ETD Collection

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/104


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    The impact of embodiment on autonomy
    (2009-04-30T13:52:25Z) Fick, Bazil
    Abstract The way bodies are perceived has not received much attention in ethical discourse. It has always been accepted that one of the fundamental principles in evaluating ethical dilemmas in bio ethics is the respect for autonomy. This notion has dominated medical ethics for several decades. Medical ethicists however have quite frankly forgotten about the perception of bodies. In this post modern era, ethicists and medical practitioners are challenging and considering in what ways the impact of disease has on an individuals “autonomous decision making”. This discourse considers current and historical thoughts on autonomy and challenges its relevance in bioethics today. Autonomy is viewed from a genuine and an ascriptional perspective. By reviewing various arguments it is concluded that autonomy is still an important, but not an absolute, consideration in bioethics. Embodiment is discussed from a phenomenological perspective with the various notions of embodiment reviewed and evaluated. The impact that various states of embodiment have, from its normal physiological state that includes different ages, racial makeup and gender, to diseased states, on autonomy is reflected and discussed. This impact, it is argued, questions the role that autonomy plays in decision making. Emphasis is placed on respect for embodiment to seek a resolution to the impasse presented by certain ethical dilemmas where the respect for autonomy is found to be flawed.
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    Grounded : Locative art and embodied digitality
    (2008-10-21T13:21:12Z) Said, Mitchell Andrew
    My research is comprised of two connected components – a written report, and an original artwork. In the written segment of the research, I critically assess arguments sourced from digital theorists writing mainly in the 1990s, who positioned “cyberspace” as means of bodily escape, physical transcendence and disconnection from lived reality. I link their writings to a larger notion of technological determinism. I use a combination of theoretical sources and case studies to argue that these determinist attitudes are being challenged by the emergence of a recent artistic practice (termed “locative art”), itself made possible through changes in the understanding of the integration of digital information into the material world. The second part of my research consists of an original locative work, entitled “Tree ID”. It is integrated into my written research in my third chapter, in which I discuss the technical function and conceptual background of the work. “Tree ID” functions alongside my case studies as an artistic response to technological determinism, and, additionally, as a practical investigation into the South African context of locative art.
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    For arts' sake?: Contemporary dance in South Africa
    (2008-03-28T11:45:49Z) Kodesh, Hayley
    Abstract Gregory Maqoma, a leading South African contemporary choreographer, mixes elements to create work that is unpredictable and difficult to pin down. His hybrid form of dance contradicts essentialised representations of post-apartheid South Africa. Using layered ethnographic analysis, this thesis examines his work in order to discuss the conversation between art and society in a country that is forming a new democracy. Through the questions that his work raises, this research explores what it means to be ‘African’, the problems of authenticity, processes of signification and its relationship to embodiment, and the place of the performing arts in the ‘new’ South African context. It illustrates the potency of art as social commentary, and asserts that freedom and its limits cannot be critically evaluated without considering the dialogue offered by contemporary artistic performance.