The core of experience chapter 8

 

The Two Dialectiques of Town: 

Cultural Analysis in Urban Readings

©By Abdel Hernández San Juan

Written in English and translated to English 

by Abdel Hernandez san Juan

  During 98 in finded myself, in plenum auger of my life as emigrant and resident in Houston with a phenomenon I would like to reconsidered to the effects to this essay objective

   At poe elementary school were my son studied since his first grade, the use of social psychology was becoming each time more frequent between school professors and directors as a preventive attitude toward adaptive responses to the to increasing entrance of massified culture to domestic new medias as the internet, the interactions between commerce and technology and the transformations it implied in subjectivity and culture to something at that time yet relatibly new, the relation between new technologies and free market started during that year to overcome home as space and in response advertising the child parents about a number each time more countless of child’s with the disease of attention deficit disorder, was in the forefront of both file tasks news and direct speech 

      First as market dad and second as member of school and the town urban community and finally as theoretician and thinker i was committed to think on that since marcel was one between the child’s suspicious of attention deficit disorders. As prevention I started to pay attention to marcel doing the tasks with him while observing him, focusing on his capacity to be concentrated and focused. I concluded that he was out of any possibility to have it and as such I explained it to miss dedro and other teachers, but in the turn of a few months the issue acquired certain place in my analysis on the general situation with adaptation of all of us in the community in front of the fast and hurry generalization and entrance of the internet to all the levels of our quotidian life’s at the time still in its first years

   Starting by the child’s each time more individuals become cibernauts inside  home, the old habits of tv washing stablished a whole cultural tradition become disseminated, dispersed and weakening progresibly even when it was sub estimated as a mean to cultural research in past decades

    Even when by mediation of grand father and mother still washing tv a general situation with the publicity effects on fragmentation and the entrance of market announcement inside the tv screen is weakening it, the adveniment of the internet indeed accelerated the reuse of television to publicity and the decline of programtion something that have consequences in the sociology of culture through television which was mainly based in anticipating behaviors and reception according to the relation between age, hours in the day and kind of programs, the entrance of corporations to all the corners of tv sequential and channels between others things testify that

   This former sociology of tastes and publics was to a certain point the parent of successive descendants of the culture of screen which is privileged today according to my own pioneer research on this to the study of subjectivity, technology and culture, in fact, the screen since television must be understand indeed as a major surface of mediation not only or less in the sense of what is presented and or transmitted under it, while also in that sense which include the simultaneity in a modern media of everything that before was confined by distances and differences, but in the sense later hurry of the play of the screen in the formation of  current subjectivity

  Something similar happened with he sociology of enterprises if we remember which before focused in production and merchants later evolution to be on consume and clients, but with the additional added content that the culture of marketing and attention to clients of the former time was fusions and extended into new technologies ways of interactions at least to a certain point since there is yet a significant level of actions meetings impossible to be comply from the computer or the digital phone   

   Whence the home space was transformed into something new by the interaction between new technologies, free market marketing’s and consume with all its consequences on habits, customs and on subjectivity, memory and the self

   If I called my attention on poe elementary it is for nothing else than to recuperated in certain originary sense of the source or the arising time of a modality for the theory of medias that was committed to explore new ways and possibilities since such a time as I did while also to point that far to focus on the negative instead of the medias positive and optimistic as I did, the descendant for of sociology of taste of the past must today be focused on multisensoriality and subjectivity at all as to understand culture and us in it

      Attention deficit disorder was nothing else than the name of an adaptative moment of the community to the need of another ways to relate and be focused and concentrated it required of us to develop new parameters of axiology, semantic and reflexivity since it is true that as much as the new media’s helps us to coordinate in new forms our relations with the external and the city at the same time it also accent the separation between medias and the city understanded in its spatiality, meaning neighbors, societary community, the old man we see every day at the gas station taking a coffee from his Chevrolet until he car is washed, the people who goes always to the same coffee shops between other forms of rituals

      Already from the mass medias studies of the tv age this issue adqueried relevance to the comprehension of culture, phenomena’s as kitsch, for example, meaning the new culture of consume and the aesthetics of tastes resulted from it as forms of reification of television contents such as entertainment genres all that was already sake from similar principles of interactions between markets and technologies

  In fact, kitsch as a culture and as a concept in aesthetics and sociology born as consequences of it but the new phenomenas leads to a dissemination of television culture under new forms of the interactive screen with its effects of subjectivity and urban culture

  In a few words thus as kith’s was the expression of television age the internet age and the new technologies medias have new results on subjectivity of the same kind on terms of sake but of another kind regarding its aesthetics and cultural contents and its aesthetics of tastes

  At the same time television as the older genres of film such as west films of vaqueros stay to be a part in a new inventory of the museum of memory and television collections which seems to be now to us an almost a ritual of an almost yet tribal age what was modern some decades ago start to be feel in subjectivity and sensibility as antiquary houses stuffs

   On the other hand, the new urban space after the adveniment of the internet and the new social medias, pass to be in a new meddle way as abandoned between on the one side medias and on the other the downtown which concentrate all the commercial activity seem from the vernacular traditions of the urban spaces as a kind of extra planetary object fall out from another planet , also digital medias appear thus as abandoning the specialties of the urban spaces of the city since while the city must be accessed or comply in new ways from medias cognition, the immediacy of it as body spaces seems to appear as desolated, isolated kind of spaces cross over by commerce and medias looking to be as an space start to be rare to us kriteva used to define in her writing estrangers to ourselves

  The urban spatiality’s whence are the meetings of new antinomies which concentrate a lot of new merging neologisms, such neologisms decades ago considered entail with the cultural recreations of consume –I am thinking here for example is typical ways to decorate the aesthetics of home and architecture in several Houston vernacular spaces using recycled remains of soft drinks and all kind of remains of industrial materials, are today advancing to be redesigned or replaced by new inventions of design claiming a more bodily ritualized kind of subjectivities

  I am also thinking here in all the white Victorian culture of Houston of wood and iron but also in Afro-American parts of the towns, dances of fusion as zaideco by which Afro-American recreates and reinvent country culture ways to decorate the aesthetics of car, dresses and clouds, body attitudes, tastes and forms of material and immaterial culture

  All these phenomena’s acquired new configurations in the weaves of social and cultural traffic abandoned in between commerce and medias, transformed into isolate spaces of exclusive rituals

   But the reason to remember all this is not focused in repeating what we already know in a kind of inventory list, but instead my objective is to objectify how all this old and renewed phenomena’s are today related in between under a general town new dialectique of pairs which I would like to abstract and generalize under a further explanation, I understand here the concept of dialectique in its more ancient sense, from Aristoteles to Hegel, meaning apparently opposite concepts such as for example in town terms homogeneity and heterogeneity, commercials and cultural, idiosyncrasy, custom or traditions versus modern developments, new technologies of medias versus cultural differences, things that look to be antinomy in a first superficial reading are indeed highly related in between as in classical dialectical parameters to understand how poles are entail in between by mutual needs

  We might understand the paradoxically ancient dialectic of apparently autonomic poles un modern towns between as mentioned above for example native custom, idiosyncrasy and traditions versus multiculturalism, homogeneity of the culture of commerce and business evolved in modernization versus heterogeneity, medias technologies interactivity versus urban spaces, modernization versus cultural differences, by recognizing it under five possible readings of a town to which Houston in my experience will be my point of references

  If we read Houston for example privileging a gaze from riveraks we will recognize how this part of the town play a significant place is the ways the natives idiosyncrasies of the old Victorian town collections, habit, and cultural heritages are claimed and protected from the center of the city while miss regarding instead all the homogenization culture of modernization that is enlarging and increasing the city peripheries in the form of homogenized kinds of modular neighbors on the one side and on the other the commercial and bussing nature of the moon downtown or the commercial Richmond developments, paradoxically here the old riveraks is claiming and protecting a sense of local authenticity while identifying homogenization as peripheral and estranger in kristeva term, while on the other hand, we must do the opposite reading by recognizing the contingencies of this apparently peripheral urbanizations usually related with less spensives ways of life by the counterweight play that such homogenization means to compensate with the sense of heterogeneization homogenization seize the development in town of multiculturalism and cultural differences

  While seen from riveroaks and its protection of the native local traditions and idiosyncrasies of culture homogenization evolved in modernization, commercial and new urbanizations mean a lost and a lack of culture and authenticity toward dissemination of local native culture, from the perspective of the risks that multiculturalism play in constrict with local authenticity such homogenization of apparently simply commercial and modernization sides of the peripheral town play a major role in counter compensating the effects of cultural differences under local identities by disseminating it according to the sense of heterogeneity that homogeneity may possible

   At the same time, paradoxically, the social and economic groups committed to protect directly local culture and closed to the effects of homogenization in the lack of authenticity looks to multiculturalism as a needed process of culturization and addition of cultural valious over the lacking of it, so that reculturalizing must thus be considered in this sense as a welcome phenomenon in any case even when adding cultural contents unrelated with local native’s idiosyncrasies

   In a similar sense, since peripheral forms of urban homogenization must be recognized both inside town as in a reading from the medical center peripheries and outside town as out of the loop phenomena’s as sugar land between others it is compensating in the reversal sense cultural difference with a sense of heterogeneity something about which modern technologies of medias play a significant play too 

  The dynamics of town development is thus being defined by this dialectical relation of mutual necessities between apparently antinomy tendencies

       Seen Houston from river oaks the city appear with a central and compact nucleus of sedimentary traditional land assented —with a community cultural expression  encompass from Kirby drive at the level of riveraks to Montrose and it surrounding urbanizations, urban parts of the town as Alabama including the museum areas to the rice village east and wester of the river including from Montrose to self-constructed urbanization such as the highs  to which a countless number of artists moved thus besides  the surroundings urbanizations of Project row house both whites and Afro-Americans

   This sedimentary perspective Reading Houston as a great lands assented of cultural traditions and customs , perceived spatially, meaning, focusing it visually, scape, however a relevant component of subjectivity seen town from this perspective, its own significant relation with the border culture, on the one hands, and the sea by the other, this is thus a reading of Houston indeed made and feel from the land, a land culture, includes kimas, Galveston, corpus Christi, Marfa, padre island and el paso with Monterrey on the other side of the border and little border cities such as presidio and of course san Antonio and Austin

   All this reading understand as a cultural tradition assented close the eye, of course, and live de espaldas, avoid in subjectivity all the economic and commerce culture, technocratic one, symbolized by the moon downtown, thus as flouting economic commercial areas start from westheimer after the first loop including galleria and the further urbanization, ovoid and exclude in subjectivity autonomous and aside closed on it own worlds of new out of town urbanization defined by migrations of both kind, people who migrate from the center of the city to its peripheries and people who migrate from others cities, since there everything is less spensive and since it include complimentary services outside of the primary conjunction

   It also avoids from subjectivity while not necessarily excluding it multicultural issues such as the two Japanize restaurants of the center one at the rice village, another one on Kirby before the first loop, India restaurant sited in the same form, Arabians restaurants, tailandian all this are external services to such a primary town and of course it avoids all the condominiums of rents culture proliferated after the medical center which define another reading of the city.

   Back to that primary part of the town defined from riveroaks there we have the collection of culture and art including antiques of unites states and another cultures, includes as discussed above an important vernacular local culture from kitsch to cultural recreations of television, and vernacular entail with local traditions which my friend and colleague Surpik angelini have studied in her excellent urban and architectural research and projects on Houston and Matamoros

   This reading is mainly native and its gaze or perspective in subjectivity include all that from a large data view we must consider as those traditions participated in the ethnological taking shape of a sense of the usa national as well as on a sense of the regional Texan and thus Houstonian it gaze and seem beyond its own boundaries as a cultural phenomenon relation its own identity with little villages following several routes, the Galveston one, border cities but also rural one on the way to Louisiana

  Many people understand Houston as a medical city while all that happens after the medical center is almost unknown from the primary center of the traditional town, a countless number of rent condominiums not as autonomous as those out of the loop but as much as self-sufficient as to stay there without a need to cross to the other side of the medical center if not only by job reasons or weekend relaxing, around the rice village there is in subjectivity a certain sense of university autonomous sense given the rice university near location

   The five readings, however, are evolved by the general topic discussed in the beginning, all the readings are abandoned spatially by two formations attract to itself all the attention of subjectivity, the new media’s technologies, on the one side, and the culture of marketing, corporations, enterprises and publicity on the other, absorbing the five levels we already discussed as stratified according to a urban Reading, seen from this perspective, commerce and technology absorbed in subjectivity and bring subjectivity to an space that conceal homogeneity and standardization including both industrial and postindustrial issues, with heterogeneity

  If we understand homogeneity as that which in subjectivity helps to deal and negotiate its inclusive pair heterogeneity that results from the level of fragmetariety and entropy evolved in fractal technology and the level of dissemination and multisensoriality implied by constant publicity as well as culturally speaking, the consequence of heterogeneity evolved by muticulturalization, we recognize thus that indeed homogeneity expressed in both forms the modernization of commercialization and of technologies play an homeostatic balance, an equilibrium roll in compensating cultural differences under the heterogeneity of homogenization so as to regulate it from the more general sense of native idiosyncrasies and local traditions

   We must also recognize while us the dialectique evolved in it since in fact seen from riveroaks and the center of the city both things commercialization and medialization of everything through modern technology are itself symbols of the lacks and loss of cultural traditions so as to exclude it from the efforts to protect and preserve the Victorian both white and Afro-American culture as well as the sense of authenticity of local cultural heritages, legacies and values, the real true is indeed entailed by how paradoxically such homogenization regulate multiculturalization and cultural difference with the standarizationg of heterogeneity something that apparently contradict how the efforts and commitments to preserve and protect against the lack and loss of culture, native cultural and local values, privilege the need of multiculturalism in the struggles for reculturization as a compensation to such risk of lack homogenization seem to imply

   While the homogenization implied by commerce and technology seems to appear as a lacking of cultural native local traditions it offers at the same time a way to regulate the dealing with multiculturalization and cultural difference        

   Nothing as a remain is evolved in this dialectique almost each component of the dialectique process seems to be inclusive and needed within the regulations process of the elements in play. 

   Without multiculturalism the struggles for reculturalization of values and traditions looks to be impossible seen from the cultural heritages and legacies values of the local traditions in front of the lacking of culture implied by commerce and technology, but without the homogeneization evolved within modernization and standarization of technology and commerce it seems to be impossible to regulate cultural difference from local idiosyncrasies. 

   At the same time multiculturalization play in this dialectique not only a sense of reculturization needed by communities, but also a needed sense of connecting cultural localism with metropolitanism since as much as metropolitan become a city as much as multiethnic and culturally diverse in reversal to provinces local self-closures. 

   This is whence nothing else than the dialectic of development in advanced capitalism at least as expressed in the united states while mostly seen from Houston. So we have several Houston’s inside Houston

  We have a demographic Houston not mentioned before, the center of attention of this Houston is nothing else that the density of population, this Houston is gazed exclusibly in reverse, instead of putting our gaze from the center of town to its peripherals urbanizations out of town seen the last ones as forms of enlarged and increased additions to the center, we must gaze form the peripherals to the center as to really perceive and understand this Houston. In fact, we can’t avoid this reading because it effectibly exist

  First of all many native Houstonians are living in that peripheries since as discussed before it is lees spensive and as such all this people claims to recognize their readings, second, this peripheral demographic reading evolve to the native a more highly convival with people who migrate to Houston from other cities as well as with multiethnic issues derived from migrations

  Seen from the center such a reading between natives as a dialectique of natives versus natives evolve to the center of the town a sense of betray meaning toward lacking of identity, but the reality of the natives peripheral readings is a true as it is evolutioning to be on the one hand self-sufficient universes and on the other a demonstration on how diversity must be truly regulated as to serve to both senses reculturization and convivals under homogenization and as such it symbolize to some people one of the main poles of the sense of future. 

  This is not of course the only hope and the only sense of future imagined by Houstonians in our fancy, there is not only various Houston inside Houston but also various imaginations within Houstonians fancy on the possible futures of Houston. Many spectations have the gaze on Houston since it is one of the most success cities on upcoming futures in the united states and what usually happens in that real futures overcomes as mixtures

   My experience is constrained by living all the time in the center of town with on top the medical center surroundings as near to the center areas and as such my usual feelings and wishes are related with the values of the center of the town committed with local memories but I must confess that visiting places outside town I understanded well why

   It is important here to perceive that this stratigraphic reading discard a merely economic comprehension, riveroaks is important here not as much to be an area of plenty economy as to be an area that made earth with Houston understanded as cultural tradition something related with and as response to  the tendency to the weakening of traditions because of the effects of all previously discussed and as such all that become spensive, here is the relevance of my concept of the intangible which contrary to a sense of ostentation or lucre is instead entail with moral and spiritual values as well as to the fact that the economic capital can’t be represented without culturalizing it around symbolic culture.

  This part of Houston attracts to itself all the Houston’s within Houston train to make of it a further expression and the originaryy city. Is that possible? well yes and no, no because the cultural Houston can’t be culturalized without be commercialized and yes because it can’t be commercialized without becoming each time more culturalized

   This Houston struggle to culturalize the downtown which have become unconnected with the cultural weave of the city traditions be transformed in a moon area of extra planetary commercial corporations, the culturalist Houston read to the north, south, west and east from riveroaks, braeswood, Alabama, montrouse, try to culturalize downtown through universities and public cultural activities  culturalizating the remains in the immediate peripheral areas  something that reflect the dialectique between free market capital and the spates as this issue was discussed by lyotard and habermas during the eighties as one of the main dynamics of advanced capitalism`

   A,protagonism is being play here by new initiatives of tax extent’s toward nonprofit benefits to culture and communities as well as the non-nonprofit organizations, volunteer benefices and donations

   And here must be recognized the dialectique sense of multiculturalism, this last one and the asented traditional local culture discussed above are distint things, the first one is global, economic and transnational beyond its communities expressions and the distinct modes to be assimilated under the weaves of local culture, the second one is regional, local and national it is referred to originary cultural formations including the originary Texan culture with its axis of Anglo-Americans, Mexicans, Afro-Americans and European migrations, but in contrast with the last one, multiculturalism perse to be sake by economic trans nationalization and of be expressed as multiethnic conglomerated in community terms, its contribution to the general dialectique already discussed is different, between homogenization and specificities it help to enrich the weaves of the need process of reculturization that the former local culture symbolize in respect to the homogeneous and commercial Houston regulated by markets and technologies

   But this last Houston at the same time, as discussed above, is a dot of meetings between all the Houston’s since it conceals in subjectivity thus another dialectique getting indeed the return of one dialectique into the another as the main two dynamics of town, the dialectique between homogeneization and heterogeneization on the one hand, and the another one between lack and loss of cultural identity and reculturization in both sense as local idseosincracias mostly natives and as multicultural, all the Houston’s are then  regulated in subjectivity by the returns and conciliation of one dialectique into the another, homegeneization helps to regulate cultural difference under heterogenization while local natives indeosincracies and cultural heritages counter response the lack of identity with reculturization and in between this two dynamics everything self, memory, being, sensibility and interactions are both defined in formation and mediated. 

     

Notas

Estas cinco lecturas se desarrollan desde mis áreas residenciales de vivienda en la ciudad, apartamentos, 8055 Cambridge Street, 83, Houston, Texas, 77054, 2111 Holly may, St. Apt 418, Houston, Texas, 77054, 8020 Braesmain Dr Apt 2, Houston, TX, 3131 Timmons Lane # 419, Houston, TX 77027 asi como Kirby drive donde vive Surpik o donde viví los primeros meses,