body

A Semantic Desublimation of Donald Trump’s Handshake

Blog, , , , , , ,
(To be read at full speed, with frequent sniffings and a thick Žižek accent).
 
There’s something quasi-paranoid about the fascination of contemporary commentators with Trump’s hands, handshakes, hand gestures, and so on. Donald-Trump-the-Candidate, comes supplemented with a label of “short-fingered vulgarian” and a complete set of jokes equating small hands and assumed sexual inadequacies. Thus media interpret every mannerism as a way to overcompensate this Lacanian “objet petit p”. For instance, Trump’s supposedly inextricable alpha-male-ish 19-second-long handshake, to which Japan’s Shinzo Abe succumbs, postulates the opposite of a “small object”:

 

Furthermore, the handshake is often tantamount to a feudal “immixtio manuum” as a sign of submission of the Other, like in the commendation ceremony of Supreme Court’s judge Neil Gorsuch:

 

But also, the hand can become a Deleuzian apparatus of capture, establishing a tie of protection and rent-seeking with a vassal state. This is what happened with the hand-holding routine performed with/upon UK’s Theresa May:

 

Media themselves build up the myth of Trump’s omnipotent handshake, because that allows for recurring “[random nation’s leader] is the only one who was able to beat Trump” news stories. Case in point: Canada’s Trudeau.

 

Despite the alleged uniqueness of the occurrence, this kind of news is the gift that keeps on giving. With infinite variations, like “[X won against Trump’s handshake] because bullying is no match for intelligence”, staging the comforting narrative of Reason triumphing over Brute Force–or rather the trite Nietzschean interplay of the Apollonian and Dionysian. France’s Macron is exemplary of this stance:

 

But, as we established, the story perpetuates itself, obsessively, repetitively, hauntingly. Another variation: “Who’s the biggest, baddest strongman? [X] is”. Ask Tajikistan’s president Emomalii Rahmon:

 

And, sometimes, this obsession can turn into desire—when the touch of the hand is actively requested, longed for and infinitely denied, like with Germany’s Merkel:

 

Or, like in a distorting mirror, desire can manifest itself as a thwarted compulsion, as a Sisyphean struggle that turns the handshake into a fetishistic quest for human and spiritual junction. Like Melania’s hand-swat…

..or like the spoof video of the Pope rebuffing Trump’s hand.

 

Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts repeat, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as family drama, the second time as sitcom.

Dans ZDNet (1 août, 2016)

Media features, Sur le Web, , , , , ,

Depuis 2009, les ransomwares sont devenus l’arme favorite des cybercriminels. Pourtant, en 1989 déjà, un premier malware de ce type faisait beaucoup parler de lui. Mais force est de constater que les choses ont beaucoup évolué depuis ce premier essai balbutiant.

(…)

« En 1989, on est sur quelque chose d’unique et dans une zone grise du point de vue de la légalité » explique à ZDNet.fr le chercheur Antonio Casilli. Ce sociologue spécialisé dans l’étude des usages problématiques de la technologie a signé en 2015 un article de recherche sur le cas du malware AIDS, publié dans la revue d’ethnologie Terrain. « C’est d’ailleurs intéressant de voir que pour les enquêteurs de Scotland Yard qui se penchent à l’époque sur l’affaire, cette partie du code est en réalité une implémentation des droits d’auteurs qui ressemble plutôt au DRM tel qu’on le connaît aujourd’hui » ajoute-t-il. Mais à l’époque, on ne parle pas encore de DRM et la disquette AIDS fait rapidement parler d’elle.

En plein vide juridique, l’affaire de la disquette AIDS fait rapidement les gros titres de la presse anglo-saxonne, qui s’essaye à l’époque à la vulgarisation informatique. On grossit même un peu le trait, selon Antonio Casilli. « Il y a une certaine disproportion de l’affaire dans les médias. Cela peut être imputé au manque de connaissance sur les questions de cybersécurité autant qu’à l’impulsion de certains acteurs politiques et industriels, qui cherchent à faire passer à l’époque une législation répressive sur ces sujets. » L’affaire de la disquette AIDS sera en effet utilisé en 1990 dans le débat autour du « Computer Misuse Act », première législation britannique sur la cybercriminalité.

Difficile pourtant d’évaluer l’impact réel d’AIDS. Du côté d’Intel Security, on évoque environ 20.000 disquettes distribuées. Mais ce chiffre ne traduit pas forcément le nombre d’infections et encore moins les dégâts causés par le malware. Comme l’explique Antonio Casilli dans la revue Terrain, les articles de l’époque mentionnent de nombreux utilisateurs touchés dans le monde de la santé et de la recherche, mais les détails sont rares et les cas de perte de données restent assez peu documentés. On sait néanmoins qu’un hôpital italien a été affecté : la menace est réelle, mais sûrement pas aussi massive que ce que laissent entendre les médias de l’époque.

Source: Ransomware : retour sur les racines du mal ou l’étrange cas du Dr Popp – ZDNet

Nouvelles d’ANAMIA : conférences, vidéos et outils de visualisation de données

body, digital humanities, social capital, social networks, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Je suis actuellement à Québec (plus précisément sur le campus de l’Université Laval) où j’ai été invité à présenter ANAMIA, notre projet ANR sur les communautés anorexiques et boulimiques du Web, dans le cadre du méga-congrès francophone canadien ACFAS. Que Georges Canguilhem ne m’en veuille pas trop, l’intitulé de ma présentation est Le normal et le parfait. Rapport au médical et émergence de normes corporelles au sein des communautés anorexiques du Web (lundi 6, 15h30, salle 3850 du Pavillon Alexandre-Vachon, colloque du CELAT, session “Corps et médias : énonciation, négociation, contestation et réaffirmation, présidée par Madeleine Pastinelli).

http://www.acfas.ca/evenements/congres/programme/81/600/614/c

81e Congrès de l’Acfas | Colloque 614 – Lieux de passage et vivre-ensemble

Par ailleurs, avec les autres membres du projet, nous venons de lancer en ligne la série de Conférences ANAMIA : des vidéos et des slides de présentations de membres de notre équipe de recherche et de spécialistes français apportant un éclairage sociologique, historique, psychologique sur les Web des troubles alimentaires et sur le phénomène pro-ana. La première vidéo est celle de La minceur, obsession ou danger, conférence de l’historien Georges Vigarello (directeur d’études à l’EHESS et auteur, entre autres, de La silhouette, 2012 ; Les métamorphoses du gras, 2010 ; Histoire de la beauté, 2004). Le montage a été réalisé par Argyro Paouri, de la cellule audiovisuelle du CEM IIAC CNRS/EHESS.

VigarelloANAMIA[Conférence ANAMIA] Georges Vigarello « La minceur n’est pas une obsession exclusivement moderne »

Pour terminer, un teaser de quelque chose sur laquelle nous avons travaillé ces derniers mois avec le très talentueux designer Quentin Bréant : un tools de visualisation des données collectées dans le cadre de nos enquêtes sur les utilisateurs de sites Web liés aux troubles alimentaires en France et au Royaume. Nous allons faire une présentation live sur le site Web du projet ANAMIA prochainement. Entre temps (et sans autre explication) voilà une petite galerie… question de vous donner un avant-goût.

Visualisations des données de l’enquête ANAMIA en France et au Royaume-Uni

Et in Athenis ego: update on ongoing research on the body + riots

body, social networks, space, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I know I should be in Lyon for the www12 conference with all the Internet big shots, but instead I’m taking a plane and heading to Greece. The opportunity came via an invitation to deliver a speech at the New Sensorium, an international symposium that will take place on April 20-21 at the BIOS, in Athens. If you are around, you should definitely attend! The conference deals with some of my main research foci (digital technologies, media and the body) and it is the outcome of a collaboration between the Department of Communication, Media and Culture of Panteion University and the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto (I was their guest a few months ago).

http://entopia.org/newsensorium/

The New Sensorium symposium – BIOS, Athens (20-21 April 2012)

Just so you know my speech carries the somewhat cryptic title The Virus and the Avatar. Ways of socializing the sensible in computer culture – and if you don’t have a clue of what it’s about, here are two texts in Greek and in English that might be of help.

But this Athens trip will also be the chance to do more than a bit of field research for our ongoing ICCU (Internet Censorship and Civil Unrest) project. You might remember the project was kickstarted by this blog post about last year’s UK riots.

http://owni.fr/2011/08/19/censure-reseaux-sociaux-londres-cameron-ukriots/

…also in French

Our research received a lot of attention and eventually became a working paper, then an article coming up in the Bulletin of Sociological Methodology and started a number of prospective spin-offs in other nations. The Athens one is based on the idea of studying media and internet use during the Greek 2010-12 protests (and the way they are linked with the 2008 riots). Won’t go into details because I don’t want to spoil the party. But, if I manage to grasp a little wifi, I might be blogging a postcard or two from my Athenian fieldwork.

“Anamia” social networks and online privacy: our Sunbelt XXXII presentations (Redondo Beach, March 18, 2012)

social capital, social networks, , , , , , , , , ,

[This is a joint post with Paola Tubaro’s Blog]

So, here we are in the (intermittently) sunny state of California for Sunbelt XXXII, the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) annual conference. This year the venue is Redondo Beach and the highlights are both old and new stars of social network analysis:  David Krackhardt, Tom Valente, Barry Wellman, Emmanuel Lazega, Anuška Ferligoj, Ron Burt, Bernie Hogan, Carter Butts, Christina Prell, etc.

Here are our presentations, both delivered on Sunday 18th, March 2012.

(more…)

DSK et la morale institutionnelle du FMI

body, , , ,

Qu’est-ce que Dominique Strauss-Kahn et Julian Assange ont un commun (à part leurs cheveux blancs et une certaine allure d’outsiders) ? Tous les deux ont été accusés du même crime odieux.

On a déjà débattu et décortiqué l’affaire Assange. Et nul doute que l’on va faire de même pour DSK. Et bien sûr, au delà de la authenticité des accusations, on ne se lassera pas d’insister ici sur la portée politique de ces scandales sexuels. La question que nous pouvons d’ores et déjà nous poser n’est pas – comme le feraient les théoriciens du complot – à qui profitent ces arrestations (<sarcasme> au tandem politique Obama/Clinton dans le cas d’Assange ? au tandem politique Sarkozy/Le Pen dans le cas de DSK ? </sarcasme>).

Il y a une question qui est à mon avis encore plus essentielle et qui était bien posée dans cet article de Joshua Gamson, paru dans le revue Social Problems : quelle est la portée normative d’un scandale sexuel pour les institutions impliquées ?

(more…)

Avatar activism and the "survival of the mediated" hypothesis

body, space, , , , , , , ,

By now, you’re all way too familiar with the Egyptian Facebook activism. And everybody and his sister has spent the last year-and-a-half discussing how wrong was Malcolm Gladwell in dismissing Moldovan Twitter activism. And millions of you have smiled at Gaddafi’s crazy rant against Tunisian Wikileaks activism. But I’m sure the notion of Avatar activism appeals to a more restricted audience.

In an attempt to fill this gap in your general knowledge, let me point you to a recent article by Mark Deuze.

ResearchBlogging.org
Mark Deuze (2010). Survival of the mediated Journal of Cultural Science, 3 (2)

One interesting part of the essay deals with protestors around the world appropriating the aesthetic codes and themes of James Cameron’s film Avatar. In the Palestinian village of  Bil’in, for instance, activists disguised as blue-skinned Na’vi fight “Israeli imperialism”. The same goes with other community initiatives around the world, such as the Dongria Kondh tribe in eastern India and the Kayapo Indians in the Amazon rainforest.

(more…)

Doctoring Fukushima: from nuclear catastrophe to natural bodily function

body, , , , , , ,

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, an interesting video has been circulating. Disguised as an educational animation targeting children, it is actually an anonymous pro-nuclear propaganda feature based on a tweet by media artist Kazuhiko Hachiya. Nuclear Boy (a character representing Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant) has a bad case of stomach-ache. A series of defecation-based incidents ensue. Doctors take turn to ease his condition and hopefully they will help him avoid ‘Tchernobyl diarrea scenario’.

Scatological humor aside, what is interesting here is the concurring efforts to medicalize and to naturalize a nuclear disaster. If the explosion of a reactor is comparable to defecation, it becomes a natural bodily function. It is thus inscribed in the normal course of events. It is even vital that Nuclear Boy ‘passes some gas’ at some point. In this case, like in others I’ve been discussing in this blog, the negative effects of human-made technologies are normalized by inscribing them into a medical  discourse about the body. As far as medical knowledge is summoned up to provide scientific backing to the claim that ‘everything is for the best’, the entire event becomes a moralizing hygiene lesson comparable to those that early 20th institutions used to deliver to the masses.

What is medicine all about? Staring at screens

body, , , ,

Recently, the New York Times’s blog dealing with health and medicine, Well, featured an interesting piece on Desktop medicine. The author Pauline W. Chen, M.D., maintains that medical profession has been profoundly changed by the advent of desktop computers. In the past, doctoring was all about “sitting at patients’ bedside”. Today, it’s basically about staring at a screen. The article is quick to point out that this reflection is not exempt from a certain nostalgic idealization of the past.

I would add that saying that “we have gone from bedside medicine to desktop medicine” as a bit of an ideological dimension to it, too – as far as it relies on a technodeterministic meta-narrative (“computer-mediated communication is superseding face-to-face social interaction”, “machine automation replace human labour”, “robots will rule the world”, and so on). (more…)

Bums, bridges, and primates: Some elements for a sociology of online interactions

body, social capital, social networks, space, , , , , , , , , ,

This text was presented at the conference “Web Culture: New Modes of Knowledge, New Sociabilities”, Villa Gillet, Lyon (France), February 10th, 2011. Check against delivery. Click here for the .pdf version. Click here for the French translation.

In today’s presentation I will focus on the kind of social structures that users of computer-mediated global online communication networks (notably, the Web and social media) contribute to put in place. The point I will try to make is that science understanding of Web-based sociabilities has progressed enormously in the last decade, and that this should inform public policies touching on the Web, its regulation and governance.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE COMPUTER BUMS GONE?

Early glimpses into the social implications of ICT at a micro-level (that is: for the users themselves) date back to the mid-1970s and focus on the negative effect of these technologies. At the very origins of computer culture, we witness the emergence of the stereotype of the socially awkward computer hacker, isolated by the calculating machine which alienates him and keeps him apart from his peers. This characterization dates back to a time before the Web. In his Computer Power and Human Reason : From Judgement to Calculation (1976) Joseph Weizenbaum delivers us the portrayal of this subculture of compulsive computer programmer – or, as he liked to dub them, “computer bums”.

These are “possessed students” who “work until they nearly drop, twenty, thirty hours at a time.  Their food, if they arrange it, is brought to them: coffee, Cokes, sandwiches.  If possible, they sleep on cots near the computer. […] Their rumpled clothes, their unwashed and unshaven faces, and their uncombed hair all testify that they are oblivious to their bodies and to the world in which they move.  They exist, at least when so engaged, only through and for the computers.”

Since this first occurrence, and for a long time, common sense has almost unmistakably associated computer use and social isolation. Cultural analysts, novelists, commentators have been developing on this trope. Iconic cyberpunk author William Gibson, famously described Case, the main character of Neuromancer (1984), as a cyberspace-addict incapable of functioning in an offline social situation.

(more…)