This dissertation explores the ways in which affective responses to disabled bodies are represented and how this invites us to read these bodies aesthetically. I argue that this affective impact... Show moreThis dissertation explores the ways in which affective responses to disabled bodies are represented and how this invites us to read these bodies aesthetically. I argue that this affective impact can be understood as an affordance, a term I use to describe how the appearance of and interaction with disabled bodies produces affective responses such as fear, wonder, or disgust. I study the relationship between representation and affective reactions through literature and other art forms. Through close readings of literary texts and works of art, this dissertation offers an alternative to so-called model thinking—an approach that emphasizes categorization. Instead, I propose a reading that focuses on how bodily capacities are culturally and socially translated into (dis)abilities. Unlike taxonomic approaches that categorize and generalize, this method allows moving from the particular to the private. Works of art, although prone to generalization, emphasize their unicity and resist categorization. By analyzing how different art forms represent disabled bodies, the dissertation brings a new dimension to understanding our emotional responses and the aesthetic appreciation of bodily diversity. Show less
The dissertation is a methodologically driven intervention into the interpretive practices and readings of contemporary Dutch novels. The research departs from the hypothesis that contemporary... Show moreThe dissertation is a methodologically driven intervention into the interpretive practices and readings of contemporary Dutch novels. The research departs from the hypothesis that contemporary Dutch fiction can be read as beyond postmodernism. Its methodology emphasizes both the continuity with postmodernism and the innovative elements of the novels. The focus on periodization otherwise results in the homogenization of literary production in a given period and in placing clearly identified breaks between periods. The project’s analysis of three contemporary novels (Zonder noorden komt niemand thuis by Nelleke Noordervliet, Klont by Maxim Februari a Wij zijn licht by Gerda Blees) focuses on the affective aspects of reading and demonstrates how interpretation is influenced by readerly attitude. The addition of reparative reading to previously explored ideologically critical, paranoid readings is an illustration of one of the three levels at which contemporary novels oscillate. The reparative and oscillating interpretations can be produced by means of relational frame that is introduced as a transferable tool summarizing the insights of the dissertation. Show less
'What is the desire of the medium?' is both a rhetorical question and a fundamental one. The rhetorical question serves as a framework for investigating the interplay between the artist/designer... Show more'What is the desire of the medium?' is both a rhetorical question and a fundamental one. The rhetorical question serves as a framework for investigating the interplay between the artist/designer and the medium during the creative act. Arts and design operate on the level of problematising: they do not reproduce the visible, they make visible. By this, I am suggesting that there is no preconceived objective criterion: all perception needs to be produced. A critical supposition is that the complexity of the world cannot be reduced to either macro- or micro-systems or models (anti-representation). The only interesting route to pursue is to investigate what a medium does (asignification), not what it is (essentialism). My interest lies in affective capacities, not inherent properties and their respective place in any taxonomy or ontological setting. This requires the exploration of a non-hierarchical, flat ontology based on the equality of all parties (human and nonhuman). I propose four backgrounds against which to investigate the desire of the medium: ethoscape (which deals with affect), ideoscape (which deals with concepts), mediascape (forms of expression) and technoscape (forms of content). The desire of the medium is located somewhere in the middle between affect, concept, expression and content. Show less
