Meaning through annihilation : the Patrimony Bombings of 1993 /
Any urban landscape incorporates some assemblages of built and natural features which are particularly rich in cultural associations. These associations may be discernable only to local inhabitants or they may be shared by a regional, national or even international cultural group. Using the curren...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2000.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=728403481&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Any urban landscape incorporates some assemblages of built and natural features which are particularly rich in cultural associations. These associations may be discernable only to local inhabitants or they may be shared by a regional, national or even international cultural group. Using the current geographic metaphor of viewing the humanly-built and humanly-interpreted landscape as "text," I call this assemblage of place and its standardized cultural meaning a "commonplace", or topos in rhetorical parlance. A topos may be interpreted differently by different cultural groups, or "translated" differently, to speak figuratively. I compare this new notion of bundling of meaning with some standard landscape interpretation methods, then take a look at how topoi have been used to express power-relations of a given society. The positioning in these topoi of acts of both domination and protest has given these acts added meaning. The major work of this dissertation is the articulation of both standard and newly-suggested methods of landscape interpretation in reference to a series of acts of cultural terrorism occurring in Italy during the spring and summer of 1993, particularly in the destruction of one key site, an ancient church in the heart of Rome. I frame this articulation in contemporary historical events as understood and interpreted by local newspaper sources. My conclusions as to the meaning of the violent use of these topoi are tempered with an appreciation for my position as a cultural outsider or "translator" of this landscape. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Geography". |
| Physical Description: | ix, 251 leaves : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. + 1 CD-ROM Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 232-244). |