PAISAJE DESPUÉS DE LA PANDEMIA

La pandemia generada por la COVID-19 está teniendo una incidencia global inusitada, y se puede suponer que nada después de ella va a seguir siendo exactamente igual. La lengua está acogiendo nuevos términos para designarla, y revitalizando otros que estaban en desuso. Y en el lenguaje de los políticos se introducen términos bélicos inconfundibles para referirse a esta nueva peste. Las prácticas sociales utilizadas para expresar las relaciones humanas se están viendo extremadamente condicionadas. Y como emblema de la situación emerge la máscara, cuyos orígenes materiales están en el teatro griego y a partir de esta lengua dio lugar al concepto semióticamente muy interesante de persona. En cuanto a las bellas artes, la literatura no sufre el condicionamiento pandémico de la distancia social que perjudica la realización de las actividades teatrales y musicales. Si bien, lo que Benjamin denominaba “la época de la reproductibilidad técnica” ofrece algunas soluciones al respecto. Abstract: The pandemic generated by COVID-19 is having an unusual global incidence, and it can be assumed that nothing after it will remain exactly the same. The language is accepting new terms to designate it, and revitalizing others that were in disuse. And in the language of politicians, unmistakable warlike terms are introduced to refer to this new plague. The social practices used to express human relationships are being extremely conditioned. And as an emblem of the situation emerges the mask, whose material origins are in the Greek theater and from this language gave rise to the semiotically very interesting concept of person. As for the fine arts, literature does not suffer from the pandemic conditioning of social distance that impairs the performance of theatrical and musical activities. But what Benjamin called “the era of technical reproducibility” offers some solutions in this regard.

Dynamics of social practices of migration during the pandemic of the example of Republic of Armenia

Historically rich history of Armenian migration was supplemented in 2020-2021 by new social practices, including the return of migrants to their homeland during the restrictions in the first half of 2020, and new practices of quick decision-making on emigration in the fall and winter of 2020-2021. In this article, the impact of the pandemic and the development of adaptation strategies of reactive (forced), active (making a choice from the available options) and proactive (planning the prospects for self-realization, career and professional growth and development) types. These practices are considered based on the analysis of statistical data and on the basis of our own empirical research by the method of focused interviews among Armenian families.

User perspectives on critical factors for collaborative playlists

Today, collaborative playlists (CPs) translate long-standing social practices around music consumption to enable people to curate and listen to music together over streaming platforms. Yet despite the critical role of CPs in digitally connecting people through music, we still understand very little about the needs and desires of real-world users, and how CPs might be designed to best serve them. To bridge this gap in knowledge, we conducted a survey with CP users, collecting open-ended text responses on what aspects of CPs they consider most important and useful, and what they viewed as missing or desired. Using thematic analysis, we derived from these responses the Codebook of Critical CP Factors, which comprises eight categories. We gained insights into which aspects of CPs are particularly useful—for instance, the ability for multiple collaborators to edit a single playlist—and which are absent and desired—such as the ability for collaborators to communicate about a CP or the music contained therein. From these findings we propose design implications to inform further design of CP functionalities and platforms, and highlight potential benefits and challenges related to their adoption in current music services.

Queer Epidemics

This chapter of my book Bodies Out of Rule (2014) considers John Greyson's Zero Patience – a 1993 musical satire on the early days of the AIDS epidemic – in the context of the epidemiological and immunity discourses inherent in neoliberal biopolitics. Greyson's film can be read as a queer critique of the broadly understood epidemiological operations of biopower, especially its authoritarian systematizations and taxonomizations that establish a certain "regime of truth" and are a necessary condition for the effective regulation of social practices and subjects. Through my reading of Greyson's film, I argue for a queer reclamation of the feared figure of the virus as a thoroughly transversal figure that transcends existing boundaries, identities, and cognitive categories.

A ‘Proper Night Out’: A Practice Theory Exploration of Gendered Drinking

Drawing on the three-element model of social practice theory and key conceptualisations relating to gender performance, this article reports on an empirical study of the intersecting practices of drinking alcohol and doing gender. We present data from a 14-month research project to explore the online and offline intoxicated drinking practices of 23 young people in England framed as a ‘proper night out’. The data were analysed with a focus on three elements (the ‘corporeal’, ‘alcohol’, and ‘caring’), and the findings demonstrate how young people collectively practice gender through their intoxicated drinking practices. This operationalisation of practice theory highlights the potential value that a practice theory lens has for exploring gendered social practices and broadening understandings of notions of acceptable and suitable practice performance.

Complex Pathways Towards Emergent Pastoral Settlements: New Research on the Bronze Age Xindian Culture of Northwest China

The Xindian culture of northwest China has been seen as a prototypical example of a transition toward pastoralism, resulting in part from environmental changes that started around 4000 years ago. To date, there has been little available residential data to document how and whether subsistence strategies and community organization in northwest China changed following or in association with documented environmental changes. The Tao River Archaeology Project is a collaborative effort aimed at gathering robust archaeological information to solidify our baseline understanding of economic, technological, and social practices in the third through early first millennia BC. Here we present data from two Xindian culture residential sites, and propose that rather than a total transition to nomadic pastoralism—as it is often reconstructed—the Xindian culture reflects a prolonged period of complex transition in cultural traditions and subsistence practices. In fact, communities maintained elements of earlier cultivation and animal-foddering systems, selectively incorporating new plants and animals into their repertoire. These locally-specific strategies were employed to negotiate ever-changing environmental and social conditions in the region of developing ‘proto-Silk Road’ interregional interactions.

Between Moral and Climate Crisis

This chapter identifies four main themes in the literature on media communication of climate change, which represent an interesting object of analysis for scholars who focus on moral panics' application. The combination of both the processual model and the attributional model to interpret the results of this literature review shows that during its emergence, climate change was polarised between “advocates” and “deniers” of both its existence and anthropogenic causes. This division has progressively shifted towards the consequences of climate change and need for action against it. Two distinct moral panics are identified. One is rooted in sceptical arguments and seems to work “in reverse” by emphasising the “uncertainty” around the phenomenon and its impacts. A second one is triggered by climate change supporters, who emphasise that climate change threatens life on the planet and that the current social practices need regulation and control.