1. Diversity in Defamiliarization
by Avery Rodriguez, Saba Khan, Brianna Ruiz, Cooper Babbes,
Bryan Montalban
English 115
1st December 2012
2. Defamiliarization
definition- an artistic technique forcing the
audience to see common things in an unfamiliar
or strange way
Sacred Space- A site that has a spiritual
significance for a nation, a people, a
community, or even an individual.
defamiliarization of spaces is where one is put
in a different location and forced to familiarize
with their surroundings
Sacred spaces inspire awe, mystery, and a
connection with figures or moments in history
defamiliarization is only possible with two key
components : the sacred space and the person
3. The Diverse People
There are about 7.74 billion people in the
world and 276 million people are from the
United States alone
Diversity is what separates us from one
another to us meaning and purpose
It is that same diversity in people that
defines the space we are in and allows us to
be defamiliarized
It is because of our differences as a people
and as an individual (history, backstory,
bring-up) that we can or cannot relate and
familiarize with the surroundings we are in
4. Public Sacred Spaces
An individual’s personality and past experiences may
shape their point of view and opinion about a
particular space.
Shopping Mall can be considered as a sacred space to
someone
Someone might feel comfortable being around other
people at the mall, and consider it a sacred space,
while another person might be defamiliarized and
anxious at the mall due to the hectic environment.
Their different personalities change how they feel
about the mall.
5. Public vs. Private
The sacredness of a space is dependant on the
individual’s memories, experiences, and emotional
attachment, giving free range over any place or
location to be special.
The Preface in Making Sense of Place:
Multidisciplinary Perspectives introduces, “no
place’s ‘sense of place’ is constructed without
relations with and/or influences from elsewhere.
Nor is any place’s associated ‘sense of place’ likely
to be singular. Different social groups within any
physical location may live those locations in very
different ways.”
Public places like parks can be considered sacred to
an individual or a group. Their perception of the
space, together or alone, makes that location sacred
to them despite any ‘strangers’ that are present.
The fact that others can go to the place freely is an
insignificant factor. Seeing that others have their
own reasons for visiting makes the individual’s own
reasons more personal and sentimental.
6. Sacred Spaces
Sacred spaces are places that not easily
defined because everyone tends to have
a different definition of what constitutes as
"sacred"
In "Sacred Spaces," Robert Atwan
defines sacred spaces as "places we
privately consider sacred."(Atwan 314)
In "The Way to Rainy Mountain," N. Scott
Momaday states that his essay "brings
together both the public and private
dimensions of a sacred space: Rainy
Mountain is a significant ancestral
landmark for his people, The Kiowas, as
well as the site near which his beloved
grandmother is buried."(Momaday 315)
Depending on the individual, their opinion
of what constitutes as a sacred space is
defined by the experiences and memories
that were created there.
7. Nostalgia
There is a society of people that celebrates the era of
swing dancing.
The group of people who follow that era's lifestyle
come together in their own sacred spaces, i.e. swing
dance clubs.
They celebrate that lifestyle because they share a
love for the communication of dance and even the
values present in that era
Nostalgia is often viewed negatively: "Nostalgia is a
longing for a home that no longer exists . . . It is a
sentiment of loss and displacement, but also a
romance with one's own fantasy" (Taylor).
Yet the type of nostalgia of this society is a
celebration of the era, not a clinging onto it.
It is like a romance with a fantasy, but their lifestyles
are actually improved because a huge part of it is
from that simpler and many ways more genuine era
of the 1920s-40s.
8. Difference in views
No two people are exactly the same, people think, act,
behave, and coexist differently
We interpret and react to spaces differently, Though we
may find similarities in opinions no two will be identical.
Ex. Art Museums
Art museums are designed to hold works of art for the
enjoyment of the public, it can be a space to find serenity
and understanding
It is through our relation or lack of relation to the art
pieces that we can further understand how we think and
our imagination
A museums underlying purpose is to offer self-
recognition, and an opportunity to make connections and
meaning through sculptures, paintings, and photographs
“When Images Come To Us... Where Do They Come
From?” (Barry 337)
9. Spaces and us
“While Iser's focus on the textual
representation of a reader sidesteps the
question of how individual readers might
understand or interpret the text, the "implied
reader" is a record of the author's decisions in
shaping the novel” (Donovan)
Criticism and interpretation of children’s
authors in Pakistan such as Suzanne Fisher
Staples (Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind
(1989) and its sequel Haveli (1993)
Differences in people spark up differences in
interpretations and the affects of spaces
Defamiliarizing is different for everyone, it
cannot be defined to a single idea or pre-
connotation.
10. Works Cited
Atwan, Robert. "Sacred Spaces." Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. Ed. Robert
Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 314. Print.
Barry, Linda. “When Images Come To Us... Where Do They Come From?” Convergences: Themes, Texts,
and Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 337-339. Print
Convery, Ian; Corsane, Gerard; Davis, Peter. Making Sense of Place : Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012. Ebook Library. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.
Donovan, Ellen Butler. "Disorienting Reading." Volume 32, Number 1, Spring 2007, 32.1 (2007): 29-46.
Momaday, N. Scott. "The Way to Rainy Mountain. Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for
Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 315-320. Print.
Taylor, Benedict. "Nostalgia and Cultural Memory in Barber's 'Knoxville: Summer of 1915'" JSTOR.
University of California Press, 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2012.
