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Ada Huang

week_3_”Metaphors We Lived by”

Metaphors We Live By

  • Lakoff + Johnson give several examples throughout the text of linguistic metaphorical systems. Are there any you found odd, outdated, or different from metaphorical systems that you use, either personally or in your language, culture, or social sphere? For instance, do you speak about conversation as battle, or use orientational metaphors the same way the authors describe?

A: I found two main verbal metaphors the article mentioned, which are “argument is war” and ” time is money “, are both relevant and did not feel outdated. One reason might be English is not my first language so I did not grow up in the same context as a native speaker. Second, I learned the language by its assigned meaning. Since both of the expressions are intuitive and comprehensible to me, they are not odd to me.

Though some spatialization metaphors look a bit different than how I perceived native speakers would put out, such as “unknown is up, known is down”. They aren’t isolated cases, at least it takes me a few seconds to “grasp” the meaning of “unknown” which is defined as “unclear, undecided”. I don’t think “That’s up in the air” is an outdated expression, just not as intuitive as other examples.

  • Can you identify a metaphorical system that you commonly use? What do you think is the motivating rationale (“experiential basis”) behind that system – or is there one? Have you ever intentionally (or unintentionally) changed the metaphorical system that you use to speak about a certain subject, to reflect a different experience or worldview?

A: Thinking back on linguistic expression reflecting a certain metaphorical concept, the naming of some editing techniques comes into mind. One technique called “mask”, where the editor selects part of the unwanted image and hides it off (or the reverse) is used metaphorically in this case. The experiential basis might be the physical techniques applied frame by frame in the film era. Before moving images practices became mainly digital, if something unwanted happened on the raw footage, editors would then need to cover up the unwanted part with other materials.

I always use metaphors that maybe only me and my friends would understand because more often we share context . By changing, I sometimes intentionally switch verbs within a sentence to exaggerate my reaction. For example, instead of saying “I’ll reach out to you”, I will say “Yall at you when I know”.

  • What metaphors/systems of metaphor are commonly used when discussing your topic? If “the essence of a metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (5), what other kinds of metaphors might be useful for discussing your topic, or an aspect of your topic?

My topic is “grafting”, which certainly has a human-centric aspect within. Metaphors commonly used in the realm of study are verbs indicating status such as: undergo, under, between, select, etc. Usually, within the context, plants “undergo” profound changes or “under” natural conditions. “Under”  seems to be implemented as an orientational metaphor often in the case suggesting lower status of plants. (intellectually? or power of control)

I am not sure what “other kinds of metaphors” within the prompt specifically suggest. Like “what are the other ways people could describe the process of grafting”?

System Map: Kinship | Grafting

Things I’ve learned:

1. I think “domestication” (which is the key word of my concept map), naturally leans the map toward a human perspective.
2. When constructing a concept map, it is better to have a precise term in order to advance the research.
3. the relationships between two keywords, are rarely one-way connections. Often have mutual effects on both sides. 

week_2_”System Thinking”

prompt 1.

  • Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes of these stakeholders?

Within eight types of systems, I am most aligned with system 8, the system “of sustainable agriculture, with long time horizons. ”

Speaking from my experiences, as we go into the capital markets nowadays, we usually get one kind of single type of vegetable. We might consider that a certain type that has been provided is grown locally to save distribution costs and once we check the tag finding out is all the way transported from the other side of your country. Instead, when going into farmer’s markets, we find all types of wicked-looking vegetables that are grown locally. The possible action of inserting a centralized, diversity-eliminating agricultural solution into a complex system is an underestimation of our ecosystem.

the stakes of system 8 holders might include the pursuit of eco-sustainability, diversity in seed stocks, and organic farming that request fewer artificial inputs.

prompt 2.

  • Using your own topic for research, can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating? For instance, if the subject is “Safari Parks”, 3 stakeholders could be (1) Animal Rights activists, (2) the region’s Board of Tourism, and (3) the local land itself.   The first operates in a system of ethics around the treatment of animals; the second in a networked system of economic benefits for the community (hotels, food, and attractions), and the third, in an ecosystem that the safari park may put at risk, by introducing pollutants from animal waste and fertilizer, and ecological competitors such as escaped non-indigenous plant products used in the landscaping of the Safari Park.

Kinship | Grafting

3 stakeholders could be (1) domestication of plants (crops),  (2) botanists, and  (3) family farming.
The first operates in a system of human food source supply and sufficiency; the second in the field of plant genetic engineering, and the third, in a small unit of the local food supply chain, which may have less access to advanced grafting techniques.

week_1_”Emergent Strategy”

prompt 1.

  • Q: Have you felt trapped inside of someone else’s imagination? How have you broken free?

Constantly, I feel trapped inside people’s imaginations or expectations. Speaking from my experience, to be able to identify others’ wrong impressions and re-situate oneself takes practice. There are two types of other’s imagination to be trapped within. Growing up, Brown had to cope with white supremacists and racism. The vision loaded on her being aimed for no good within her. She speaks of her younger self looking for other options “where she wasn’t dismissed as an idealist or an inferior.” There may also be an opposite kind of imagination where people firmly believe in others’ potential, which also causes burden.

I don’t think either of those imaginations is psychologically healthy. Some might find maroon space, some just have to confront the problem.

 

prompt 2. 

  • Q: Do artists, designers, and technology have that same or similar responsibility? What are the nuances between those roles?

Indeed, all creators and inventors bear the similar responsibilities of imaging alternatives.

To think writers, artists, designers, architects, etc speak independently from their own field, I would better imagine working collectively as part of world-running systems. Think of any today’s product, simple as a water bottle, which is designed, manufactured, tested, commercialized, and consumed, engages multiple areas of specialists working collectively to bring out. As mentioned in Brown’s article “critical relationships, the strength of collective is more important in a long-term transformation process.”

Artists, designers, and technology, in regard to alternatives’ emergence, are all responsible for thorough research, experiments, and bias elimination. Living in the industrial age, I think some fields are required to be more specified than others. The artist sometimes can be really abstract about their idea, the designer in other words has to make sure the deliverables are more accessible to users.

Topic 1 development: Kinship | Grafting

Kinship

1. Anthropological: Study Socialization of human 

Affinity / Consanguinity ; Family / marriage; Fictive kinship

Entity (border definition): cultural / Ontological origin / historical / social connections and shared characteristics (same-sex parenting / religious / godparents )

Biology: Coefficient relationship/consanguinity or genealogy.
“consanguinity basis for kinship ties is not universal across cultures， it may be a culturally specific symbol of kinship only in particular cultures”

2. Kinship across species/ Primates
domestication & loving kinship with other species
anthropocentric, anthropomorphic perspective of kinships

Human exceptionalism: “What we see in other species, then, becomes a reflection not of their own ways of being in the world per se, but rather a claim to human exceptionalism.” (Riggs, Damien W., and Elizabeth Peel. Critical Kinship Studies: An Introduction to the Field, 2016. )

3. Post-humanist kinship VS western human kinship

Grafting (Science and technology)

Definition by Wikipedia, “graft” or “grafting” may refer to definitions within different contexts. The word may refer to 1. a form of political corruption 2. clinical term of a surgical procedure 3. A process to improve decision trees commonly used in computer science 4. A horticultural technique, etc.

My research is mainly oriented toward its definition’s horticultural and botanical side.

Board aspect: Grafting (inosculation) is the joining of plant tissues

– Tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together.

Natural & Artificial 

  • natural grafting: roots/branches of the same species will sometimes naturally graft
    Advantageous: fire resistance / regeneration / protect from wind damages
    Problems: plant parasitism/transmission of pathogens
  • artificial grafting
    Advantageous: disease-resistant / domesticate plants
    commonly used in asexual propagation of commercially grown plants

Graft chimera
“Such a plant can produce flowers and foliage of both plants as well as shoots intermediate between the two.” ( +Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’)
– Grafting can potentially make a new species, a form of natural genetic engineering.

domestication of plants
To achieve desired quality (long-live, harvest, etc )

(Some of the examples that I found from Wikipedia)
“By 500 BCE grafting was well established and practiced in the region as the Mishna describes grafting as a commonplace technique used to grow grapevines.[24]” – Fertile Crescent history

“Evidence for grafting in China is found in Jia Sixie’s 6th century CE agricultural treatise Qimin Yaoshu ” – China 2000 BC

“influx of foreign ornamentals to decorate these gardens, grafting was used much during this period.” – Arabic regions

“French Wine Pandemic”, a grafting history of American and French grapevine

progress

Going into branches of these two keywords, I found the concept of “domestication” appears in both and may further lead the research.
– “Domestication of animals” and building kinship with other species
– “Domestication of plants” to achieve better qualities for human usage