Assignment Z:
CARRIER BAG SPACE
Due Weekly
until December 1, 2024
CARRIER BAG SPACE
Due Weekly
until December 1, 2024
A container or a bag is “a thing that holds something else... a medicine bundle, holding things in a particular, powerful relation to one another and to us.” (Ursula Le Guin)
In Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, Ursula Le Guin writes that the first human tool was the basket as opposed to the spear, which makes the first protagonist a gatherer rather than a hunter. Not only does this shift the idea of the hero from a singular masculine he to a plural collective we, but it also means that “before the tool that forces energy outward, we made the tool that brings energy home.” The basket, the carrier bag, was used to gather goods to be transported and shared with kin. Gatherer, designer, and media scholar Mindy Seu writes that “gathering is not a masculine, techno-utopian process of disruption or of moving fast and breaking things, but the methodical, deep labor that comes from looking around, rather than looking ahead, from gathering rather than hunting.”
Throughout this semester, we will be gathering many concepts, theories, places, activities, tools, and ideas. We will use a form of humans’ first tool, the carrier bag, to hold and share thoughts. To collect your reflections and inspirations, you will create your personal Are.na ‘channel’ as a digital carrier bag. Think of this as your personal reflection space where you can begin to collect, connect, and make sense of things throughout the course -- through your accumulating entries, you can trace your own personal growth, record your reactions, and store your ideas. This is also a place where Cynthia, Lucas, and other facilitators can check in and sustain conversations through Are.na comments and discussion.
How to set-up your Are.na:
You can add as many inputs to your channel as you’d like, as long as there are at least two each week. one input must show progress on your material recollection explorations and research other input(s) are open-ended: this can be a short written reflection, a quote from the reading that stood out to you, an image that the week’s discussions brought up for you, a recording, a transcript of a recording, a website that you’re thinking about, a video that you were inspired by, a connection to someone else’s channel or block that you found relevant, or really anything that helps you digest the content from classes that week. Some weeks we may request a specific format for channel input (aka written reflection, etc).
Mindy Seu,“On Gathering” (2019).
Mindy Seu’s Are.na
On Commonplace books
In Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, Ursula Le Guin writes that the first human tool was the basket as opposed to the spear, which makes the first protagonist a gatherer rather than a hunter. Not only does this shift the idea of the hero from a singular masculine he to a plural collective we, but it also means that “before the tool that forces energy outward, we made the tool that brings energy home.” The basket, the carrier bag, was used to gather goods to be transported and shared with kin. Gatherer, designer, and media scholar Mindy Seu writes that “gathering is not a masculine, techno-utopian process of disruption or of moving fast and breaking things, but the methodical, deep labor that comes from looking around, rather than looking ahead, from gathering rather than hunting.”
Throughout this semester, we will be gathering many concepts, theories, places, activities, tools, and ideas. We will use a form of humans’ first tool, the carrier bag, to hold and share thoughts. To collect your reflections and inspirations, you will create your personal Are.na ‘channel’ as a digital carrier bag. Think of this as your personal reflection space where you can begin to collect, connect, and make sense of things throughout the course -- through your accumulating entries, you can trace your own personal growth, record your reactions, and store your ideas. This is also a place where Cynthia, Lucas, and other facilitators can check in and sustain conversations through Are.na comments and discussion.
How to set-up your Are.na:
- Go to the URL: are.na
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Create a personal Are.na account if you do not already have one.
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Create a new ‘channel’ and name it “[your name]’s Carrier Bag”
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For privacy level, choose either Open or Closed. Open means all Are.na users can view the channel and add to it, which can be great for crowd-sourcing ideas. Closed means all Are.na users can view the channel but only you and collaborators can add to it.
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Add Cynthia Deng as collaborator to your channel, or ‘connect’ your channel to the class group channel yourself.
You can add as many inputs to your channel as you’d like, as long as there are at least two each week. one input must show progress on your material recollection explorations and research other input(s) are open-ended: this can be a short written reflection, a quote from the reading that stood out to you, an image that the week’s discussions brought up for you, a recording, a transcript of a recording, a website that you’re thinking about, a video that you were inspired by, a connection to someone else’s channel or block that you found relevant, or really anything that helps you digest the content from classes that week. Some weeks we may request a specific format for channel input (aka written reflection, etc).
DELIVERABLE
At least two weekly inputs into your Are.na channel.REFERENCES
Ursula Le Guin, “Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” (1986).Mindy Seu,“On Gathering” (2019).
Mindy Seu’s Are.na
On Commonplace books