bitter Drink (USA) – John Dos Passos

The exemplary life of Thorstein Veblen is portrayed also in a concise biography which furnishes us in the first, with a wealth of background knowledge on the ways of his people and the strong influences of his formative childhood years.  

Born to a family of hardworking farmers of Norwegian descent, who moved to America during the early nineteenth century due to changes they could not stomach at home, Veblen was brought up to be meek, direct and sceptical of profiteers. As an attempt to suppress early individualistic tendencies that were not in keeping with the dogma of his people and which Veblen was showing; reputable laziness and caustic tongue, his Father sent him off to become a priest.

Much of Veblen’s ideals were shaped by the influences of a changing world and his wits honed by constructive debates with worthy adversaries. Little did Veblen know that he was embarking on that ancient conflict; The individual against the collective as played out in Rand’s Fountainhead. Howbeit with a different ending. Or is it?

Veblen the eschewed ‘yesman’, ascetic and prime-mover would endure years of chequered career with the hope that there was still a chance to ‘take charge of the magnificent machine before the pigeyed speculators and the yesmen at office desks irrevocably ruined it and with it the hopes of four hundred years?’ In the end, Veblen retires deflated, disappointed and withdrawn. He goes senile and eventually quits the stage.

Although here, there is no discernible cause for celebration (as in the triumphant court scene in The Fountainhead, much to the contrary) and it seems in fact, the battle was lost, Veblen had died for what he absolutely believed in. And he did so, without surrounding himself with material comforts like Mr Henry Ford, still true to his original self and with highly dignifying virtue indeed. In that sense, the principles and ideals of individualism becomes immortal.

VIVA VEBLEN!

The Adagio Dancer (USA) – John Dos Passos

The story, written with some very funny expressions in parts, trails the life and untimely death of a man who enjoyed quick, easy material success, the highlife of celebrity and all its perquisites.

Having been sent off from his native Italy to America for being unruly by his parents, Rudolfo Guglielmi, an innately lazy and vain individual armed with nothing but good looks, pursued a quick path to fame. He made his shallow success; went on dance tours, starred in movies and adopted the name Rodolfo Valentino.

But ill fate struck and he is afflicted with appendicitis and gastric ulcer. Although he survived the corrective surgery necessary for both of these, he died six days later having developed peritonitis. The whole city of New York goes crazy like in a riot, the police lost control, property got destroyed, public disorder of the highest order and it took two days to normalize. There were news of despondent fans committing suicide. Valentino was mourned by his fans the world over and becomes something of an icon.   

But I had to laugh when I read this bit; ‘...his valets removed young women from under his bed’ and ‘actresses leching for stardom made sheepseyes at him under their mascaraed lashes’. For me though, he was not of the enviable calibre because he wanted success with the least amount of input and projected an image of inconsiderate consumerism; stucco villas, bridalsuites of hotels, silk bathrobes, limousines, fine horses etc Maybe I am a relic of the lost age Eagleton sounded so passionate about in After Theory but I am at the same time not hedonistic enough to support such flamboyant consumerist lifestyle Valentino led.

The Architect (USA) – John Dos Passos

This chapter looks at a young Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) and contrasts it with a more mature one. We see a young and passionate FLW arriving in Chicago and landing himself a job in a prominent architects’s office the same day.  After seven years of practice with the office of Alder and Sullivan, he moves on to go it alone in own unique style of architecture.

Pioneering a new approach to design with complete disregard for historical precedents (a view shared by Zaha in the Meades interview), he happily embraced new materials and soon became a reverend and some sort of ambassador for the American future in construction based on uses and needs with suppressed desire of monetary/ financial benefits. However, he remained more of a ‘paper architect’ and endured many difficult times.

He is vindicated of his unconventional ways when one of his buildings survived an earthquake in 1923 Japan and he considers this a victory over historicism. FLW progresses with work on a model city (reminiscent of Zaha’s Hadidopolis wish in the Meades interview) with interns from the world over working with him.

For FLW, his is a battle between a proclamation that ‘buildings determine civilization as the cells in the honeycomb the functions of bees’ and putting his money where his mouth is especially when he has always had money problems and wealthy lady clients willing to pay for unnecessary agglomeration of their homes for prominence’s sake. Usonian city, a project which he developed all his life might have offered him some sort of escapism. 

The Fountain Head

The Fountain Head – Ayn Rand

A thoroughly cheesy and funny movie in parts, thanks to the director King Vidor, is based on a novel written by Ayn Rand in the 1940s. Albeit camp, the movie does address a number of important issues which we have come across before in previous readings. This movie focuses on the struggles of individualism against restrictive collectivism – the world of the mob.

Rand explores these two ideas through her main character, a young architect – Howard Roark, who chooses to abide by his values with uncompromising stoical fortitude in the face of relentless difficulties and his relationship with various other personalities of human character. Roark, an ardent individualist, believed that to achieve intuitive brilliance, a person must be free to express his individuality and not subjected to the opinions of others which only serve to compromise or water-down the brilliance of the original idea. Although, he faced relentless impediments in his quest, he goes on to build a number of significant buildings and refuses to tow the line of ‘normal’ convention.

Rand contrasts Roark with Peter Keating; a subservient university colleague of Roark’s who is everything that Roark is not. Keating’s insatiable pursuit of material success is often at the expense of moral values. His willingness to dance to the tune of others earns him temporary success and he often lets his morals get blunted in making decisions and then considers the implications much later. There is little that is sincere about Keating as he often relied on Roark to get work done.

Roark’s ultimate prize and the movie’s heroine is Dominique Francon - an idealistic and temperamental character. Although she was initially of defeatist disposition, engaged to Keating and later married Gail Wynand, it was only in Roark that she met a worthy equal for her love of adversity and independence. Eventually she learns to; ignore what anyone thinks or does, live for herself and no one else and no longer care for whether the world is worthy of her expression. She falls in love with Roark and joins him romantically as well as in his perspective and purpose.

Another prominent character in the movie who shares a few character qualities with Roark is the owner and editor-in-chief of The Banner newspaper, Gail Wynand – a tragic figure who could have been a heroic individualist except that his success depended on his ability to indulge public opinion. It is this same flaw which leads to his downfall as he failed in his attempts to wield power, lost his corporation, his wife and his friendship with Roark. Ultimately Wynand took his own life entrusting one last legacy to Roark.

The most colourful of the characters in the movie in my opinion though, has to be Roark’s antagonist, Ellsworth Toohey who writes an art criticism column in The Banner. A manipulative and outspoken socialist who falsely styles himself as representative of the will of the masses in his secret plans of rising to power by shaping public opinion through his privileged social status and position as columnist. Toohey is the embodiment of evil and represents the restrictive, immoral forces of collectivism. His biggest threat being the free individual spirit of Roark and having no true genius, he set out to destroy Roark through a series of carefully orchestrated plans.

We see the ultimate triumph of individualism over collectivism in the courtroom scene when Roark gave his impressive defense cum summation speech and talks about the value of ego and the need to remain true to oneself. But my favourite bit has to be;

Look at history. Everything we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. Without personal rights, without personal ambition, without will, hope or dignity. It is an ancient conflict. It has another name. The individual against the collective.

Decline and Fall

Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh

This is an enjoyable book to read and very hilarious as a whole. A social satire which explores the British social circles through the story of Paul Pennyfeather, a descent third year student at Scone College in Oxford preparing for priesthood.

An unfortunate incident with members of the Bollinger Club saw Paul unfairly expelled on the grounds of indecent behaviour. Paul also subsequently lost his allowance and inheritance to his greedy guardian who capitalized on the unfortunate turn Paul’s life had taken. He got a job, despite not meeting any of the job requirements and after a bogus interview with the proprietor of a school - Dr Fagan, as a schoolmaster at the poorly rated Llanabba Castle in North Wales where he met a number of colourful characters.

From this point, Paul’s life will make a complete vicissitudinous cycle with almost the same characters reappearing at different stages of this cycle. One of the characters, a mirage of good fortune, instrumental to Paul’s most damaging decline was Margot Beste-Chetwynde. Mother to one of the pupils in the school where Paul was schoolmaster, Margot became the object of Paul’s affection and would come to marry her.

Except, there was a hitch just before this could happen. Another wave of unfortunate events, orchestrated chiefly by Margot, lead to Paul’s arrest and then incarceration on a seven year jail sentence. After a while in jail, the culpable socialite who got him in the soup in the first place, worked some magic and got Paul out. She had married some important government official as bargain for Paul’s release and Paul’s death had to be faked to allow him a transition back into society.

In the period immediately preceding the rapid development of affairs between Paul and Margot, He had met a number of her friends. Notably among them, the architect Margot had hired to design her controversial new home – Professor Otto Silenus. A fleeting character cut out as; miserable, opinionated, obstinate, dissatisfied and peculiar young man who had had little accomplishments, suffered from insomnia and had a penchant for the mechanical. Indeed, sometimes it was difficult to tell whether he was human;

He had not moved from where the journalist had left him; his fawn-like eyes were fixed and inexpressive, and the hand which he had held the biscuit still rose and fell to and from his mouth with regular motion, while his empty jaws champed rhythmically; otherwise he was wholly immobile.

This obsession with machines became a popular phenomenon after the First World War when machines became tangible. It had opened everyone’s eyes to what was possible with the advent of machines or mechanical intervention and it is hardly surprising that a lot of architecture of that period derived from machines. Le Corbusier springs to mind under this awning as he is quite famous for his ardent interpretation of a house as a machine for living in.    

A particularly pessimistic analogy of life as a revolving wheel (another indication of his mechanical obsession) was made by Silenus when he re-emerges in Paul’s later life, which gives a clear idea of how he sees existence. Life as he sees it might mean either simply existence, with its inevitable characteristics of growth, organic change and death. Or, a constant struggle to stay on and get to the centre of the revolving wheel. Delusional Silenus, who thinks he is very near the hub of this proverbial wheel, is convinced the centre is just as static as never getting on.

I think this is a rather dull view of life and that if one must go through life, one must engage and endeavour to enjoy it reasonably, one must be of the mind that we measure life by loss, not by gain. Not by the wine drunk but poured forth (Hudson Taylor). But I equally believe that great things must be done greatly, with a great purpose, a great mind, a great courage, a great energy and a great persistent patience (Elizabeth B. Browning).

It seemed fate, a much-maligned lady, brought Paul back to the exact same point he was when we first met him at Scone where he hopes to complete his preparation for priesthood. Altogether, I think there is something innately too agreeable and resignedly defeatist in this Pennyfeather fellow that does not quite appeal to me. If it were a case of him being totally virtuous and abiding by a set of absolute moral values, I might afford him my sympathy or respect but he demonstrates this only in his desire for Margot (a seemingly profitable venture). Often, this character whom I find too docile, allows his rational mind to be clouded by popular belief in a characteristically taciturn manner and with no strong enough opinions of his own.

The Tragedy Of Development (unfinished)

In this beautifully written literature, we trace the story of Goethe’s Faust (a metaphor for modern development) in the three stages of transformation he goes through driven by an insatiable desire for development. Faust tragic development goes through three main stages; dreamer, lover and developer.

To fully understand Faust’s metamorphosis, we are taken right to the inception of Faust’s desire for development with his deep dissatisfaction for his achievements and lonely life. He is restless, eager to engage more actively with the outside world in contrast to the summation of all his inwardly triumphs and his quest takes him to tap into powers from the depths of the underworld, personified by Mephistopheles.

We see Faust gradually transforming under the docentship of Mephistopheles and indoctrinated with ideas that will prove very significant in the later stages of his transformation. Faust bought into ideas such as selfishness with no moral remorse, a willingness to destroy in order to create freely, the worship of money and acquisition of speed. After a while in Mephistopheles’ company, Faust acquires wealth and mobility, becomes more handsome, confident, radiant and exciting but equally more imbued with an interest in other people and ready for genuine love.

He becomes enthralled by Gretchen, an epitome of all that is most beautiful, innocent, humble and simple in a world he had grown so estranged from. It was a doomed union because by getting involved with Faust, Gretchen grasps the possibility of developing and all that Faust loved in her disappears at the disapproval of all but Faust. Faust unable to deal with the demands of their complicated union and being a free spirit left and left her exposed to the persecution of little world she belonged to. Consequently, she dies. Mephisto tries to absolve Faust of the guilt he feels and reinforce the idea of destruction without remorse. However, the fundamental differences between them would have meant totally different trajectories and endings anyway so there was no real need to be downcast – it was inevitable.

Then Faust enters the final stage of his metamorphosis and confirms the old adage that if the student is not better than the teacher, the teacher is a failure. He astounds even Mephisto with his visionary concrete programs and operational plans to harness nature’s energy and convert it to the driving force of collective human purposes. He enters into politics as a means to gaining control over territory and a large number of people to achieve his visionary projects. Faust is convinced that speed was of the utmost essence and nothing or no one should be spared in the amalgamation of his thought and action in transforming the world for the collective good of all. But it is precisely in achieving this vision that the tragedy emanates. He deludes to creating an ideal world with clean hands and not ready to take the responsibility for the suffering and casualties that pave the way for the realisation of his visions.

In recognition of all his achievements, Faust might seem like a hero but on the other hand, in light of all that he does not want to see, details he does not want to know about, his vision is tragic. He seems only to be keen on the end result

The Job

The Job – William Burroughs

This is neither a straightforward book nor a straightforward set of interviews. Burroughs like Ginsberg is a member of the Beat Generation whose primary objective was to defy the idea of the normative or popular convention through free expression and unrestricted language. The book sheds a light on a variety of areas which Burroughs, like other members of the radical Beat Generation, is interested in; drugs, sex etc. But it also covers Burroughs’ unique style and play on words (a montage of texts by cutting and pasting) and often development of theories by well structured and organised thought.

Burroughs’ explanations of his methods of the montage of selected texts (and tape recordings) and responses to the resulting topics, is both an unusual and interesting approach but with the advent of computers, which allow more variations in less time, this part of the process is now superseded. This topic was brought up by the interviewer but to be fair to Burroughs, doing things on the computers of that time would have been very complicated and cumbersome.    

We get an insight into his opinions on writing and pushing the boundaries of language to which he is not convinced is always helpful and warns might be dangerous if it becomes purely experimental. Often, some of his answers to the questions posed to him are surprisingly serious and rational although one might be doubtful of the reasons he gives for them. An example of this is his view on why the use of controlled drugs is illegal, to which he postulates an interesting theory (as is most of his outbursts against the government) but he is equally aware of the dangers of addiction and the individual.

All through the book, one is aware of Burroughs’ contempt for the government and the idea of nationhood and he puts forward some very reasonable explanations for these but some of his explanations were way over the top. 

His interest in science is apparent and some of his ‘science’ is very interesting. His theory of the word-virus; ‘I suggest that the spoken word as we know it came after the written word.’ ‘My basic theory is that the written word was actually a virus that made the spoken word possible.’ This is a very clever idea and he gives a logical explanation of this and the consequences of this disposition.

The short introductory piece is beautifully metaphorical. It confronts us with the significance of travel (meaning freedom), deeming it more important than living itself. Space is a metaphor for complete freedom, freedom from the restrictive past conditioning of religion, nationalism, politics and emotions. ‘Anyone who prays in space is not there’! He warns that freedom is gradually being ostracised from youth however, all hope is not lost. There are ways to rediscover complete freedom and The Job offers some of them.

In his answers to questions on the variety of topical issues discussed in The Job, one gets a very good sense of Burroughs approach to writing and insight to the workings of his thoughtful mind. Above all for me though, a sense of Burroughs’ absolute virtue! 

Howl

Howl – Allen Ginsberg

A captivating poem which is at once shocking with its unrestricted language, undisguised portrayal of stark reality and detailed description of the subconscious. Written in 1955 as part of a collection called Howl and Other Poems, it was published in 1956. The world was little prepared for the audacity and effrontery of this poem back then and upon its release, the publisher was arrested and charged with dissemination of obscene material but later discharged after a judge ruled in the poem’s favour.  The poem is now renowned as one of the best works of the Beat Generation.

The Beat Generation consisted of a group of post WWII writers who, along with the cultural ideals they represented became prominent in the 1950s. Hedonists to the core and radical in their disposition, they experimented with illicit drugs, sex and sexuality, eastern religion, antagonising consumerism and the idealizing of ardent, non euphemistic means of expression and existence.

That said, the poem draws extensively from personal experiences of Ginsberg’s and that of his friends but notably among them, the main emotional inspiration for the poem, is Carl Solomon - a psychotic acquaintance of Ginsberg’s who he met in a mental institution and to whom the poem is dedicated.  Ginsberg’s description of youth is reminiscent of Eagleton’s lamentation of scholarly pursuits of the bygone era trivialised by the new generation.

The poem is divided into three parts and the first part, a lamentation, describes the naivety of the youths of America drawing from his own experiences, that of his friends and a host of other colourful characters he had encountered. He believed the interests of these characters were underrepresented in an oppressively regimented and consumerist era (again reminiscent of Eagleton’s discussion on the convention of normative). He describes their experiences in unrestrained and graphic language. This part of the poem is also notable for the use of the word ‘who’ which helps to personify the character the poem engages in the following part.

Moloch, originally a biblical figure and to whom children were sacrificed, again attributes character to the idea Ginsberg is waxing metaphorical about in the second part of the poem – industrial civilisation and its ugly manifestations. There is an echo of Davis’s view of Dubai in the description of Moloch and in parts, one may substitute ‘Moloch’ for ‘Dubai’:

Dubai whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Dubai whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovas! Dubai whose factories dream and choke in the fog! Dubai whose smokestacks and antennae crown the cities!

Dubai whose love is endless oil and sand! Dubai whose soul is electricity and banks!

The third and final part is more refrained and is addressed directly to Carl Solomon. This part is also notable for the fixed base; ‘Rockland’ which is what he called the mental hospital which he briefly attended and in which he met Carl Solomon. Ginsberg also reveals here that his mother too had been mentally ill and may explain some of the sympathy he feels for Solomon. Of the structure, Ginsberg says Part III is, "pyramidal, with a graduated longer response to the fixed base."

The Politics Of Amnesia

The Politics of Amnesia (After Theory) - Terry Eagleton

Eagleton confronts us with a sense of responsibility and urgency as soon as one begins to read this literature. He describes, in colourful language, the shift in intellectual pursuits, the trivialisation of scholarly matters and a conspicuous lack of fresh thinking that the fast evolving world we find ourselves so crucially needs. 

Eagleton then introduces us to the idea of cultural theory and its historic advancements such as recognising; gender and sexuality as legitimate subjects of study and of political significance, that popular culture should not be overlooked and is worth studying. However, I found the discussion on post colonialism most interesting, for obvious reasons.

I absolutely agree with Eagleton that ‘it is one thing to make a revolution, and another to sustain it’. Having grown up in Nigeria and lived in the UK for almost a decade, I have often wondered what narcotics the so called nationalists were on when they put on that charade of ‘struggle for independence’.  I strongly believe they did it for pure selfish reasons and not in the interest of all at all. It was truly a lost cause and the Marxists who harboured illusions about those bloody power hungry middle-class nationalists were right. It is very heart wrenching to see how, as the author puts it, ‘isolated, poverty-stricken and poor in civic, liberal or democratic traditions’ that country now is! Their laurel, the so called independence has been more of a curse than a blessing – ‘that political sovereignty had brought with it no authentic economic self-government, and could never do so in a West-dominated world’!    

Also, we are brought up close to the examination of postmodernists’ reactions to the idea of collective action under the awnings of different political orientation. Some postmodernists who oppose the notion of individualism (an issue adumbrated in the Meades interview with Zaha) and who think collective action is oppressive counter it with margins and minorities. Liberals however, counter it with the individual. The conservatives on the other hand would much prefer to ignore mainstream social life and capitalise on the political grounds most fertile; margins and minorities, much to the chagrin of postmodernists who tend to be all inclusive majority seekers.

Eagleton acknowledges cultural awareness as the force behind the previously marginalised to finding a voice, become a force to reckon with which can no longer be disregarded.  He posits that the normative is being challenged and that social life based on ‘majority carries the vote’ is a matter of conventions and norms which inherently is oppressive. I think there is an interesting point in that norms, which presumes that one man’s meat should not be another man’s poison, is oppressive.

But equally as fascinating is Eagleton’s argument for why norms are not always restrictive and consequently why going against the grain of the normative is not always politically radical. To be of this view, the author argues, is ‘politically catastrophic’ and ‘dim-witted’. Here, one gets a sense of Eagleton (quoting Perry Anderson) mourning the demise of the old ways, of the traditional middle class and the implications of the resultant low-minded amorphous sub-cultural forms. I thought this bit was particularly funny; ‘But it is true, by and large, that our new ruling elite consists increasingly of people who snort cocaine rather than people who look like Herbert Asquith or Marcel Proust’.

The sense of responsibility which Eagleton evokes in us through this literature comes through a series of carefully organised thought. This equips one with an understanding of the dynamics of a fast changing world and the difficulty in identifying the central driving force due to its curiously ephemeral nature.  But an educated view affords us a better understanding that marginal does not necessarily mean minority, that collective action in today’s world is grossly inadequate and that there is a need to foster a new forms of belonging and sense of tradition. 

Fear And Money In Dubai

Fear and Money in Dubai – Mike Davis

How very fascinating! My reaction to this article will come directly from the heart as a citizen of an oil producing third world African country whose 70% of population live in abject poverty - Nigeria. I just cannot help the way I feel and maybe that will explain much of my sympathetic or sentimental view of Dubai’s seemingly dodgy ways.

From the outset, the author confronts us with Dubai’s appetite for pretty much anything and everything extraordinary and gigantic under his docentship; man-made islands of the world, the pyramids sunken in the shallow waters, mega hotels, chrome forests of skyscrapers, seductive goods; Gucci, Cartier, gold etc. They are all there in quotidian abundance. One cannot help but notice though that within the second paragraph alone, Davis makes two comparisons with America provoking a thought that America is a yardstick by which Dubai should be measured or perhaps there is some sort of competition between those two countries. And this carries on throughout the literature.

I am not entirely sure if Davis’s intension is to make us astounded by Dubai’s spending, affluent ways and therefore convert us to frowning at them or he is genuinely concerned about; the planet and its waning resources, increasing global consumerism, capitalism etc. Much of his tone even in the early stages of the article carries a significant amount of bias; as if Dubai is committing some sort of crime exclusive to the place alone. For example he talks about; ‘Despite its blast furnace climate (on typical 120 ⁰ summer days, the swankier hotels refrigerate their swimming pools)...’ I find this an unfair remark to make given that the most accessible leisure centres here in the UK heat their pools in the winter.

He talks about conspicuous consumption? But is it not surprising that most of the products Dubai displays in dazzling fashion; island world, Burj Dubai, exclusive beaches, carnivorous dinosaurs etc are one way or the other connected to or patronised by people from the West and Europe? In my opinion, it takes two to tango and the laws of demand and supply will always be at work here. For as long as we want the comforts we have grown so used to and find difficult to let go of, Dubai, China or any other country of similar industrious ability or foresight can ask whatever price they deem fit. What I am trying to say is that we are just as guilty of the crimes Davis is parading as being committed by Dubai maybe just not at the same scale.

One might perceive something rather like what Dave Hickey describes in his A Home in the Neon chapter of Air Guitar. The world is a poor lens through which to view Dubai, while Dubai is an excellent lens through which to view the world.

Another issue I find particularly interesting and pertinent to my country is that of the “dialectic of uneven and combined development” that Davis touched on. It is true that if you went to Nigeria today, nearly everyone has an expensive mobile phone or two (and expensive cars!), even people from the remotest villages such as where my retired father now lives. But the country still does not have stable electricity and pipe borne water - I think those are the two most rudimentary of infrastructure. Then we may extrapolate to education, public transport; good roads, telecommunication, healthcare, security ad infinitum! What this creates then is a scenario where people have the near perfect finished products but no clue as to how they got there and ‘no framework of historical possibilities’. Huge chasms of unharnessed potential are glaringly obvious; when people have the latest apple iphone/ ipad but no wireless networks to use the internet and all the applications that rely on the internet to function. When people buy really expensive imported cars with no good roads to drive them on and so within 24 months the cars have to be replaced.

I am in concordance with Davis that fast-tracking is not an appropriate approach to development. In order to fester real development with desirable outcomes, one has to go through the arduous intermediate stages or at least try to understand them and provide a sustainable framework of developing on these. 

Nonetheless, I am sceptical about Davis’s position on Dubai. I have never been to the place myself and much of what I now know about it I have read from this article but there is a side to Dubai he wants us to see and react to it in a particular way too. One has to wonder if Davis has an agenda; if all of these things levelled against Dubai are just some of those, as Hickey puts it, unmarked doors through which the cognoscenti pass and outsiders are so attentive to? I do not think that ideas such as free-trade zones or other incentives are bad ideas if your intension is to encourage investors.

As far as working in Dubai goes, and all the exaggerated claims of diminutive or non-existent rights, I think there is something honourable in exercising ones’ free-will and dealing with the consequences of one’s’ actions. If the place is not favourable for work, I ask; why leave the comforts of your homeland hundreds of thousands of miles behind to work there? And Davis is so funny insinuating unfavourable working conditions saying; ‘...an army of poorly paid Pakistanis and Indians, the largest contingent form Kerala, working twelve-hour shifts, six and half days a week, in the asphalt melting desert heat’. Desert heat? Is it that much different to heat in Pakistan or India?

Maybe some deplorable conditions really do exist or maybe Davis just wants us to see what he wants us to see but I think the onus is on the people who subject themselves to these conditions. If there is nothing in it at all for them, why do it? If one is really not happy with how Dubai does business why aid and abet them? I doubt that these conditions are closely guarded secrets and if people are in the know, why sign up to go there?

Again, it might be a cultural thing innate in me but if one decides to go and work there, one should be prepared to swallow whatever bitter drink comes with that decision without moaning. Except the terms and conditions of the agreement between the two parties (employee and employer) is breached and I think pretty good results have been achieved in some cases.

For me, the rapid development in Dubai is an indication of what is achievable yet so conspicuously lacking in my country. I do however strongly oppose fast track development at this does not solve any problems in the long run. But with resources efficiently harnessed, applied in the right order of priorities and to the right areas of development, a country so rich, not only in oil but a number of other natural resources, may not find itself in such a sorry state. 

A Home In The Neon

A Home in the Neon – Dave Hickey (Air Guitar)

I thoroughly enjoyed this literature and I think it is largely due to Hickey’s language and humour. I found it easily digestible and comprehendible.

We see Las Vegas through the eyes of a person who has grown very fond of it. So fond of it he adopts it as his home – a supposedly most un-homelike of places. But the reasons for his predilection are both captivating and noble. To be superficial, one might think Hickey is looking for justifications for his habits but I believe his reasons go deeper than just that and he makes sure we are introduced to them right at the start of the article.

As a moral bottom-line, Hickey introduces us to his inner child - one he doubts will ever grow up. But what I find most interesting is the idea of a child and its juxtaposition with innocence and moral values in Las Vegas – where ‘fifty-year-old heterosexual guys still room together’ without as much as an eye brow raised. Vegas offers the perfect ambience for his or anyone else’s escapism which festers better/ real social interaction. He expresses his delight at the ‘little quirks’ the city offers and cites an example of a waitress who was content with what she had and looked forward to greener pastures – qualities that are of sound moral values.

He equally expresses his distaste for people without these qualities, who detract Vegas on the grounds of culture and who think culture is all about money. The reason for their unhappiness, as Hickey points out, I find truly interesting; flat line social hierarchy. The idea that money in Vegas is just money, that there are no ‘socially sanctioned forms of status to ennoble one’s having made it – nor any predetermined socio-cultural agendas that one might pursue as a consequence of having been so ennobled’, leaves the detractors of Vegas with pretty much nothing else to feed on. I have often wondered what moral codes people will abide by in such an environment that Vegas provides. I think it is all too easy to confuse genuine moral values with these reasons (and their tributaries under different guises) Hickey points out.

What you see is what you get in Vegas; there are no secrets – like most other places. And it is easy to comprehend why this might take visitors by surprise as it is so plain and simple. It dresses the usually covert or ‘colourful’ intricacies of everyday life elsewhere in high visibility jackets and saves the inquisitive any bother. I particularly like Hickey’s analogy of; ‘America, in order words, is a very poor lens through which to view Las Vegas, while Las Vegas is a wonderful lens through which to view America’. These, all together infuse a feeling of reassurance; that there are no pretences, just like being  at home would and I  think I too will feel at home in such a place.

Hickey’s final argument for Vegas as home relates to the feeling of comfort and hope. The former could be typical of any home; where things you find excruciating in one environment might be particularly enjoyable in the comfort of your own home. But Hickey wraps this around a vague revelation that he might have a habit. He eloquently describes the moments of anticipation that only a gambler or anyone that plays the lottery can identify with; ‘...Vegas lives – in those fluttery moments of faint but rising hope, in the possibility of wonder, in the swell of desire while the dice is still bouncing, just before the card flips face-up. And win or lose, you always have that instant of genuine, justifiable hope.’ He argues further that this hope is genuine, if you win, you win and even though one is aware of the laws of probability, you had a real chance. I too would much prefer to know exactly where I am at, what my chances are and a reassurance that what I make or win I get to keep.

It is clear that Hickey is a matter-of-fact kind of guy and does not like indulgence in pretentious behaviour. I believe there is something very noble and morally upright in calling a spade a spade. If Vegas offers an ambience where; people can be thankful for what they have, look forward to new things, feel free to be themselves, money is just money and social hierarchy is nonexistent, there is always genuine and justifiable hope and a reassurance that there is a real chance of keeping what you win, I think it is a good place to call ‘home’.  

On Zaha Hadid

Jonathan Meades on Zaha Hadid culled from Intelligent Life Magazine, Summer 2008

Another fascinating read and very funny in places too – the back handed swipes Meades was taking at her! But on a more serious note, this article cum interview lays bare some topical issues of architecture schools and architecture profession today.

One that comes up early in the article is that of unnecessary agglomeration of language which Meades describes as ‘a sort of Esperantist pidgin’. We are all slowly indoctrinated to indulge in this  ‘bag of tricks’ in architecture schools and Meades was not forgiving of Zaha for dipping into this bag when she talks about architecture.  He aptly points out some syntactical errors suggesting that Zaha (or anyone else that uses it) might sound like an empty barrel. 

Another one is the issue of how new buildings should relate to their context. I think Zaha’s approach to this question should be a model for the serious student. Showing sensitivity to context should not become a limitation on any project but to prompt new ways of addressing issues thrown up by the site that will forge better architectural responses.

But when Meades pushes further on how she has become successful at creating architecture that is not easily recognised as by the same hand it is clear she is evasive and gives a rather vague explanation. Meades pointed out that this is not a new tactic and that the discovery or revelation of the ‘how’ would be to destroy them. It begs the question why we (students) are constantly nailed to the wall at crits and bombarded with a litany of questions; ‘where is the process work?’, ‘what is the theory behind your proposal?’, ‘what is the program?’ etc but to be evasive or not have an answer will only prompt critics to go on to the next level of investigation that could pull the rug from under  your project; ‘but it could be this’ and ‘it could be that’ – questions which made a colleague of mine reply with; ‘ yeah it could be anything but it’s not exactly mickey mouse, is it?’. She has since gained a higher level of respect from me, my hero!

Further we see the irony of practising architecture in London. A city rich with interesting juxtapositions and an architect who is ‘enthusiastic about this sort of dissonance’ not having a proper accomplishment to her name in the capital? But her continued attraction to the city is another question she scatted helter-skelter about. 

Also, we are confronted with the question of why the profession is and always has been dominated by men? The reasons are put down to low salaries, long hours, office machismo and lack of opportunities for progression. But Meades goes further and tries to spread the bias evenly between men and women architects as a disease that only afflicts architects in Britain irrespective of sex. He posits that architects having squandered the peoples’ reposed confidence in them in the 70s and mid 70s, now have to establish a name for themselves in foreign countries before they regain any confidence in Britian. I am not entirely convinced that that answers the initial question.

However, imbued in this attitude to architects is a limiting factor equally as powerful as taking ‘context’ literally as already discussed. If architecture, in the capital or Britain in the larger sense, is subject to public opinion then we end up with an architecture that tries to be all inclusive and consequently creates a fertile breeding ground for the profit minded capitalist. I agree with both Zaha and Meades on this point that the paramouncy of the architect/ artist should be first place but I would not go as far as pigeon-holing any particular style of architecture as good or bad but whether individual products of such endeavours are. 

The expendability or short-termism of buildings in Britain is another worrying subject brought up by Meades in this reading. This sounds a gentle reminder of the responsibility of architects in creating spaces that are beautiful, fit for purpose, and durable to avoid falling victim to the for-profit capitalist. I think that in the crucial triangle of time, money and quality, we find ourselves in a precarious position where time and money are winning the day. I feel there must be more we can do to bring quality back in popular demand rather than oblige to that architecture should not be daring, beautiful, striking or marvellous.

In the final part of the article, Meades evaluates Zaha’s refrain from talking about her work or architecture and the transformation when she talks about anything else. He makes an interesting point about a different part of the brain being activated. I am not quite sure if dyslexia and being left handed are qualities one is born with or that one develops in the very early stages of cognitive development. It seems common knowledge that most gifted architects have both or either of these conditions but Zaha has neither of them. It makes me ponder; are architects born or made? Or perhaps there are both kinds of architects?

This Crisis Is The Spectacle: Where Is The Real

This crisis is the spectacle: where is the real? – Alain Badiou

This makes a very interesting and enlightening read for me. I can relate some of the issues it addresses to some of my own indulgencies and what the impact of such indulgencies might mean on a global scale. I do not have a mortgage as I am currently in the cadre of people Badiou describes as ‘on such low incomes – or – non incomes.’

But the indulgencies I mean are things I would not have considered having when I still lived in Nigeria. I have lived here for nine years and it is difficult to even point them out. The boundaries between ‘need’ and ‘want’ have been voraciously eroded in that time and in some way or another, I know I now I feed the system.

It is not my intension to set Nigeria (or any other African country, hell any country in the world in the same league!) on a higher platform for getting priorities right (she cannot get it more wrong!), or blame developed countries for making better provisions for their populace. Most of her population’s ability to make do with the least of resources and infrastructure stem out of the governments’ years of shocking indifference to its subjects’ plight. Nonetheless in juxtaposition to the standard of life here in the UK, it is easy to see how those boundaries between what is really important and what is ‘luxury’ become eroded, blurring peoples prudency and consequently leaving them exposed to the predatory exploits of the capitalist.

However in our current predicament, where we have all been so anesthetized by the ‘system’, I welcome Badiou’s crucial wake up call. He very cleverly packed in a relatively short article a bit of background information to educate the less conversant, makes a pertinent comparison of the dire situation we find ourselves to something everyone can identify with – the cinema, offers recommendations as to how we may start to address the afflictions of this financial crisis in the short term and the deal with the greater brutality of capitalism and its devices in the long term.

The same force (capitalism) may be at work in Nigeria or other third world countries of the same genre where the most basic amenities are so few and far between which is aimed at creating a mad frenzy when they are briefly made available at much higher prices. This undoubtedly generates huge profits for the perpetrators. I think either way, Badiou’s recommendations for both political and ideological rethinking caters strongly for both sides of the coin and remains pertinent.