Rituals of Coexistence: Bodies and Technology during Pandemics

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Standard

Rituals of Coexistence: Bodies and Technology during Pandemics. / Forster, Yvonne.
In: INTERLITTERARIA, Vol. 27, No. 1, 01.09.2022, p. 84-98.

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Harvard

APA

Vancouver

Forster Y. Rituals of Coexistence: Bodies and Technology during Pandemics. INTERLITTERARIA. 2022 Sept 1;27(1):84-98. doi: 10.12697/IL.2022.27.1.9

Bibtex

@article{64e79a3436794245b5186604d5168278,
title = "Rituals of Coexistence: Bodies and Technology during Pandemics",
abstract = "Pandemics not only challenge health systems and the economy, they also deeply transform our everyday lives and the ways in which we coexist. People have to find new definitions of what it means to be close to one another, to show empathy and to comfort each other. With social distancing, we must learn how to use digital technologies to create novel forms of closeness. Viruses becomes the new other, alien forces that invisibly permeate social life. They find hosts predominantly in the places where humans get close to each other. Rituals such as eating, drinking, and dancing are the links that hold an otherwise largely disembodied culture together. I will combine a perspective on human cognitive evolution as an embodied process, the hedonist drive towards bodily encounter in Sigmund Freud{\textquoteright}s sense and the development of technology and the current tendency toward a culture of disembodiment. The article asks what the role of bodily ritual is in public space. Here I will argue that this is a vital role because it is the only way to create feelings of resonance and connectedness amongst larger groups of people. The pandemic prohibits these rituals, so we need to ask further: Does the pandemic lead to new forms of being together? This is closely linked to the accelerated development of technology. The more precise question is: Does technology afford new forms of embodiment? My aim is to introduce ideas of philosophical posthumanism to think in a productive way about incorporating technology in order to satisfy human needs for contact and resonance.",
keywords = "embodiment, technology, resonance, ritual, hedonism, Philosophy",
author = "Yvonne Forster",
year = "2022",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.12697/IL.2022.27.1.9",
language = "English",
volume = "27",
pages = "84--98",
journal = "INTERLITTERARIA",
issn = "1406-0701",
publisher = "University of Tartu Press",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Rituals of Coexistence

T2 - Bodies and Technology during Pandemics

AU - Forster, Yvonne

PY - 2022/9/1

Y1 - 2022/9/1

N2 - Pandemics not only challenge health systems and the economy, they also deeply transform our everyday lives and the ways in which we coexist. People have to find new definitions of what it means to be close to one another, to show empathy and to comfort each other. With social distancing, we must learn how to use digital technologies to create novel forms of closeness. Viruses becomes the new other, alien forces that invisibly permeate social life. They find hosts predominantly in the places where humans get close to each other. Rituals such as eating, drinking, and dancing are the links that hold an otherwise largely disembodied culture together. I will combine a perspective on human cognitive evolution as an embodied process, the hedonist drive towards bodily encounter in Sigmund Freud’s sense and the development of technology and the current tendency toward a culture of disembodiment. The article asks what the role of bodily ritual is in public space. Here I will argue that this is a vital role because it is the only way to create feelings of resonance and connectedness amongst larger groups of people. The pandemic prohibits these rituals, so we need to ask further: Does the pandemic lead to new forms of being together? This is closely linked to the accelerated development of technology. The more precise question is: Does technology afford new forms of embodiment? My aim is to introduce ideas of philosophical posthumanism to think in a productive way about incorporating technology in order to satisfy human needs for contact and resonance.

AB - Pandemics not only challenge health systems and the economy, they also deeply transform our everyday lives and the ways in which we coexist. People have to find new definitions of what it means to be close to one another, to show empathy and to comfort each other. With social distancing, we must learn how to use digital technologies to create novel forms of closeness. Viruses becomes the new other, alien forces that invisibly permeate social life. They find hosts predominantly in the places where humans get close to each other. Rituals such as eating, drinking, and dancing are the links that hold an otherwise largely disembodied culture together. I will combine a perspective on human cognitive evolution as an embodied process, the hedonist drive towards bodily encounter in Sigmund Freud’s sense and the development of technology and the current tendency toward a culture of disembodiment. The article asks what the role of bodily ritual is in public space. Here I will argue that this is a vital role because it is the only way to create feelings of resonance and connectedness amongst larger groups of people. The pandemic prohibits these rituals, so we need to ask further: Does the pandemic lead to new forms of being together? This is closely linked to the accelerated development of technology. The more precise question is: Does technology afford new forms of embodiment? My aim is to introduce ideas of philosophical posthumanism to think in a productive way about incorporating technology in order to satisfy human needs for contact and resonance.

KW - embodiment

KW - technology

KW - resonance

KW - ritual

KW - hedonism

KW - Philosophy

U2 - 10.12697/IL.2022.27.1.9

DO - 10.12697/IL.2022.27.1.9

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 27

SP - 84

EP - 98

JO - INTERLITTERARIA

JF - INTERLITTERARIA

SN - 1406-0701

IS - 1

ER -

Documents

DOI

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Kamini Kusum Barua

Publications

  1. Schnittstellenaktivität “Mathematische Brückenkurse”
  2. Finale - Prüfungstraining Mittlerer Schulabschluss, Fachoberschulreife, Erweiterte Berufsbildungsreife Berlin und Brandenburg
  3. Informationelle Zugänge für die empirische Untersuchung freiberuflicher Existenzgründungen?
  4. Parteien in der Dritten Welt
  5. Die sozialpädagogische Ordnung des Sozialen
  6. Sportwissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs 2000
  7. Vermeidung von Biozideinträgen aus Gebäudeauswaschungen in urbane Oberflächengewässer und Grundwasser
  8. Ausgewählte Schriften. 7 Bde. Hrsg. v. U. Nothelle-Wildfeuer u. J. Althammer. Bd. 4: Arbeit – Eigentum – Mitbestimmung
  9. Kooperationsvereinbarungen als Baustein gelingender Kooperationen
  10. Rez: Volker Neuhaus, Per Ohrgaard, Jörg-Philipp Thomsa (Hg.): Freipass. Schriften der Günter und Ute Grass Stiftung, Bd. 1, Bd. 2, Bd. 3: Widerhall auf das Jahr der Revolten 1968
  11. Vermittlung von "Good-Practice"-Methoden eines erziehenden Sportunterrichts im Rahmen des Lehramtsstudiums Sport - Evaluation eines Blended-Learning-Seminars
  12. "Also, es hat was Starkes, was Mächtiges, Männer halt ..." - Dimensionen eines militärischen Gendermanagements in Medien und Alltag
  13. Bildungswachstum und äußere Schulreform im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
  14. Deliberate practice among South African small business owners
  15. Gesetz über Musterverfahren in kapitalmarktrechtlichen Streitigkeiten (Kapitalanleger-Musterverfahrensgesetz - KapMuG)
  16. Materialitäten der Kindheit
  17. Vermittlung von Lesestrategien im Umgang mit Sachtexten im Deutschunterricht
  18. Policy-Analyse und Politikwissenschaft
  19. The Political Economy of Corporate Governance