For my final paper, I am going to explore in depth the recurring "theme" of contado. More specifically, I want to focus upon the connectedness of everything in the San Francisco contado and the periphery it extends into from an environmental standpoint. I want to look at the aftermath of mining, logging, and the accumulation of a water supply that is all part of the San Francisco contado, which furthers this theme and begins to construct an understanding of interconnectedness of all things within this contado.
I am interested in this because I think that it is important to understand a dominant city's influence over it's surrounding area. The glory of a city (San Francisco) came at a cost not only for the building materials and the very stuff that was used to erect this great city, but at a cost to nature and the well-being of it's inhabitants and those within the contado. In a sense, the San Francisco contado effects all of us, and we are all connected, making us players each playing a role in the development and urbanization of a city such as San Francisco.
Writers, many of which we have been studying in this course, are playing the role of nature's voice. These writers are speaking for the nature that is being destroyed through the exploitation of its resources and the industrialization of San Francisco. Grey Brechin and Gary Snyder are two writers that are centered around the idea of the contado and it's effect on the environment. I have also read the works of environmentalists such as Richard Tucker, who will help in discussing the influence of environmental destrcution over the surrounding periphery.
Many of these writers migrated to San Francisco, another example of this idea of contado.
Working Thesis: The notion of interconnectedness, as portrayed by the idea of "contado," is most emphasized by the environmental damage that was caused through San Francisco's construction.
Since this proposal, mainly my thesis, is still a work in progress, I am sure to come across certain problems while I dive further into this topic. But for now, I am content with the topic I have chosen and will continue to pursue it.
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1 comment:
Bri,
I think it's great how you've been tracing the "contado" idea throughout the quarter. This sounds like a promising project. A few thoughts off the bat:
+ I'm curious about the angle you're proposing - it sounds a bit like a reading of Brechin's work, which is great, but I'm not quite certain I know how it goes beyond yet. Is this where Snyder and Tucker come in? If so, perhaps we're looking at a paper on Topic C, where you make connections between Brechin and a counter-cultural/Beat vision of the SF contado.
+ The idea of writers "speaking for nature" would be really interesting to put next to Brechin's analysis of ecological ruin... Are these writings answers to Brechin's idea of the contado? How do these literary works "connect" to, or supplement, Brechin's analysis?
It sounds like this will be a really good opportunity to consolidate your readings and come up with an overall vision of our course materials. Hope these thoughts help. Let me know if you need to bounce more ideas around...good luck.
sc
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