The Unaware Sculptor. The Sardinian Pastore as Spinozan Prophet Part 1 Dissertation 2020 Luca Puzzoni London Metropolitan University | UK This dissertation presents Su pastori sardu – the Sardinian shepherd – as the true, yet often misunderstood keeper of the malleable and uncategorisable landscape that is the Sardinian island: A landscape both topographical and real, as well as historical and imaginary, saturated with the contradictions of modern life. By describing the knowledge of his hand, the paths traced by his herds, his modus operandi and the way it profoundly shapes the Sardinian landscape, the shepherd is portrayed as a Spinozan prophet, and the carrier of an immemorial mass of traditional techniques and skills located not in a pastoral romantic past, but at the very centre of modern industry. This perspective engenders an argument for establishing a middle ground between the hard, reactive and fast pace of the modern capitalist regime on the one hand; and the slower, prophetic and contemplative traditional practices this regime purports to transcend, but can’t. Luca Puzzoni Tutor(s) Joseph Kohlmaier