Locating hatred: On the materiality of emotions

How do we locate hatred in the social fabric of human life? Where is it, and how do we detect it? Recent scholarly engagements with emotions have provided (at least) two rather separate kinds of answer to such questions. One, largely espoused by philosophers and psychologists, has sought to conceptualize emotions as complex conglomerates of cognitive processes, bodily sensations and dispositions to act, experienced by an individual human subject. Another path, more affiliated with anthropology and STS, has been occupied with transcending the boundaries of the personal body-mind as the limit of affects and emotions, locating them also beyond the individual: in spaces, atmospheres, objects – dispersed, across and in between. In this article, I explore what can be gained from a constructive dialogue between these different agendas when trying to make sense of the location of hate. The article suggests that we can use the more detailed outlines of the textures of specific emotions, found in the philosophy of emotions, as a basis for thinking about hate as an assemblage of particular narratives, evaluations, actions, and bodily configurations that can be distributed across different kinds of materiality. These considerations will be anchored in analytical reflections on hatred and its potential spatial and material manifestations in the context of the German Nazi state.     

Rehabilitating materiality: bodies,gods, and religion

In More Than Belief, Manuel A. Vásquez offers a theory of religion that attends to its multiple materialities by locating what religion scholars study in networks of bodies engaging in practices in particular places. With Vásquez' approach as a jumping-off point, this essay draws upon actor-network theory, as developed by John Law and Bruno Latour and applied by Albert Piette and Matthew Day, not only to attend to the materiality of human bodies but also to construe non-human entities, such as the gods and the category of ‘religion’ itself, as effective actors in the world.     

Methods of materiality: participant observation and qualitative research in psychology

This article challenges the hegemonic status of “language” as the primary substance of qualitative research in psychology, whether through interviews or recordings of naturally occurring talk. It thereby questions the overt focus on analyzing linguistic “meaning.” Instead, it is suggested that researchers should start paying attention to the material world (consisting of both human bodies and material objects) and what it means for how people live their lives. It is argued that this can be done by incorporating the concept of material presence to capture embodied and material layers of existence, and the method of participant observation is suggested as a viable approach to achieve this end. An empirical example of how authority is produced in a parent-teacher conference, not only through language but also through material objects and embodied being, is then presented. The article concludes by suggesting practical guidelines for incorporating attention to materiality in qualitative research.     

The veil and its materiality: Muslim women’s digital narratives about the burkini ban

ABSTRACT

In the summer of 2016, around 30 French cities banned the burkini—swimwear used by Muslim women that covers the entire body and head—from public beaches. French authorities supported the ban by claiming that the burkini was unhygienic, a uniform of Islamic extremism, and a symbol of women’s oppression. Muslim head-coverings, including the burkini, are religious objects whose materiality points to complex semantic meanings often mediated in Internet discourses. Through a qualitative analysis of visual and textual narratives against the burkini ban circulated by Muslim women, this article looks at the way digital media practices help counteract stereotypes and gain control of visual representations. Muslim women focus on two main topics: 1) they challenge the idea of Muslims being ‘aggressors’ by describing the burkini as a comfortable swimsuit not connected with terrorism; 2) they refuse to be considered ‘victims’ by showing that the burkini holds different meanings that do not necessarily entail women’s submission. Muslim women’s digital narratives positively associate the materiality of the burkini with safety and freedom and focus on secular values rather than religious meanings.     

The matter of motivating reasons

Philosophical Studies - It is now standard in the literature on reasons and rationality to distinguish normative reasons from motivating reasons. Two issues have dominated philosophical theorising...     

On the value of genealogy,materiality, and networks: a response

In response to the challenges posed by Steven Engler, Martha Finch, Mark Gardiner, Laura Harrington, Paul Johnson, and Michael Stausberg, this essay fleshes out key terms in More than Belief (2011), including genealogy, materialism, non-reductionism, and networks, showing their value in researching and theorizing about religion.     

Religion as practices of attachment and materiality: the making of Buddhism in contemporary London

This article aims to explore Buddhism’s often-overlooked presence on London’s urban landscape, showing how its quietness and subtlety of approach has allowed the faith to grow largely beneath the radar. It argues that Buddhism makes claims to urban space in much the same way as it produces its faith, being as much about the practices performed and the spaces where they are enacted as it is about faith or beliefs. The research across a number of Buddhist sites in London reveals that number of people declaring themselves as Buddhists has indeed risen in recent years, following the rise of other non-traditional religions in the UK; however, this research suggests that Buddhism differs from these in several ways. Drawing on Baumann’s (2002) distinction between traditionalist and modernist approaches to Buddhism, our research reveals a growth in each of these. Nevertheless, Buddhism remains largely invisible in the urban and suburban landscape of London, adapting buildings that are already in place, with little material impact on the built environment, and has thus been less subject to contestation than other religious movements and traditions. This research contributes to a growing literature which foregrounds the importance of religion in making contemporary urban and social worlds.     

The conceptual grouping effect: categories matter (and named categories matter more)

Do conceptual categories affect basic visual processing? A conceptual grouping effect for familiar stimuli is reported using a visual search paradigm. Search through conceptually-homogeneous non-targets was faster and more efficient than search through conceptually-heterogeneous non-targets. This effect cannot be attributed to perceptual factors and is not explained by a long-term representational reorganization due to perceptual-learning. Rather, conceptual categories seem to modulate visual representations dynamically, and are sensitive to task-demands. Verbally labeling a visual target further exaggerates the degree to which conceptual categories penetrate visual processing.     

Assembling the sense of home in emigrant elite athletes: Cultural transitions,narrative and materiality

ObjectiveDespite a growing body of literature on cultural transitions, little is known regarding how emigrant elite athletes experience and intra-act with the non-human environment in the host country, and how this affects their sense of home. This study explores the relationships between the material world and the embodied narratives, both personal and socio-cultural, regarding the process of assembling a new sense of home.Design and MethodsSeven Colombian emigrant elite athletes (4 female and 3 male), that emigrated pursuing the Olympic Dream, participated in this study. The philosophical concept of assemblage, from New Materialism approach, was used as a companion and extension of narrative dialogical analysis to analyse life-story interviews.ResultsEmigrant athletes define home as a place of refuge where they can express emotions, behave, and communicate in ways that ‘feel natural’. During cultural transitions, these athletes assembled a sense of home in two environments: the housing and the sport facilities. The relationships with (a) architectural spaces, (b) objects, (c) food, (d) technological apparels and (d) sport materiality facilitated or hindered the process of assembling a new sense of home in the host country.ConclusionsThe transformation of housing and the sport facilities into Home is a crucial process to improve the quality of emigrant athlete’s cultural transition. A deeper appreciation of materiality in research and applied practice is needed.