1: the meaning of place, mythology as history and history as mythology.
Homework: Re-read articles for the next class
3: The meaning of place, mythology as history and history as mythology, continued.
Homework: Read Kass pp. 25-40; 5458.
Theme topic: The late rhetorician Kenneth Burke said that much of what we take to be reality is "but the spinning out of possibilities." He went on to say that one way we transform phenomenon experienced into meaningful utterance is through the use of terministic screens. In other words, we acquire, through life and experience, a set of contexts we use to construct meaning. So, the world is both made by us as it makes us. The readings from last week and the films from this week play off this idea by presenting "place" as a context by which we tum our mundane experiences into sacred (meaningful) revelations.
Eliade and Van Dyke make the argument that the natural environment and our recreation of that environment is one way we construct,
transmit, and experience meaningful action. For this theme, I would like for you to identify one of the "sacred" tropes of place discussed in class that is incorporated into the landscape of the cam First, identify what the element is on campus and what trope it is referencing.
Then, what does the use of this 1,,./structure seek to reveal to the active agent (you)? How does the use of this trope makelliillAcred (meaningful) in a universal way? That is, how does the incorporation of this symbol into the landscape of the campus make meaningful; as an experience.