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More on TaussigJohn Mcreery (jlm@TWICS.COM)Fri, 14 Oct 1994 22:37:41 JST
that Taussig demands awareness of? How does it differ from the other representations I've mentioned? The works of art described by Gombrich? The computer programs constructed by AI researchers/cognitive scientists? The depictions of data created by information designers? The evolutionary images to which Stephen Gould attends? Reader be warned: The remarks that follow are what my Japanese colleagues would call *oozappa*; loosely constructed from memory, they should not be thought of as anything more. With this caveat in mind, I will hazard the following generalizations: By and large the other representations I mention are analyzed in *technical* terms, as attempts to create an accurate picture of *natural* phenomena that exist outside the language/imagery in which they are depicted. Social/cultural/historical factors enter into the way that they are discussed as conditions that either improve or hinder their *accuracy*. In Taussig's discussion representations are always *political*, inseparable from the power relations of the parties involved in creating and responding to them. They are, in addition, created and responded to in *cultural collisions* where people from different cultural backgrounds encounter each other and, more often than not, *violence* is an integral part of the encounter. Do other readers find this fair? John McCreery (JLM@TWICS.COM)
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