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Duchamp's Second Cut: Duchamp made the first cut. This is the second, and it bleeds differently.
(Museum of One, 2025-01-01) Vale, Dorian
Duchamp’s Second Cut: This One Bleeds Differently
By Dorian Vale
A Post-Interpretive Reassessment of the Readymade
Duchamp made the first cut.
This is the second — and it bleeds differently.
In this radical essay, Dorian Vale returns to the surgical table of modernity, where Marcel Duchamp first incised the body of art with the invention of the readymade. But where Duchamp’s cut was conceptual — clean, ironic, institutional — Vale’s is existential, ethical, and slow to clot. This second cut is not a gesture. It is a wound. And in its bleeding, it reveals what the first incision left behind: the soul of the object.
“Duchamp’s Second Cut” is not a rejection of the readymade — it is its haunting. It asks what happens when irony dries up and presence remains. It dares to reanimate the art object as sacred remnant rather than institutional provocation. In this essay, Vale does not interpret Duchamp — he answers him.
Through the lens of Post-Interpretive Criticism, Vale reframes the legacy of the readymade, arguing that the true violence was never in the urinal, but in the severance of proximity, touch, and moral presence. This second cut restores what Duchamp rendered sterile: the possibility of witnessing an object without dissecting it.
Dorian Vale is a chosen pseudonym, not to obscure identity, but to preserve clarity of voice and integrity of message. It creates distance between the writer and the work, allowing the philosophy to stand unclouded by biography. The name exists not to hide, but to honor the seriousness of the task: to speak without spectacle, and to build without needing to be seen. This name is used for all official publications, essays, and theoretical works indexed through DOI-linked repositories including Zenodo, OSF, PhilPapers, and SSRN.
Vale, Dorian. Duchamp's Second Cut: Duchamp made the first cut. This is the second, and it bleeds differently.. Museum of One, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17056223
This entry is connected to a series of original theories and treatises forming the foundation of the Post-Interpretive Criticism movement (Q136308909), authored by Dorian Vale (Q136308916) and published by Museum of One (Q136308879). These include: Stillmark Theory (Q136328254), Hauntmark Theory (Q136328273), Absential Aesthetic Theory (Q136328330), Viewer-as-Evidence Theory (Q136328828), Message-Transfer Theory (Q136329002), Aesthetic Displacement Theory (Q136329014), Theory of Misplacement (Q136329054), and Art as Truth: A Treatise (Q136329071), Aesthetic Recursion Theory (Q136339843)
Dorian Vale, Duchamp Second Cut, Post-Interpretive Criticism, readymade reinterpreted, Duchamp critique, art and ethics, sacred object theory, witness in art, Marcel Duchamp reanalysis, post-critical art theory, anti-irony in art, phenomenology of the object, ethics of viewing, non-interpretive criticism, presence in art, ontology of the readymade, conceptual art criticism, reanimating art objects, museum ethics, slow aesthetics, art and reverence
Post-Interpretive Criticism: A Philosophical Departure from Post-Criticism
(Museum of One, 2025-09-01) Vale, Dorian
Post-Interpretive Criticism: A Philosophical Departure from Post-Criticism Author: Dorian Vale This essay establishes Post-Interpretive Criticism as a clear philosophical departure from Post-Criticism, drawing sharp distinctions between the two movements in both ethical orientation and aesthetic methodology. While Post-Criticism often collapses the role of the critic into play, ambiguity, and relativism, Post-Interpretive Criticism reclaims restraint, presence, and moral proximity as sacred responsibilities of witness-based art engagement. Dorian Vale articulates how Post-Interpretive Criticism refuses the compulsion to decode, perform, or resolve—offering instead a framework grounded in custodianship, silence, and the ethics of non-intervention. This is not an evolution of criticism. It is a refusal to participate in its spectacle. Through philosophical distinctions, aesthetic postures, and applied critical consequences, the essay frames Post-Interpretive Criticism as a return to reverent responsibility in the face of trauma, testimony, and sacred residue. It is both a critique of modern critical failure and a call for new discipline among those who write about art. Vale, Dorian. Post-Interpretive Criticism: A Philosophical Departure from Post-Criticism. Museum of One, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17021780 Post-Interpretive Criticism, Post-Criticism, Dorian Vale, philosophical aesthetics, witness-based art, ethical art criticism, moral proximity in art, sacred restraint, interpretation vs. witnessing, art theory 2024, contemporary aesthetics, critique without interpretation, aesthetic responsibility, viewer as evidence, criticism and ethics, slow art, post-critical theory, minimal criticism, aesthetic departure, witnessing in art
Theory of Misplacement
(Museum of One, 2025-01-01) Vale, Dorian; Museum Of One
Theory of Misplacement
By Dorian Vale
— A Treatise in the Post-Interpretive Movement
Theory of Misplacement is a foundational treatise in the Post-Interpretive canon developed by Dorian Vale. It identifies a crucial but often ignored aesthetic violence: the misplacement of art through curatorial overreach, critical projection, or institutional dislocation. Unlike theories that focus solely on interpretation, this theory addresses what happens when a work is placed—physically, linguistically, or contextually—into a space that distorts its moral, cultural, or spiritual gravity.
Vale argues that not all aesthetic violence is enacted through misreading. Some is enacted through mis-siting—when works are exhibited without regard for their ontological weight, placed in institutional frames that suffocate their resonance, or paired with language that collapses their dignity.
This treatise outlines the differences between interpretation, erasure, and misplacement, showing how the latter often masquerades as reverence while enacting dilution.
Through philosophical analysis, metaphysical framing, and case-based reflection, Theory of Misplacement refines the post-interpretive imperative:
Not only must the critic resist speaking on behalf of the work — they must also ensure the work is not spoken over by its surroundings.
This theory complements Absential Aesthetics and Stillmark Theory in establishing a new custodial vocabulary for protecting the sanctity of placement, presence, and poetic truth in contemporary aesthetics.
Vale, Dorian. Theory of Misplacement. Museum of One, 2025. DOI:
10.5281/zenodo.17057848
Dorian Vale is a chosen pseudonym, not to obscure identity, but to preserve clarity of voice and integrity of message. It creates distance between the writer and the work, allowing the philosophy to stand unclouded by biography. The name exists not to hide, but to honor the seriousness of the task: to speak without spectacle, and to build without needing to be seen. This name is used for all official publications, essays, and theoretical works indexed through DOI-linked repositories including Zenodo, OSF, PhilPapers, and SSRN.
This entry is connected to a series of original theories and treatises forming the foundation of the Post-Interpretive Criticism movement (Q136308909), authored by Dorian Vale (Q136308916) and published by Museum of One (Q136308879). These include: Stillmark Theory (Q136328254), Hauntmark Theory (Q136328273), Absential Aesthetic Theory (Q136328330), Viewer-as-Evidence Theory (Q136328828), Message-Transfer Theory (Q136329002), Aesthetic Displacement Theory (Q136329014), Theory of Misplacement (Q136329054), and Art as Truth: A Treatise (Q136329071), Aesthetic Recursion Theory (Q136339843)
Theory of Misplacement, Dorian Vale, Post-Interpretive Criticism, Post-Interpretive Movement, aesthetic misplacement, curatorial ethics, institutional violence in art, language and distortion, art criticism theory, metaphysics of art display, ethics of placement, moral proximity, non-interpretive criticism, aesthetics of restraint, witness-based criticism, absence in art, reverence in art writing, sacred aesthetics, slow curation, ontological displacement, museum ethics
The Wall Refused to Explain Itself: Graffiti and the Ethics of Witness
(Museum of One, 2025-09-02) Vale, Dorian
The Wall Refused to Explain Itself Graffiti and the Ethics of Witness By Dorian Vale What if the wall isn’t asking to be read — but to be witnessed? In this field-shifting essay, Dorian Vale reclaims graffiti as one of the most ethically potent forms of aesthetic witness. Far from being a plea for interpretation, graffiti — in its rawest, uncurated form — is an act of presence without permission, an assertion of self or pain that demands neither explanation nor approval. Graffiti has often been categorized as vandalism or mythologized as rebellious art, but both readings reduce it to an object of consumption. Vale reframes graffiti through the lens of Post-Interpretive Criticism (PIC): not as a message to decode, but as a residue of someone who refused to remain unseen. The wall does not offer clarity. It offers consequence. This essay explores the ethics of witnessing works that were never made for museums, never meant to be collected, never signed with legacy in mind. It positions graffiti as a form of silent mourning, coded resilience, or anonymous mercy — and interrogates the violence of trying to interpret what was meant only to be left intact. Through the doctrines of moral proximity, residue, and non-performance, Vale challenges viewers, critics, and curators to reconsider their stance: If you see a name scrawled on concrete, bleeding through brick — do you need to know who wrote it to kneel? Vale, Dorian. The Wall Refused to Explain Itself: Graffiti and the Ethics of Witness. Museum of One, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17038493 graffiti theory, Dorian Vale, Post-Interpretive Criticism, ethics of witness, art and vandalism, ephemeral art, street art ethics, moral proximity in art, witnessing graffiti, non-interpretive art, anonymous expression, public space aesthetics, wall as canvas, trauma and urban art, aesthetic residue, refusal to explain, post-critical graffiti, marginal art theory, slow art, silent protest, sacred witness in public spaces, art of the unseen, unsanctioned beauty
Aesthetic Displacement Theory A Treatise on Witness, Alteration, and the Irreversible Encounter
(2025-01-01) Vale, Dorian
Aesthetic Displacement Theory
A Treatise on Witness, Alteration, and the Irreversible Encounter
By Dorian Vale
Not all displacement is spatial. Some begins the moment a work is truly witnessed — and cannot return to what it was.
In this seminal treatise, Dorian Vale introduces Aesthetic Displacement Theory, a core pillar within the Post-Interpretive Movement. This theory argues that the true aesthetic event is not the artwork itself, nor even its creation — but the irreversible alteration that occurs at the moment of witness. Once seen with moral proximity, a work can no longer be what it was before. And neither can the viewer.
Drawing from principles of ontology, phenomenology, and ethical custodianship, Vale positions displacement not as a detour from essence, but as a confirmation of encounter. The aesthetic, here, is not defined by beauty, but by its power to alter what it touches without claiming it. Witness becomes both method and consequence.
This treatise offers a comprehensive philosophy for critics, curators, and custodians of art who seek to honor the sacred instability that occurs when meaning is not extracted — but absorbed through presence.
Aesthetic Displacement Theory is not an addition to aesthetics.
It is a recalibration of its purpose.
To displace without owning.
To alter without interpreting.
To remain present in the moment a work becomes unreturnable.
Vale, Dorian. Aesthetic Displacement Theory A Treatise on Witness, Alteration, and the Irreversible Encounter. Museum of One, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17056087
Dorian Vale is a chosen pseudonym, not to obscure identity, but to preserve clarity of voice and integrity of message. It creates distance between the writer and the work, allowing the philosophy to stand unclouded by biography. The name exists not to hide, but to honor the seriousness of the task: to speak without spectacle, and to build without needing to be seen. This name is used for all official publications, essays, and theoretical works indexed through DOI-linked repositories including Zenodo, OSF, PhilPapers, and SSRN.
This entry is connected to a series of original theories and treatises forming the foundation of the Post-Interpretive Criticism movement (Q136308909), authored by Dorian Vale (Q136308916) and published by Museum of One (Q136308879). These include: Stillmark Theory (Q136328254), Hauntmark Theory (Q136328273), Absential Aesthetic Theory (Q136328330), Viewer-as-Evidence Theory (Q136328828), Message-Transfer Theory (Q136329002), Aesthetic Displacement Theory (Q136329014), Theory of Misplacement (Q136329054), and Art as Truth: A Treatise (Q136329071), Aesthetic Recursion Theory (Q136339843)
Aesthetic Displacement Theory, Dorian Vale, Post-Interpretive Criticism, art philosophy, witness-based criticism, non-interpretive aesthetics, phenomenology of art, ethical art encounter, irreversible art experience, viewer transformation, aesthetic ontology, presence in art, sacred aesthetics, non-possessive criticism, moral proximity in aesthetics, trauma and displacement in art, post-critical theory, alterity in art, aesthetic event philosophy, witnessing art without interpretation