Summary of articles about the Theory in Landscape Architecture
The author of the article from Post modernism and Consumer Society, Jameson Fredric is an American theorist and analyst on contemporary cultural trends. Currently he is William A. Lane a professor in the program in literature and romance studies at Duke University. He has passion in study of post modernism which in turn has earned him many honorary awards. Among the works he has written is a well-known book called Sartre’s works which shows his interest in post modernism, cultural trends and some Marxism. His other works include:
The political unconscious: Narrative as a socially Symbolic Act. This book was also published in the year 1981 by Cornell university press.
In total, the author has a total of twenty four books fifteen of which are inclined to post modernism and its effects.
In the featured article, the author explains the different conceptions and meanings that people often hold in their minds about post modernism. He summarizes this and gives a clear definition that post modernism should not be viewed as a description for a particular lifestyle but as emergence of new formal features in culture and emergence of a new social life from the existing lifestyle. He further narrows down to explain the main features of post modernism. He explains the relationship of modernism and mimicry of older fashions. In the explanation, he also differentiates parody and pastiche. He gives the differences and the relation between the two where he mentions that parody is keener on uniqueness while pastiche is keener on appearance and outlook. The author moves on to explain why classical modernism should be long dead and its place taken by post modernism. He argues that the times when capital competition was an issue is long gone thus the styles of that age are out of date. This explanation of nostalgia is an illustration of pastiche.
The second feature of post modernism that he discusses is the time factor between post modernism and events. He explains how events in the postmodern era are taking place in a time conscious manner. He uses the tense system in the language system to express how time should dictate what should be done. From the extract about an article written in past tense, we find that the author tries to show the insignificance of applying history in the current time. He emphasizes on the future and present and the past should be viewed as shaping features for the present.
The author the article hypermarket and hyper commodity, Jean Baudrillard is a French philosopher. His work concentrates on post modernism and precisely post structuralism. He was also a political commentator and cultural theorist. Though he passed on the year 2007, he left a legacy to be admired. Some of the works which he wrote during his life time includes:
System of object which was published in 1968.
The consumer society: Myths and Structures. The book was published in 1970.
Symbolic exchange and death, 1976.
Simulacra and simulation. This text is more elaborate on economy and was printed in 1986.
In total, he wrote over thirty five books mostly on post modernism and economy.
The co-author of the article Places as Commodities, John Logan was an American poet and teacher. He graduated from Coe collage and his master’s degree from Iowa University. In his life time, he authored fourteen books mostly in poetry but in this article, he was a co-author with Harvey Moloch.
In the featured article, the authors try to relate and explain land as a commodity for trade. The outline the differences between other commodities of trade from land or place by claiming that place is the only commodity that is not used and disposed at the end. This is mainly attributed to the fact that all human activities must take place in a place. Also, instead of degradation after use, land value appreciates giving chance for other activities to be done on the same place. They also give evidence of what people pay for in rented places. It is not the land that makes them pay the demands of the landlord but maintenance of neighborhood relations. This makes place a very special commodity whose use is not entirely on its value but also on the value of the neighboring places. In the article, the authors move on to explain more special traits of place as a commodity. From the uniqueness of this commodity, it is clear from the article that place is where all the players in trade get their resources from.
The authors further outline different entrepreneurs in this business and their roles. Some try to reap what they have not toiled for in any way (serendipitous entrepreneurs), other try to hold the high ranks in this business (active entrepreneurs) and the last group believes in working as a unit to achieve their goal (structural spectators). The structural group is the most important since it is this group that is involved in the development of the places. The government also plays a role in ensuring that the reality about places is adhered to and the social place built. A social place is not isolated from the locality thus augurs well with its background. In conclusion, the authors seem to outline places as commodities, how to develop these commodities and the social benefit of these commodities.
The author of the article Domination of Nature, David Harvey is a distinguished professor of anthropology at graduate center of the City University of New York. He holds a PhD in geography from University of Cambridge. He is a leading social theorist. His interest in the field of post modernism can be attributed to his wide knowledge of Geography and theories of different economic trends. Some of the works by this author includes:
Explanation of Geography, 1969.
Consciousness and the Urban Experience, 1985.
The Urban Experience, 1989.
In total he has written twenty two books and ten articles which have been featured in several post modernism writings.
In the featured article, the author explains the concept of self-realization so as to understand domination of nature. He argues that nature is what dominates all the human activities, needs and wants. Thus, people with different wants have a different nature dominating them. The author quotes much of supportive facts from earlier prominent persons and sayings. These quotations act as enlightment to the ones interested in knowing domination of nature. He further outlines several dominations and evidences of nature domination over human activities.
Looking at the four articles, they are loosely attached together by post modernism. The article by Fredric deals entirely on post-modernism, its evolution and effects. Looking at Jean’s article, it narrates about hypermarkets and their mode of operation. Hypermarkets are a product of post-modernism thus the idea of post modernism is extended in this article. The article on places as commodities illustrates post-modern architecture and reasoning. The fourth article from a completely different perspective also illuminates post-modern reasoning.
In conclusion, all the articles contribute towards a common theme, post-modernism.
