Date of Award
Spring 2023
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Humanities
Committee Chair
Angela Ball
Committee Chair School
Humanities
Committee Member 2
Adam Clay
Committee Member 2 School
Humanities
Committee Member 3
Michael Aderibigbe
Committee Member 3 School
Humanities
Committee Member 4
Jameela Lares
Committee Member 4 School
Humanities
Committee Member 5
Christopher Foley
Committee Member 5 School
Humanities
Abstract
The poems in Time’s Violence came about as efforts to understand our current political moment. In gestalt, the manuscript takes an approach of big-picture anthropological critique to examine these issues, exploring repeated patterns of human behavior and the cultural power of mythmaking, resulting in a collection of political poems which frequently apply tools like received forms and humor to satirize the blindnesses of people and institutions in the United States. As their motivating philosophy, these poems ask their reader for critical thinking through moments of interactivity and implication. They challenge assumptions both inherited and marketed to question our complicity in violence against each other and our planet. Reflecting on the relationship between our human cultural-behavioral tendencies and the problems we face, these poems hope that understanding may lead to amelioration, or at least to a shared sense of responsibility and need for action.
Copyright
Matthew Moniz, 2023
Recommended Citation
Moniz, Matthew, "Time's Violence" (2023). Dissertations. 2120.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/2120