Helbing, Felix
(2023)
Building the Modular Body: Gender, Labor, and Trauma in the Work of Aleksei Gastev.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
This is the latest version of this item.
Abstract
This interdisciplinary dissertation contributes to literary and historical scholarship on early Soviet culture by focusing on representations of gender, labor, and embodiment in the writings of poet, metalworker, and theorist Aleksei Gastev. Gastev’s work has been little translated to English, often regarded as a peculiar entry in the already quixotic utopianism of the early Soviet avant-garde. Beyond situating Gastev’s work in its Soviet literary and sociocultural context, the dissertation seeks to make Gastev legible as a cultural theorist whose ideas reverberate in unexpected ways with more recent post-humanist critical theory practices developed in the past two decades. This research has been informed by Donna Haraway’s writings on intersubjectivity and collective consciousness, which formed the backdrop for the dissertation’s approach to Gastev’s mechanized collectivism; Jane Bennett’s writings on human-machine assemblages as “confederations of actants” with diffuse agency; and McKenzie Wark’s “low theory,” which challenges cultural theorists to think in interdisciplinary terms to make creative connections. Gastev’s utopian vision for human embodiment and human-machine interaction has high potential to provide insights about 21st century human optimization projects–e.g., Noom, the Quantified Self, Fitbit.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
20 August 2023 |
| Defense Date: |
10 August 2023 |
| Approval Date: |
8 January 2024 |
| Submission Date: |
22 August 2023 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
192 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Slavic Languages and Literatures |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Labor History; Early Soviet Gender and Sexuality; Aleksei Gastev; Proletkult |
| Date Deposited: |
08 Jan 2024 17:51 |
| Last Modified: |
08 Jan 2024 17:51 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/45375 |
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Building the Modular Body: Gender, Labor, and Trauma in the Work of Aleksei Gastev. (deposited 08 Jan 2024 17:51)
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