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Cinema of Immanence: Mystical Philosophy in Experimental Media

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CINEMA OF IMMANENCE: MYSTICAL PHILOSOPHY IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA By Mansoor Behnam A thesis submitted to the Cultural Studies Program In conformity with the requirements for The degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (May 2015) Copyright © Mansoor Behnam, 2015 Abstract This research-creation discovers the connection between what Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari termed as the Univocity of Being, and the Sufi and pantheistic concept of Unity of Being (wahdat al-wujud) founded by the Islamic philosopher/mystic Ibn al-‘Arabī(A.H. 560- 638/A.D. 1165-1240). I use the decolonizing historiography of the concept of univocity of being carried out by the scholar of Media Art, and Islamic Thoughts Laura U. Marks. According to Marks’ historiography, it was the Persian Muslim Polymath Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn Sînâ (980-1037) who first initiated the concept of haecceity (thisness)--the basis of the univocity of being. The thesis examines transformative experimental cinema and video art from a mystical philosophical perspective (Sufism), and by defying binaries of East/West, it moves beyond naïve cosmopolitanism, to nuanced understanding of themes such as presence, proximity, self, transcendence, immanence, and becoming, in media arts. The thesis tackles the problem of Islamic aniconism, nonrepresentability, and inexpressibility of the ineffable; as it is reflected in the mystical/paradoxical concept of the mystical Third Script (or the Unreadable Script) suggested by Shams-i-Tabrīzī (1185- 1248), the spiritual master of Mawlana Jalal ad-Dīn Muhhammad Rūmī (1207-1273). I argue that the Third Script provides a platform for the investigation of the implications of the language, silence, unsayable, and non-representation. This perspective sheds a fresh light on Deleuze’s secular philosophy of immanence and its obsession with creation, becoming, and expression as opposed to representation. By connecting Persian mysticism to contemporary immanentism, I argue that what Deleuze and Guattari proposed as the unthought or the thought without image, is ii enriched by the comparison to the inexpressibility of imageless Muslim God. For the purpose of contextualization, the thesis also engages with contemporary scholarships on global film/media such as accented, diasporic and intercultural cinema and video art. The creative component of the thesis was the production of five experimental videos that address the mystical philosophical ideas discussed in the thesis such as time, language, cine- thinking and visual thinking. The films and the theoretical component were developed in tandem, enriching and transforming each other. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for generously granting me the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS) Doctoral Scholarships to support my art-research project. Without this award I would not have been able to proceed on the production of the media arts for this art-research project, and on the complicated research that I conducted. This award enabled me to improve extensively my intellectual, scholarly and artistic abilities for my future career. SSHRC permitted me to successfully apply to the Michael Smith Foreign Studies Supplement Award in order to spend a semester (Fall 2012-13) studying global media and accented/diasporic cinema with Professor Hamid Naficy at Northwestern University. I would like to thank to my Ph.D. advisor, Professors Dorit Naaman, and my committee members Professors Gary Kibbins and Adnan Husain, for supporting me during the past four-and-half years. They have been equally very helpful in different ways. I have benefited equally from my supervisor and the committee members and learned from their scholarly discussions and suggestions in regard to Sufism, immanentism and media arts. I specifically appreciate them for trusting me and providing me with the full freedom to experiment with seemingly distant ideas in this thesis. They read my first drafts a few times and gave me constructive feedbacks that, sometimes, productively changed the direction of my research and led me to compose my final dissertation. Special thanks to Dorit for her insightful comments, feedbacks and her effective decision-making in regard to the timing, submission and defense, and more importantly, for helping me compose appropriate proposals for my grant iv applications for the SSHRC/Bombardier scholarship and the Michael Smith Foreign Studies Supplement Award. I hope that I can be as practical, and fast as Dorit. Without Dorit’s reference letter and intervention I would not have been able to take the advantage of studying global media: accented and diasporic cinema under the host supervision of the theoretician of these cinemas, Professor Hamid Naficy at Northwestern University. Special thanks to Gary for being always there for me, lending me books and introducing me to several aspects of experimental media arts that I could not know of otherwise. Special thanks to Adnan, whose insightful comments on and explanations about Islamic Sufism were always enlightening. Without Adnan’s feedback the second chapter would be an unintentionally biased text. I owe many thanks to Graduate Program Assistant Danielle Gugler whose goodness always glows in the beurocracy involved in the relationship between graduate studens and their institution of choice. Special thanks are owed to Professor Lynda Jessup, the acting director of the program at the time of my graduate studies at Queen’s, for her continuous contribution to the program and supporting the students, including me. I owe many thanks to the director of Agnes Etherington Art Centre Dr. Jan Allen and the Public Programs Manager Pat Sullivan for scheduling the premier screening of the videos of this project at Agnes Etherington Art Centre. I will forever be thankful to Professor Hamid Naficy, the theoretical father of cultural studies of postcolonial, accented and diasporic cinema. In spite of his busy schedule, Professor Naficy gave me sufficient time and space to negotiate my ideas, and kindly welcomed me to audit his graduate course Global Media– v Exile/Diaspora/Transnational Cinema, which deeply affected my understanding of accented, émigré and diasporic alternative modes of filmmaking in the context of globalization. In addition, during my three-months stay at Northwestern, I had regular, biweekly meetings with Professor Naficy in order to discuss my proposal and plan of study. Professor Naficy gave me insightful comments, suggestions, and ideas that extensively influenced my research. I am honored and grateful that the acclaimed scholar of Islamic Thought, new media and art history Professor Laura U. Marks accepted to be the external reader/examiner of my thesis. Intellectual and artistic inquiries usually start with a trigger, I am indebted to my friend and BA supervisor Professor Nahid Fakhrshafaie in the English department of Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman-Iran for encouraging me to keep doing art and research by introducing life-changing books. I would like to thank the chair of the department of Film and Media, Susan Lord, for reading my SSHRC proposal and giving her astute feedback, which improved my proposal to a great extent. Susan also helped me use the technological equipment at the department of Film and Media Arts for the production of the videos in this project. Here I would like to thank the wonderful Janice Belanger for her patience and technological smarts in preparing the final DVD of the works. I extend a very special thank you to Jane Rodgers for proofreading and editing the thesis two times and for mentoring me on the difficult process of writing the dissertation. Jane’s help gave me the confidence to keep writing and finishing this nerve-rcking task. Many thanks to the Kingstonian poet, Dr. Donna-Lee Iffla in whose beautiful and comfortable house I lived and worked on my project for three vi years as a tenant. A good support system is vital in the process of writing a Ph.D. dissertation, and the group of my friends at cultural studies program helped me survive the hard times and stay sane in graduate school. I express my sincere thanks to my friends Jaspreet, Meaghan, Jeffrey, Özgün, Karl, Aida Sofia, Sara, Lisa, Sharday, and Mark. I owe particular thanks to Sharday for her contribution to the video-poem Lullaby for a crying elephant (2013) and for narrating the poem as the Farsi voice-over. I offer my enduring gratitude to the faculty, staff and fellow students at the Cultural Studies Program-Queen’s University who have inspired me with their life stories and wonderful discussions that helped me continue my work in this field. Finally and above all, special thanks are owed to my brothers Reza, Amid, Massoud and to my always wonderful and inspiring sister Maryam who supported me morally throughout my education and art practice. vii Table of Contents Abstract………………………...………………………………………….…………ii Acknowledgements......................................................................................................iv Table of Contents……………………………………….…………………………..viii List of Abbreviations………………………………….………………………………x Chapter 1: Introduction……………………….….........................................................1 1.1 Why am I interested in this research-creation?........................................................4 1.2.a Iranian Alternative Cinema, Existential Philosophy, and the Question of Hope…………................………………………………………………………….10 1.2.b
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