The Aesthetics of Proximity and the Ethics of Empathy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Kapchan
Keyword(s):  
Close Encounters ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Phenomenology Of Perception ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Where does affect reside in a phenomenology of perception? How should we understand ethics when bodies are close? What changes when we are distant? In this chapter, the author illustrates the “aesthetics of proximity,” degrees of spatio-temporal as well as spatio-tactile closeness between sounds and bodies, and the implications for an embodied ethics of response. Using Merleau-Ponty’s notion of the “flesh,” which he defines as an element (like water or fire), the author explores the relation of feeling and matter in close encounters, evoking Sufi sounds of worship in Morocco and France, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement during a global pandemic.

scholarly journals 2020 Vision: How a Global Pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement Focused our Teaching

2020 ◽  
Vol 07 (04) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Ramsey ◽  
Kimberley Greeson ◽  
Emily Affolter ◽  
Gretchen Gano ◽  
Rachel Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Global Pandemic

scholarly journals EDDAMAP: efficient data-dependent approach for monitoring asymptomatic patient

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Adu-Gyamfi ◽  
Fengli Zhang ◽  
Albert Kofi Kwansah Ansah
Keyword(s):  
Asymptomatic Patient ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Efficient Data ◽  
Patient Monitoring System ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Object Feature ◽  
Temporal Trajectory

Abstract Background A pandemic affects healthcare delivery and consequently leads to socioeconomic complications. During a pandemic, a community where there lives an asymptomatic patient (AP) becomes a potential endemic zone. Assuming we want to monitor the travel and/or activity of an AP in a community where there is a pandemic. Presently, most monitoring algorithms are relatively less efficient to find a suitable solution as they overlook the continuous mobility instances and activities of the AP over time. Conversely, this paper proposes an EDDAMAP as a compelling data-dependent technique and/or algorithm towards efficient continuous monitoring of the travel and/or activity of an AP. Methods In this paper, it is assumed that an AP is infected with a contagious disease in which the EDDAMAP technique exploits a GPS-enabled mobile device by tagging it to the AP along with its travel within a community. The technique further examines the Spatio-temporal trajectory of the AP to infer its spatial time-bounded activity. The technique aims to learn the travels of the AP and correlates them to its activities to derive some classes of point of interests (POIs) in a location. Further, the technique explores the natural occurring POIs via modelling to identify some regular stay places (SP) and present them as endemic zones. The technique adopts concurrent object feature localization and recognition, branch and bound formalism and graph theory to cater for the worst error-guaranteed approximation to obtain a valid and efficient query solution and also experiments with a real-world GeoLife dataset to confirm its performance. Results The EDDAMAP technique proofs a compelling technique towards efficient monitoring of an AP in case of a pandemic. Conclusions The EDDAMAP technique will promote the discovery of endemic zones and hence some public healthcare facilities can rely on it to facilitate the design of patient monitoring system applications to curtail a global pandemic.

scholarly journals Home Dispossession and Commercial Real Estate Dispossession in Tourist Conurbations. Analyzing the Reconfiguration of Displacement Dynamics in Los Cristianos/Las Américas (Tenerife)

Urban Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Dennis Hof
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Commercial Real Estate ◽  
Resident Population ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
High Rent ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Mortgage Foreclosures ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

Since the onset of the global financial crisis, urban dwellers face an increasing number of obstacles in establishing themselves on the housing market. Against this backdrop, this paper addresses the variegated dynamics of real estate dispossession in the tourist conurbation Los Cristianos/Las Américas on an intra-urban scale. First, I will present the spatio-temporal patterns of dispossession for the period 2001–2015 using the ATLANTE database (CGPJ). Specifically, I analyze mortgage foreclosures and tenant evictions, both for residential and commercial spaces. Second, I delve deeper into local experiences of dispossession of the resident population and their housing and income conditions by means of questionnaires that I conducted in 2018. The data shows that mortgage foreclosures and dispossessions of residential spaces predominate the initial years after the crisis, albeit with varied spatial incidence. However, the increase in tenant evictions from 2014 onwards points to a reconfiguration of displacement dynamics. Indeed, as stated by the interviewees, staggeringly high rent burdens have become the main driver for displacement from both living and working spaces in recent years. Given the ongoing global pandemic, further and more nuanced research is necessary to grasp how these prevailing housing insecurities are shaped during and beyond the coronavirus crisis.

scholarly journals Hashtag Convergence: #GeorgeFloyd and #Covid19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny L Davis ◽  
Tony Love
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Late Spring ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings

In the late spring of 2020, amid a global pandemic, George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, triggering mass protests under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement. We take this moment of coinciding crises as our point of analysis observed through the lens of concurrent hashtags on Twitter. Social media content both reflect and construct the social meanings of topics and events. We thus draw from social media to understand how George Floyd and Covid-19 inform and inflect each other, building a dataset from ~20,000 tweets that unite prevalent hashtags associated with each. Analyses reveal a repeating set of symbolic hooks—death, breath, masks, and voice—encompassing dense and competing narratives about justice and injustice, systemic inequality, degrading trust in institutions, and the changing identity of a nation. These narratives are anchored in the events under study and indexed through co-occurring social media registers. In addition to substantive findings, the study introduces and applies hashtag convergence, a novel methodological approach based on user-generated indexical pairings.

scholarly journals Sensing Global Changes in the Local Patterns of Energy Consumption in Cities During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Rowe ◽  
Caitlin Robinson ◽  
Nikos Patias
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
Urban Energy Consumption

Abstract COVID-19, and the wider social and economic impacts that a global pandemic entails, have led to unprecedented reductions in energy consumption globally. Whilst estimates of changes in energy consumption have emerged at the national scale, detailed sub-regional estimates to allow for global comparisons are less developed. Using night-time light satellite imagery from December 2019-June 2020 across 50 of the world’s largest urban conurbations, we provide high resolution estimates (450m2) of spatio-temporal changes in urban energy consumption in response to COVID-19. Contextualising this imagery with modelling based on indicators of mobility, stringency of government response, and COVID-19 rates, we provide novel insights into the potential drivers of changes in urban energy consumption during a global pandemic. Our results highlight the diversity of changes in energy consumption between and within cities in response to COVID-19, somewhat refuting dominant narratives of a shift in energy demand away from dense urban areas. Further modelling highlights how the stringency of the government’s response to COVID-19 is likely a defining factor in shaping resultant reductions in urban energy consumption.

scholarly journals Discrimination and Mental Health During the Black Lives Matter Movement and the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 483-483
Author(s):  
Peiyi Lu ◽  
Dexia Kong ◽  
Mack Shelley
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Longitudinal Trend ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
American Society ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Anxiety Depression

Abstract Discrimination has been more prevalent since the pandemic. Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement flourished in the summer of 2020 as protests against police brutality and racial injustice. However, the extent to which individuals’ discrimination experiences and associated mental health outcomes change amid a global pandemic and a dramatic societal movement in American society remains unknown. This study examines the dynamic relationship of racism and/or Covid-19-related discrimination with changes in mental health in the context of BLM and Covid-19. Data were from U.S. adults (age ≥18) who completed the online Understanding Coronavirus in America survey in June and September of 2020 (n=3,502). Respondents were asked to attribute their discrimination experience to 8 main reasons: (1) Covid-19; (2) national origin/race/skin color; (3) gender/sexual orientation; (4) age; (5) physical feature; (6) education/income; (7) health condition; and (8) religion/other. Quasi-Poisson regression models examined the associations between discrimination and anxiety/depression/stress. Results indicated about 33% of respondents reported discrimination in June compared to 21% in September. Racism was significantly associated with more anxiety/depression/stress in June, but not in September or in the longitudinal trend. Covid-19-related discrimination was associated with elevated levels of anxiety/depression/stress in September and in the longitudinal trend, but not in June 2020. We concluded that individuals’ discrimination experiences are shaped by societal contexts. Specifically, racism was the dominant discrimination attribution in June 2020 when BLM was at its peak. However, Covid-19 discrimination overtook racism as the primary attribution and showed a significant relationship with poorer mental health over time.

Merleau-Ponty and Nature

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renaud Barbaras
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Perception ◽  
Natural Event ◽  
Phenomenology Of Perception ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
Positive Sense ◽  
History Of ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Temporal Localization

AbstractThe course on nature coincides with the re-working of Merleau-Ponty's breakthrough towards an ontology and therefore plays a primordial role. The appearance of an interrogation of nature is inscribed in the movement of thought that comes after the Phenomenology of Perception. What is at issue is to show that the ontological mode of the perceived object - not the unity of a positive sense but the unity of a style that shows through in filigree in the sensible aspects - has a universal meaning, that the description of the perceived world can give way to a philosophy of perception and therefore to a theory of truth. The analysis of linguistic expression to which the philosophy of perception leads opens out onto a definition of meaning as institution, understood as what inaugurates an open series of expressive appropriations. It is this theory of institution that turns the analysis of the perceived in the direction of a reflection on nature: the perceived is no longer the originary in its difference from the derived but the natural in its difference from the instituted. Nature is the "non-constructed, non-instituted," and thereby, the source of expression: "nature is what has a sense without this sense having been posited by thought." The first part of the course, which consists in a historical overview, must not be considered as a mere introduction. In fact, the problem of nature is brought out into the open by means of the history of Western metaphysics, in which Descartes is the emblematic figure. The problem consists in the duality - at once unsatisfactory and unsurpassable - between two approaches to nature: the one which accentuates its determinability and therefore its transparency to the understanding; the other which emphasizes the irreducible facticity of nature and tends therefore to valorize the view-point of the senses. To conceive nature is to constitute a concept of it that allows us to "take possession" of this duality, that is, to found the duality. The second part of the course attempts to develop this concept of nature by drawing upon the results of contemporary science. Thus a philosophy of nature is sketched that can be summarized in four propositions: 1) the totality is no less real than the parts; 2) there is a reality of the negative and therefore no alternative between being and nothingmess; 3) a natural event is not assigned to a unique spatio-temporal localization; and 4) there is generality only as generativity.

scholarly journals The Spatio-Temporal Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Covid-19 Spread in Shenzhen, China—An Analysis Based on 417 Cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (20) ◽  
pp. 7450
Author(s):  
Shirui Liu ◽  
Yaochen Qin ◽  
Zhixiang Xie ◽  
Jingfei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Nearest Neighbor ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Linear Regression Method ◽  
Index Method ◽  
Temporal Characteristics ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Ellipse Method ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Spatio Temporal

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has made it the focus of current attention. At present, the law of COVID-19 spread in cities is not clear. Cities have long been difficult areas for epidemic prevention and control because of the high population density, high mobility of people, and high frequency of contacts. This paper analyzed case information for 417 patients with COVID-19 in Shenzhen, China. The nearest neighbor index method, kernel density method, and the standard deviation ellipse method were used to analyze the spatio-temporal characteristics of the COVID-19 spread in Shenzhen. The factors influencing that spread were then explored using the multiple linear regression method. The results show that: (1) The development of COVID-19 epidemic situation in Shenzhen occurred in three stages. The patients showed significant hysteresis from the onset of symptoms to hospitalization and then to diagnosis. Prior to 27 January, there was a relatively long time interval between the onset of symptoms and hospitalization for COVID-19; the interval decreased thereafter. (2) The epidemic site (the place where the patient stays during the onset of the disease) showed an agglomeration in space. The degree of agglomeration constantly increased across the three time nodes of 31 January, 14 February, and 22 February. The epidemic sites formed a “core area” in terms of spatial distribution and spread along the “northwest–southeast” direction of the city. (3) Economic and social factors significantly impacted the spread of COVID-19, while environmental factors have not played a significant role.

Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological critique of natural science

2013 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 189-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Phenomenology Of Perception ◽  
The World ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Central Claim

AbstractIn his Phenomenology of Perception Merleau-Ponty maintains that our own existence cannot be understood by the methods of natural science; furthermore, because fundamental aspects of the world such as space and time are dependent on our existence, these too cannot be accounted for within natural science. So there cannot be a fully scientific account of the world at all. The key thesis Merleau-Ponty advances in support of this position is that perception is not, as he puts it, ‘an event of nature’. He argues that it has a fundamental intentionality which configures the perceived world as spatio-temporal in ways which are presupposed by natural science and which cannot therefore be explained by natural science.This is a striking and original claim. When one looks in detail at the considerations Merleau-Ponty advances in support of it, however, these turn out to be either inconclusive or to draw on idealist presumptions which a contemporary naturalist will reject. So while there is much of interest and value in Merleau-Ponty's critical discussion of naturalism, he does not succeed in establishing his central claim.

Radical Uncertainty Is Not Enough: (In)Justice Matters of Post-Qualitative Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 194084472110126
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Wolgemuth ◽  
Travis M. Marn ◽  
Tim Barko ◽  
Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Political Responsibility ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Radical Uncertainty ◽  
What Matters

How can (post-)qualitative inquiry do justice in uncertain times? Post-qualitative inquiry, in its embrace of radical uncertainty, held promise for ethical and political responsibility in an entangled, hardly knowable world. Lately, we (authors) are doubtful of that promise. For over a year, through in-person and Zoom conversations, before and during the global pandemic, punctuated by weekly protests of a resurging Black Lives Matter movement, we reckoned with our hopes, doubts, dreams, and disappointments of justice in qualitative and post-qualitative inquiry. We reconstituted our dialogue in this paper around the topics most pressing to us: coming to justice, being wary of idols and ideology, and deciding what matters in post-qualitative inquiry. We came to the uneasy conclusion that, with no one to blame yet everyone responsible, the veneer of justice is peeling away from post-qualitative inquiry; that post-qualitative inquiry has, largely against its will, become a stable, divisive, and totalizing methodology; and that post-qualitative inquiry’s radical uncertainty has created the enabling conditions of indifference, apathy, and triviality. We urge (post-)qualitative inquirers to keep talking about justice and to balance a desire for post-theory with the responsibility for praxis, action, and decision-making.

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