scholarly journals The Affects of Change: An Ethnography of the Affective Experiences of the 2013 Military Intervention in Egypt

2021 ◽  
pp. 237-255
Author(s):  
Maria Frederika Malmström
Keyword(s):  
Affect Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Transitional Country ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Affective Experiences ◽  
Affective Consequences ◽  
Ongoing Project

AbstractIn this chapter the author discusses the difficulties of exploring the ethnography of events as they are happening, especially when they are violent, not least due to the lack of reliable information available and the complex process of interpreting transmissions of affect. The epistemological turn away from language—in which the focus on affect has emerged as a critique of post-structuralism’s inability to recognize the prediscursive forces that also shape the body—is, the author argues, imperative, as using the framework of affect theory and new materialism allows us to assess societies in flux as long as our material is grounded in empirical research. Examining the material consequences of recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region may provide a way of addressing key methodological issues in qualitative research in innovative and creative ways. In her ongoing project in Egypt, the author has identified the materialization of a certain clustering of affect by spending time with Cairenes during violent uprisings and her own lived experiences at such intense and uncertain moments, especially from the summer of 2013 and onwards. Starting with an inquiry into the material affective consequences—in particular changes to the vibration of sound but also encompassing other materialized experiences—this chapter reflects upon how the author’s attempt to formulate alternative methods of inquiry, anchored in affects and the body as a way of studying affective politics and the tangible emotions that resonate with and transform everyday engagements in a transitional country, provides useful tools for the study of change in the making.

Compulsive Bodies, Creative Bodies: Beckett'sQuadand Agency in the 21stCentury

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Amanda Dennis
Keyword(s):  
Human Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Repetitive Movement ◽  
Repetitive Tasks ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Object Oriented Ontology ◽  
Geological Space ◽  
Alternative Reading

Lying in ditches, tromping through mud, wedged in urns, trash bins, buried in earth, bodies in Beckett appear anything but capable of acting meaningfully on their environments. Bodies in Beckett seem, rather, synonymous with abjection, brokenness, and passivity—as if the human were overcome by its materiality: odours, pain, foot sores, decreased mobility. To the extent that Beckett's personae act, they act vaguely (wandering) or engage in quasi-obsessive, repetitive tasks: maniacal rocking, rotating sucking stones and biscuits, uttering words evacuated of sense, ceaseless pacing. Perhaps the most vivid dramatization of bodies compelled to meaningless, repetitive movement is Quad (1981), Beckett's ‘ballet’ for television, in which four bodies in hooded robes repeat their series ad infinitum. By 1981, has all possibility for intentional action in Beckett been foreclosed? Are we doomed, as Hamm puts it, to an eternal repetition of the same? (‘Moments for nothing, now as always, time was never and time is over, reckoning closed and story ended.’)This article proposes an alternative reading of bodily abjection, passivity and compulsivity in Beckett, a reading that implies a version of agency more capacious than voluntarism. Focusing on Quad as an illustrative case, I show how, if we shift our focus from the body's diminished possibilities for movement to the imbrication of Beckett's personae in environments (a mound of earth), things, and objects, a different story emerges: rather than dramatizing the impossibility of action, Beckett's work may sketch plans for a more ecological, post-human version of agency, a more collaborative mode of ‘acting’ that eases the divide between the human, the world of inanimate objects, and the earth.Movements such as new materialism and object-oriented ontology challenge hierarchies among subjects, objects and environments, questioning the rigid distinction between animate and inanimate, and the notion of the Anthropocene emphasizes the influence of human activity on social and geological space. A major theoretical challenge that arises from such discourses (including 20th-century challenges to the idea of an autonomous, willing, subject) is to arrive at an account of agency robust enough to survive if not the ‘death of the subject’ then its imbrication in the material and social environment it acts upon. Beckett's treatment of the human body suggests a version of agency that draws strength from a body's interaction with its environment, such that meaning is formed in the nexus between body and world. Using the example of Quad, I show how representations of the body in Beckett disturb the opposition between compulsivity (when a body is driven to move or speak in the absence of intention) and creative invention. In Quad, serial repetition works to create an interface between body and world that is receptive to meanings outside the control of a human will. Paradoxically, compulsive repetition in Beckett, despite its uncomfortable closeness to addiction, harnesses a loss of individual control that proposes a more versatile and ecologically mindful understanding of human action.

scholarly journals Mobilizing the Sense of “Fat”: A Phenomenological Materialist Approach

Human Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Slatman
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
The Body ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
Conceptual Frame ◽  
Fat Bodies ◽  
The Way ◽  
Phenomenological Exploration

AbstractThis paper aims to mobilize the way we think and write about fat bodies while drawing on Jean-Luc Nancy’s philosophy of the body. I introduce Nancy’s approach to the body as an addition to contemporary new materialism. His philosophy, so I argue, offers a form of materialism that allows for a phenomenological exploration of the body. As such, it can help us to understand the lived experiences of fat embodiment. Additionally, Nancy’s idea of the body in terms of a “corpus”—a collection of pieces without a unity—together with his idea of corpus-writing—fragmentary writing, without head and tail—can help us to mobilize fixed meanings of fat. To apply Nancy’s conceptual frame to a concrete manifestation of fat embodiment, I provide a reading of Roxane Gay’s memoir Hunger (2017). In my analysis, I identify how the materiality of fat engenders the meaning of embodiment, and how it shapes how a fat body can and cannot be a body. Moreover, I propose that Gay’s writing style—hesitating and circling – involves an example of corpus-writing. The corpus of corpulence that Gay has created gives voice to the precariousness of a fat body's materialization.

The putative effects of green tea on body fat: an evaluation of the evidence and a review of the potential mechanisms

2011 ◽  
Vol 106 (9) ◽  
pp. 1297-1309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navamayooran Thavanesan
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Green Tea ◽  
Body Fat ◽  
Fatty Acid Synthase ◽  
The Body ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Prevalence Of Obesity ◽  
Simultaneous Inhibition

The increase in the prevalence of obesity in recent years has prompted research into alternative methods of modulating body weight and body fat. The last decade has reflected this with a surge in studies investigating the potential of green tea as a natural agent of weight loss, with a view to confirming and elucidating the mechanisms underlying its effect on the body. Currently, it is widely believed that the polyphenolic components present in green tea have an anti-obesogenic effect on fat homeostasis, by increasing thermogenesis or reducing fat absorption among other ways. The data published to date, however, are inconsistent, with numerous putative modes of action suggested therein. While several unimodal mechanisms have been postulated, a more plausible explanation of the observed results might involve a multimodal approach. Such a mechanism is suggested here, involving simultaneous inhibition of the enzymes catechol-O-methyltransferase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, fatty acid synthase and impeding absorption of fat via the gut. An evaluation of the available evidence supports a role of green tea in weight loss; however the extent of the effects obtained is still subject to debate, and requires more objective quantification in future research.

scholarly journals The Emergence of Violence and the Terror of Being Born in Murakami’s Coin Locker Babies

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-274
Author(s):  
Florina Ilis ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Jean Baudrillard ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Frederic Jameson ◽  
The Subject

Modern poetics imposed the image of Nietzsche’s split Subject, with the disaggregated self-emerging as dilemmatic subjectivity and its aesthetic culmination in the “dehumanisation of art.” Nietzsche’s philosophy provided postmodern poetics with the Subject as “fiction,” subjected to a complex process of self-multiplication and self-reflection (Ihab Hassan). The loss of the autonomy of the Subject as a “fashionable theme” (Frederic Jameson), combined with its multiplication into simulacra (Jean Baudrillard) and the abolition of reference, allow the Object to storm the places of its absence. The multiplicitous nature under which the image of subjectivity is formed is a possible solution for the issue of the Subject. Another solution would be inflicting violence upon the Subject, replaced by the corporeality of the Object, by the body, to the point of its destruction, or to the ultimate point of abjectness. My essay will use Murakami Ryū’s novel Coin Locker Babies to examine its author’s views on the Object-Subject relation, on the Subject as an Object (corporeality) and on the forms through which the Object inflicts violence upon the Subject.

scholarly journals Cell-state transitions and collective cell movement generate an endoderm-like region in gastruloids

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Hashmi ◽  
Sham Tlili ◽  
Pierre Perrin ◽  
Alfonso Martinez-Arias ◽  
Pierre-François Lenne
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Cell Movement ◽  
Body Plan ◽  
The Body ◽  
State Transitions ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Cell Layers ◽  
Sorting Process

AbstractShaping the animal body plan is a complex process that involves the spatial organization and patterning of different cell layers. Recent advances in live imaging have started to unravel the cellular choreography underlying this process in mammals, however, the sequence of events transforming an unpatterned cell ensemble into structured territories is largely unknown. Here, using 3D aggregates of mouse embryonic stem cells, we study the formation of one of the three germ layers, the endoderm. We show that the endoderm is generated from an epiblast-like state by a three-step mechanism: a release of islands of Ecadherin expressing cells, their flow toward the aggregate tip, and their segregation. Unlike the prevailing view, this mechanism does not require epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions and vice-versa but rather a fragmentation, which is mediated by Wnt/β-catenin, and a sorting process. Our data emphasize the role of signaling and cell flows in the establishment of the body plan.

Making and Remaking: The Practice Research of Place

Placemaking ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 123-149
Author(s):  
Tara Page
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
The Body ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Empirical Methods ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Practice Methods ◽  
Relations Of Power

To understand and question these everyday and artistic practices of life that are sometimes invisible or hidden - and most of the time taken for granted - because they are sensed, felt, of the body, and not easily verbalised, an embodied, affective, relational research approach is needed. The innovative approach of practice research, underpinned by new materialism, that can enable these understandings are discussed in Chapter Five. Additionally, inventive artistic practice methods and a remaking of traditional empirical methods are examined that enable the exploration of the agency of matter and advance vitalist frameworks. By moving beyond the problem-focused approach this chapter works the intra-actions of theory with practice, practice with theory, to develop new approaches to new materialist-place practice research. The practice research approach also politically positions research practices, emphasising the complex materiality of bodies immersed in social relations of power.

Coda: Affect after the Affektenlehre

2020 ◽  
pp. 131-142
Author(s):  
Roger Mathew Grant
Keyword(s):  
Music Theory ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Historical Investigation

This concluding chapter places contemporary affect theory in conversation with the historical investigation outlined in the body of the book. It finds within recent affect theory a certain musicality and a tendency to rehearse dynamics that once played out within historical music theory. This final chapter closes with a call to restore diachronicity and movement to affect theory: to think affect historically, and to therefore pay close attention to the movements between the objects and subjects that have generated it.

Thinking Outside the Body: New Materialism and the Challenge of the Fetish

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Green
Keyword(s):  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
The Body ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
Everyday Experience ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
The Way

Fetishism has become such a key concept within Western thought, largely as a result of the work of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, that it is easy to forget its origins. But the notion of fetishism originates in a very different context, and in many ways, an incommensurable system of thought—animism. Returning to this submerged backstory, I deploy the concept of the fetish to confront the recent enthusiasm for materiality that has emerged in response to current environmental crises. New materialism considers matter to have a liveliness not dependent on human subjects. This paper considers what divides “vital materialism” from the “animist materialism” that continues to structure everyday experience in a range of contexts in Africa and elsewhere and investigates the way in which fetishism, within the intellectual tradition of animism, alerts us to the strange ephemeralness of the avowed materialism of the new materialist project.

scholarly journals Generation of Miniaturized Ovaries by in Vitro Culture From Mouse Gonads

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si Won Jang ◽  
Hoon Jang ◽  
Hyun Woo Choi
Keyword(s):  
Ovarian Development ◽  
Primordial Germ Cells ◽  
Nutrient Deficiency ◽  
Culture Conditions ◽  
The Body ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Considerable Research ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors

Abstract The incidence of infertility among individuals of reproductive age has been growing due to genetic and environmental factors, and considerable research efforts are focused on solving this issue. Ovarian development is an overly complex process in the body, involving the interaction between primordial germ cells and gonad somatic cells. However, follicles located in the center of the in vitro ovary are poorly formed or die owing to ovarian complexity, nutrient deficiency, and signaling deficiency. In the present study, we optimized methods for dissociating gonads and culture conditions for the in vitro generation of miniaturized ovaries. The gonads from embryos were dissociated into cell masses and cultured on a Transwell-COL membrane for 3~5 weeks. Approximately 12 follicles were present per in vitro ovary. We observed that miniaturized ovaries successfully matured to MII oocytes in vitro from 150 to 100 µm gonad masses. This method will be useful for investigating follicle development and oocyte production.

scholarly journals The Ras suppressor-1 (RSU-1) in cancer

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (s1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lefteris C Zacharia ◽  
Vasiliki Gkretsi
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Research Field ◽  
The Body ◽  
Primary Tumors ◽  
Adhesion Protein ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Cancer Types ◽  
Metastatic Process

Primary tumors are seldom the cause of death for cancer patients as most patients die from metastatic disease. Thus, deciphering metastatic mechanisms and key molecules involved is of utmost importance for the improved survival of cancer patients. Metastasis is a complex process in which cancer cells dissociate from the original tumor and spread to distant sites of the body. During the metastatic process, cancer cells lose contact both with the extracellular matrix (ECM) and the neighboring cells within the primary tumor, thus invading though surrounding tissues. Therefore, ECM, and ECM-related adhesion proteins play a critical role in the metastatic process. Ras suppressor-1 (RSU-1) was first identified as a suppressor of Ras-dependent oncogenic transformation and is localized to cell-ECM adhesions where it is known to interact with the pro-survival adhesion protein PINCH-1. Although the connection to cancer is obvious, little is known regarding its expression in various cancer types. This opinion piece is focusing on recent literature regarding the expression of RSU-1 in various cancer types and the possible molecular mechanism of its action, pointing towards questions that need still to be addressed in this research field.

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