The Raven Foundation

To broaden awareness of mimetic theory, the Raven Foundation sponsored a contest for the essay that best communicates the theme of the 2011 Colloquium on Violence and Religion (COV&R)conference, Disorder/Order in History and Politics, to mainstream audiences. The submissions covered many interesting topics. The essay, Ordered Disorder: Images of the Holocaust and World War II in Pink Floyd’s The Wall, by Dr. Phil Rose has been awarded first prize. Honorable Mentions were earned by Jeremiah Alberg for Sacrificing Idols in Tokyo and Aric Haley for To Kingdom Business Bound. 

The prize winning submission by Phil Rose, Ph. D., a teacher in the department of Communications Studies at York University in Canada is titled Ordered Disorder: Images of the Holocaust and World War II in Pink Floyd’s The Wall. In his essay, Rose explores The Wall outlines a powerful theory of individual and collective violence. The submissions earning Honorable Mentions are Jeremiah Alberg's Sacrificing Idols in Tokyo and Aric Haley's To Kingdom Business Bound: Theocratic Corporatism’s Mimetic Ambition to Create a Global Christian Order.

All three papers will be presented by their authors at the conference in June at the island of Salina, Sicily /Italy.

First Prize Winner

Ordered Disorder: Images of the Holocaust and World War II in Pink Floyd’s The Wall  

Author Phil Rose (PhD, York University) currently teaches in the department of Communication Studies at York University. His research interests include the evolution and history of symbol systems and communications media, from the origins of symbolic thought to the most recent technological developments; social and cultural issues related to literacy; and concerns pertaining to technology and violence, particularly in relation to the mimetic theory of René Girard. His doctoral dissertation, titled Pragmatism Not Idealism: Radiohead, Technopoly, and the Global Movement for Change, incorporated all of these areas and represents an appraisal of technological change at the dawn of the digital age as articulated in the work of the contemporary British musical group Radiohead—particularly the band's 1997 work Ok Computer. He is also the author of the book Which One’s Pink? The Concept Albums of Roger Waters and Pink Floyd (1998). 

Honorable Mentions

Sacrificing Idols in Tokyo  

Author Jeremiah Alberg was born in California, hence his sunny disposition. He was raised in the Mid-west, hence his solid good sense, and has spent the greater part of his adult life in Japan or Europe, hence his international flair. He is the celebrated author A Reinterpretation of Rousseau: A Religious System (over 50 weeks not on the New York Times Bestseller List). In addition to doing research on Immanuel Kant, he is being spoiled by his wife, Yumi, and raised by his two daughters, Hannah and Yuriko.  

To Kingdom Business Bound: Theocratic Corporatism’s Mimetic Ambition to Create a Global Christian Order 

Author Aric Haley is a data systems implementation specialist in metro Detroit. He lived abroad while volunteering with a number of Protestant missions in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, but is now more interested in helping people of different faiths and cultures learn to live together than proselytize each other. His current interests include writing mimetically-aware science fiction, exploring interdividual theories of psychology, obsessing over East/West relations, and promoting compassionate policy objectives. He occasionally tweets shamelessly @postrevivalist.