Rhombus

I have taken my screen name, Rhombus, in reference to the original Greek word, which means "something that spins." I take this as my name because of Jonathan Z. Smith's dictum that "Comparison [or redescription] is an active, at times even a playful, enterprise of deconstruction and reconstitution which, kaleidoscope-like, gives the scholar a shifting set of characteristics with which to negotiate the relations between his or her theoretical interests and data stipulated as exemplary. The comparative enterprise [thus] provides a set of perspectives which 'serve different analytic purposes by emphasizing varied aspects' of the object of study" (Drudgery Divine, p. 53). It is this "spinning kaleidoscope" image that I wish to capture, as I think it is a great metaphor of how methods, theories, and models work.