I Just Don't Know What Got into Me: Where is the Subject?

Abstract

This paper argues that subjectivity needs to be understood as a geography. The ''psychotopical'' analysis that is necessary in order to understand subjectivity requires that more emphasis be placed on arts of experiment drawn from the battery of performing arts that exist on the borderline between the humanities and the social sciences. Some examples are given.

‘Power’ is that which remains to be explained: Dispelling the ominous dark matter of critical planning studies

“…Such a renewed research interest in the power dynamics of noopolitics by no means precludes a recognition of how semiotic practices are always also material, thus demanding a material-semiotic approach (Law, 2008). Hopefully, it could potentially also contribute to further de-mystifying processes of human subject formation by not treating subjectivity as a coherent nucleus, but instead as a conflict-ridden 'site' (Thrift, 2008), that is, yet another 'black box' to be opened up and examined with regard to its 'plug-ins' (Latour, 2005) and in relation to complex and friction-ridden processes of subjectification (see, for example, Deleuze, 1988 andRose, 1996). Such a research agenda can hopefully also function as a space for cross-fertilization, friction and mutual reinforcement between, on one hand, the emerging movement of relational-materialistic planning scholarship inspired by ANT and, on the other hand, established strands of critical planning scholarship with an active interest in processes of subjectification (e.g.…”

What makes us to be individuals? A post-human, pragmatic and relational framework

“…Entre estos varios actantes heterogéneos, la agencia fue comprendida como una capacidad distribuida y enraizada en procesos concretos de combinación y transformación de recursos. Así también la subjetividad fue entendida relacionalmente como aquella capacidad de un ser humano de volverse descriptible en la medida que aprende a afectase (Thrift, 2008) por un modo de actividad específico (el emprendedurismo, la terapéutica de sí o la discapacidad, por ejemplo).…”

“…Athenea Digital, 15(2), 205-229. http://dx.doi.org/10.5565/rev/athenea.1402 La emergencia del individuo como unidad clave de problematización de lo social Un asunto de central importancia para las disciplinas que estudian a la sociedad es determinar cómo investigan a los actores que la componen. Desde la época clásica, las ciencias sociales y las humanidades se han preguntado cómo las psicologías, las mentes, los cuerpos y las capacidades de los seres humanos han sido conformadas socialmente por el capitalismo (Marx, 1867(Marx, /1975, la división del trabajo (Durkheim, 1893(Durkheim, /2001, la economía monetaria (Simmel, 1903(Simmel, /1971, la ética religiosa (Weber, 1905(Weber, /1975, la inhibición de los impulsos (Elias, 1938(Elias, /2009), los regímenes discursivos (Foucault, 1973(Foucault, /19941979, las instituciones totales (Goffman, 1959(Goffman, /1972, las ciencias psiquiátricas y psicológicas (Rose, 1989(Rose, /1999, la detradicionalización (Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2001;Beck, Giddens & Lash, 1994;Giddens, 1991;1992), las categorizaciones sociales (Hacking, 1999(Hacking, , 2002 y por la propia idea ilustrada del sujeto como una entidad autónoma, singular, racional y unitaria (Baudrillard, 1983(Baudrillard, /1994Callon & Law, 1997;Foucault, 1999;Thrift, 2008).…”

From Homo economicus to Complex Subjectivities: Reconceptualizing Farmers as Pesticide Users

“…They argue that how this habitus (cf Bourdieu 1984) changes needs to be a new focus for critical geography since “the mechanics of subject movement remain a matter for theoretical speculation” (Gibson‐Graham 2006:129). Thrift (2008:84) similarly advocates for switching away from subjects per se to focus on “the sites at which behavior is modified, that is with the moment, the location, and the mechanism through which difference or invention was produced”.…”