Above and Beyond
Asynchronous Session
Plastic and Modern Life Style View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Surabhi Baijal
The modern world believes that infinite consumption in a finite world is a possibility. It views production only in its utility to serve the modern purpose of consumption. It associates dogmatism with the view that production is only ‘developmental’. The ability to produce enough or even excess of everything does not threaten the modern existence in principle. As Eric Fromm states “We live in a world of things, and our only connection with them is that we know how to manipulate or consume them.” He suggests that there can be an absolute consumeristic approach towards relationships in modern life. Consumerism is a social outcome. Therefore, one can indicate that the cause can be in the structure or the environment in which the existence of the modern society is rooted. Environmentalists have been vocal about the long-term harmful effects of plastic in human life. It is proven to be one of the causes, if not the only cause of several life threatening diseases. Yet, we see an inability to be independent of the usage of plastic in the modern world. On a routine basis we consume plastic. Usually when we purchase and consume food products – we have to unwrap them from their plastic packaging. This also true of when we consume medicines. Most medicines are packaged in plastic. Has the engagement in the routine activity of “unwrapping” a plastic covered product affected us in some way? Has the utilitarian objective of the use of plastic shaped our behaviour?
Satisfice or Sacrifice: Postfeminist Anti-epiphanies in Contemporary Women’s Autofiction View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Clara Ng
My study suggests taking an overdue look at postfeminism – the forced negotiation of neoliberal promise and patriarchal pressures – through the lens of contemporary women’s autofiction. Postfeminism denotes a condition where the outward affirmation of feminist triumph continues to obscure the persistence of structural inequalities. I read postfeminism as a ‘lived genre’ of failed, stalled or futile epiphanies, as reflected in the popular autofictional works of Sigrid Nunez (The Friend), Chris Kraus (Torpor) and Jenny Offill (Department of Speculation). Taking a different lens on the ‘difficult women’ of these novels, I extend thematically-focused interpretations to argue that their resistance to productive revelatory moments reflects a disruption in the affective contract of modern womanhood. This extended analysis of the autofictional anti-epiphanic allows us to pose these urgent questions: What kind of revelatory experiences are available to women today, and how can they be consequential – that is, spark aspiration and activation, rather than ambivalence or abdication? Amidst a regime grounded in quantifiable habits of consumption and self-regulation, what transformations can we reasonably anticipate and yield to, toward a path of flourishing? By uncoupling epiphany and narrative progression, these texts interrogate the ways in which women can meaningfully participate in today’s society, shaping the cultural production of womanhood and the modern female imaginary. In problematising the arc of epiphany, then, my study may provide timely insight into the shifting horizons that condition women’s lives today, and the ways by which situations of contemporary ‘stuckness’ are inhabited and overcome.
Of Ruptures and Raptures: Locating Ideology with LiDAR Imagery View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session William Schroeder
Historical archaeologist Mark Leone identified fences; the Plat of the ideal City of Zion; Mormon temple architecture, plan, and program; and dam re\construction as the technologies and objects that facilitated Mormon settlement, survival, and adaptation in the Intermontane West of North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Philosopher Slavoj Žižek defined three types of ideological objects: voids (or absences); large, unattractive objects left over or resultant from the past of which we are all aware; and an index or circulating object that is known to exist or have existed which requires an ideological structure to understand it. Žižek’s definitions and rubric have a potential to answer a research question that emerges out of Leone’s life-work: What was or is the object of Mormon ideological desire in the archaeological record? The ultimate ideological desire of 19th and early 20th century Mormonism was the creation of a New Zion. A test revealed that none of the four technologies Leone previously identified completely satisfies Žižek’s criteria. A critical examination of LiDAR imagery of a Mormon settlement in Grand Teton National Park revealed a provisional Mormon irrigation pattern (MIP). Leone mentioned irrigation associated with dams but did not consider it as a technological object perhaps because, unlike a fence, settlement, temple, or dam, irrigation was not seen as a unary object. As a technology and unary object, the MIP was tested against Žižek’s criteria and it passes: the MIP is the metaphysical and material ‘footprint’ of New Zion in the archaeological record.
Knowledge and Space: How Movement Affects Actualized Thought View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kara Jansen Van Rensburg
The way in which we understand reality is informed by the experiences we have and the negotiations we engage in with those who impact our experiences. It is imperative to assess the boundaries placed on our experiences in modern life with the engagement with digital technology that posits digital and physical experiences to be interchangeable. This is an essential boundary to consider as digital technology is a necessary tool for the modern individual to function in society and connect with others in order to form ideas on knowledge itself, but we may not give appropriate recognition to the impact it has on the relationship between experience and knowledge. This aligns with work unfolding in the fields of philosophy of technology and Critical Theory. This investigation is informed by critical analysis and comparison of philosophical texts in relation to observable social trends in contemporary society. Theoretical conceptualization is done regarding texts informing experience in physical and digital spaces. It can be concluded that excessive engagement with the digital space limits the individual in their ability to form and negotiate constructive forms of knowledge and there needs to be a reconsideration of how we are to mediate between the physical and digital spaces for meaningful forms of knowledge to be not only preserved but actively participated in.
Drawing a Map of Mistral’s Pedagogy from a Dusselian Perspective View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andrea Campana
Gabriela Mistral’s pedagogical writings have not received the worldwide attention that her poetry has obtained. Lately, however, anthologies on her political, educational, and spiritual views have been published, opening opportunities to delve into the different dimensions of her prolific work. This research, I am here introducing, examines one of these dimensions: the educational one. Drawing on Enrique Dussel’s The Pedagogics of Liberation, it examines Mistral’s pedagogic and epistemological projects. By scrutinizing closely into a selection of her pedagogical production, this paper explores Mistral’s anti-hegemonic views, which depart from the notions of space and time predominant in the Western-matrix of power, and consequently offer valid ontological and epistemological ways to critically approach current educational times. The paper focuses on the concepts of mythology, inferiority, and massiveness to delineate a map of Mistralian Pedagogy that is singular and pertinent for understanding current educational issues.
Craft as a Form of Knowledge in the Digital Era: A Perspective of Simondon’s Techno-Aesthetics View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Minhyoung Kim
This study examines the concept of craft as a form of knowledge within the context of the digital era, employing Simondon’s techno-aesthetics (2012) as a theoretical framework. Traditionally, craft has been associated with specialized skills and manual dexterity. However, with the emergence of digital technologies and tools, there has been a shift towards de-skilling as certain tasks and processes become automated or simplified. By integrating Simondon’s ideas, which emphasize the dynamic relationship between individual objects, tools, and the body, this study investigates how craft can be reconceptualized to include the creative utilization of digital tools, processes, and materials. Simondon’s techno-aesthetics provides a lens through which craft can be understood as an evolving form of knowledge. It goes beyond the mastery of traditional techniques and embraces the integration of digital practices of making. The study highlights the significance of ‘motoric pleasure’ and ‘instrumentalized joy’ in the process of craft, as suggested by Simondon, to capture the experiential and aesthetic dimensions of engaging with digital literacy. Furthermore, the study explores the process of up-skilling, which involves craft practitioners acquiring a hybrid skill set that combines their traditional craftsmanship with new competencies associated with the digital landscape. These competencies may include engaging in open-source practices, utilizing reverse-engineering techniques, participating in peer-to-peer sharing, or implementing common access and common ownership. In conclusion, this study aims to discover how craft can adapt and thrive in the digital age while maintaining its value as a source of knowledge, creativity, and human expression.
