#brian massumi

[dentesguardados]

Hume e os neoliberais inverteram tudo. A satisfação não vem no fim, depois que os interesses próprios de alguém são perseguidos. Ela ocorre ao longo do caminho, no valor de autoafirmação do processo em si. Ocorre na experiência imediata de um "mais" qualitativo na vida, uma mais-valia de vida que é vivida intensamente, tal que sua vivência é em si sua própria recompensa. Chamar isso de "satisfação" é menosprezá-la, de tão diferente que ela é da satisfação hedonista, e tão mais vital. O termo de Spinoza funciona melhor: alegria. A alegria é muito mais do que um prazer. Ela registra a invenção de novas paixões, tendências e caminhos de ação que ampliam os poderes da vida, abundante em percepção. Registra devir. É um pensar-sentir imediato dos poderes da existência, numa intensificação apaixonada e num aumento tendencial. A alegria, nesse sentido, não se mapeia no prazer. Ela pode conter uma mistura de prazer e dor, ou inúmeras emoções contrastantes. Tampouco se transpões para qualquer emoção em particular ou para qualquer emparelhamento emocional contrastante. É o fator de vitalidade de todas as categorias hedonistas e emocionais. Não se trata de uma emoção: é o afeto da vitalidade. Existe uma variedade infinita de afetos da vitalidade. Cada acontecimento de percepção tem seu afeto de vitalidade, com seu próprio teor qualitativo e sua força tendencial -- seu próprio grau de intensidade. Nesse sentido, cada experiência é sua própria alegria. Uma emoção é um estado subjetivo. Uma alegria é uma expressão dividual-transindividual do potencial de inventividade da vida. [Alfred North] Whitehead se arrisca a dizer que o aumento na intensidade é o objetivo máximo da vida -- e até do "universo".

-- Brian Massumi, A economia contra si mesma, p. 101-2, N-1 Edições, trad. Alyne Azuma

[dipnotski]

Brian Massumi – Postkapitalist Manifesto (2024)

Kapitalizm bugün her yerde. Sadece fabrikalarda veya borsalarda değil, ikili ilişkilerimizde, eğlence alışkanlıklarımızda, devletlerarası ilişkilerde bile ağırlığını hissettiriyor. Alışveriş yaparken sosyal medyada dolaşırken, hatta tatilimizi veya geleceğimiz planlarken, özgür irademizle seçimler yaptığımız düşünürken, tıpkı suyun içinde yüzdüğünü bilmeyen balıklar gibi olağan hayatımıza devam…

[coldalbion]

Building (in)Capacities:Or, Glamours of Disability

Spent my entire Fiday hammering this out. A sort of response to when someone said exploring generative incapacity as an enquiry was "glamourising disability". Contains James Baldwin, Bayo Akomolafe, John Lee Clark, Brian Massumi, tigers, labyrinths and minotaurs. Also brief descriptions of gangrene.

[dailyanarchistposts]

A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window.

—Brian Massumi[8]

Personally, I want to be nurturing life when I go down in struggle. I want nurturing life to BE my struggle.

—Zainab Amadahy[9]

Resistance and joy are everywhere

Anyone who has been transformed through a struggle can attest to its power to open up more capacities for resistance, creativity, action, and vision. This sense of collective power—the sense that things are different, that we are different, that a more capable “we” is forming that didn’t exist before—is what we mean by joyful transformation. Joyful transformation entails a new conception of militancy, which is already emerging in many movements today. To be militant about joy means being attuned to situations or relationships, and learning how to participate in and support the transformation, rather than directing or controlling it.

Everywhere, people are recovering, sustaining, and reinventing worlds that are more intense and alive than the form of life offered up by Empire. The web of control that exploits and administers life—ranging from the most brutal forms of domination to the subtlest inculcation of anxiety and isolation—is what we call Empire. It includes the interlocking systems of settler colonialism, white supremacy, the state, capitalism, ableism, ageism, and heteropatriarchy. Using one word to encapsulate all of this is risky because it can end up turning Empire into a static thing, when in fact it is a complex set of processes. These processes separate people from their power, their creativity, and their ability to connect with each other and their worlds.

We say worlds, in the plural, because part of Empire’s power is to bring us all into the same world, with one morality, one history, and one direction, and to convert differences into hierarchical, violent divisions. As other worlds emerge through resistance and transformation, they reveal more of the violence of Empire. Insurrections and revolts on the street reveal that the police are an armed gang and that “keeping the peace” is war by other means. Pushing back against sexualized violence reveals the ways that rape culture continues to structure daily life. Indigenous resurgence reveals the persistent concreteness of settler colonial occupation and the charade of apologizing for genocide and dispossession as if they were only part of the past. Holding assemblies where people can formulate problems together, make decisions collectively, and care for one another reveals the profound alienation and individualism of life under Empire. Trying to raise kids (or even share space with them) without controlling them reveals the ways that ageism and schooling stifle young people and segregate generations. Struggles against anti-Black racism and white supremacy reveal the continuities between slavery, apartheid, and mass incarceration, in which slave catchers have evolved into police and plantations have shaped prisons. The movements of migrants reveal the interconnected violence of borders, imperialism, and citizenship. And the constant resistance to capitalism, even when fleeting, reveals the subordination, humiliation, and exploitation required by capital. As these struggles connect and resonate, Empire’s precarity is being revealed everywhere, even if it continues to be pervasive and devastating.

There is no doubt that we live in a world of intertwined horrors. Borders tighten around bodies as capital flows ever more freely; corporations suck lakes dry to sell bottled water; debt proliferates as a tool of control and dispossession; governments and corporations attack Indigenous lands and bodies while announcing state-controlled recognition and reconciliation initiatives; surveillance is increasingly ubiquitous; addiction, depression and anxiety proliferate along with new drugs to keep bodies working; gentrification tears apart neighborhoods to make way for glassy condos; people remain tethered to jobs they hate; the whole world is becoming toxic; bombs are dropped by drones controlled by soldiers at a distant computer console; a coded discourse of criminality constructs Black bodies as threats, targeting them with murder and imprisonment; climatic and ecological catastrophes intensify as world leaders debate emissions targets; more of us depend on food and gadgets made half a world away under brutal conditions; we are encouraged to spend more time touching our screens than the people we love; it is easier for many of us to envision the end of the world than the end of capitalism.[10]

We suspect that anyone reading this already knows and feels this horror in one way or another. When we say that struggles reveal the violence of Empire, it’s not that everyone was unaware of it before. However, upwellings of resistance and insurrection make this knowing palpable in ways that compel responses. In this sense, it is not that people first figure out how oppression works, then are able to organize or resist. Rather it is resistance, struggle, and lived transformation that make it possible to feel collective power and carve out new paths.

[horsesource]

"According to [Raymond] Ruyer, the circumstances of an actualization, the conditions calling for a potential’s appearing, are not sufficient to explain the quality that appears. You can describe what conditions are necessary for the appearance of red until you’re blue in the face, and you will still not be able to convey to a color-blind person what red is..The bodily conditions of a color-blind person’s vision do not 'want' any red..

Qualities of experience are subjective..in the sense that they have a character. They are their character...There is nothing 'behind' the qualitative character exhibited in their appearance that would explain what they are any better than the appearing of the character explains itself. In fact, explanations of what lies behind the appearance are more apt to lose the quality than present it better. A complete account of the physical and physiological conditions behind the appearance of red includes many things—red excluded..arrived at precisely by subtracting the defining character of the occasion from it: the scientific explanation of the red of the sunset begins by bracketing redness, the qualitativeness of red..The empirical explanation 'hows' itself into an acquired color-blindness. When it sees red, it just sees red, such as it is—and proceeds to explain away that experiential fact with an abstractive explanation of how it came to be. The implications of this for neuropsychology, and its humanities cousins like neuroaesthetics, are grave."

Brian Massumi

“Several times, after [scientists] had talked (at some length) about the heterogeneity of autism, about its trickiness as a disorder, and about the lack of certainty surrounding its existence as a clinical entity in the first place, there was a bit of a pause. Then they would say, nonetheless, that there was something distinct and knowable about autism all the same, even when this commitment could only be articulated as a kind of feeling or as something that you just knew. I first heard something like this from a child psychiatrist who was also an active brain-imaging researcher..

He said: ‘Yeah well, in the clinic, as you say, there are often people who fall short on one or more of [the standard autism scales used in research], and then you’ve got to use your clinical judgment to decide whether the level of impairment they have is sufficient to warrant the diagnosis despite falling short on one or more of those tools, or their, sort of, how they feel to you….’

I was quite taken with the use of the word feel in this context..how autism remains something qualitatively distinct and knowable for these scientists, even when all research hitherto has failed to ultimately isolate it..”

Des Fitzgerald Tracing Autism

[digitalmedia-by-tejas]

The Affect of Hope: Chaplin's Speech in "The Great Dictator".

9.1 Abstract

The "Great Dictator" was a 1940s political satire movie with a runtime of 125 minutes. Written directed and produced by Charlie Chaplin, this movie is "a masterpiece that isn't just a delightful comedy and a grim agitprop drama, but a spookily accurate insight into Hitler's psychology" (Barber, 2021). And this blog is centered around one particular speech from this movie that comes at around the 1:53:55 mark of the movie. This speech lasts for approximately three minutes and thirty three seconds and is often regarded as one of the greatest speeches in cinema. The speech is a plea for humanity and has been resonating with people from around the world even today. But why does it continue to feel so powerful? Using affect theory, we can understand how Chaplin’s performance goes beyond words, creating an emotional force that stirs something deep within us.

(Fig; The Great Dictator Movie poster, Available at: https://image.tmdb.org /t/p/original/1QpO9wo7JWecZ4NiBuu625FiY1j.jpg (Accessed: 20 December 2024).)

9.2 Introduction

Affect theory is an abstract concept, with no single definition. In her journal article Marta Figlerowicz describes affect theory as "grounded in movements or flashes of mental or somatic activity rather than causal narratives of their origins and end points"(Figlerowicz, 2012). This idea conveys that human emotions are not linear and well defined, rather, they are spontaneous and fleeing across, moving from one body to the another. To expand on this notion we can look into the works of scholars like Massumi, who explain that human emotions arent just an interior, individual event; they are like rivers flowing from people to people, influencing how we connect, feel, and act in accordance with each other (Vogler, 2021). Or Sara Ahmed, who in her work "cultural politics of Emotions", deploys a model of affective contagion, focusing more on what emotions do and how they circulate rather than what they are. (Gorton, 2007)

It is this property that makes affect theory an excellent tool for analyzing this classic Charlie Chaplin piece.

9.2 The Affect of Hope

(Fig; Charlie Chaplin delivering the last speech, Available at: https://images.squar espace-cdn.com/content/v1/574f0b9a37013b939ab0b866/1489410266316-NAWXFGU9IHW3N8U9BX64/image-asset.jpeg (Accessed: 20 December 2024).)

The entirety of the final speech in "The Good Dictator" is filled with hope, But one of the most striking parts of this speech is Chaplin's declaration stating that, "The good earth is rich and can provide for everyone." The way he delivers these lines with a steady and sincere tone makes audiences feel like hope is not an abstract concept but a very tangible and real thing.

Ahmed (2010) describes hope as a “binding affect”—something that pulls people together by imagining a better future. And this affect of hope that comes from these lines have travelled for almost a century and they still hold true to this day. Bringing in the emotions of possibilities and togetherness.

And while we can say that the speech itself is full of hope, It also does not shy away from confronting the preexisting fears head-on "If you do not unite, you will be lost", but this line is more of a motivator than a paralyzing or demotivating statement. Brian Massumi describes describes fear as an emotion that can create momentum, and push us toward change (Massumi, 2002). And Chaplin brilliantly used that fear and channeled it towards something productive, conveying that while it may seem hopeless and lost, the power to act on is always in out hands.

9.3 Relevancene and Conclusion

Chaplin's speech is more relevant today than ever before. With a world grappling with more inequality, authoritarianism, and environmental crises, his call for togetherness and, kindness, and unity is as urgent as ever.

Affect theory reminds us that emotions aren’t just something we feel—they’re something we share.

And this speech is a perfect example of how timeless and legendary a piece of media can become If it masters the art of emotionally connecting with its audience. I personally believe that this movie is a very good case study for any up-and-coming storytellers on how to write a timeless classic. By analyzing and studying this human connection, I believe even we storytellers can tell tales that would hold true and speak to audiences across borders and generations just as Charlie Chaplin still speaks to us 80 years later.

9.4 References

Ahmed, S. (2010) The Promise of Happiness. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Barber, N. (2021) 'The Great Dictator: the film that dared to laugh at Hitler', BBC Culture, 5 February. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210204-the-great-dictator-the-film-that-dared-to-laugh-at-hitler#:~:text=The%20Great%20Dictator%20is%20a,in%20a%20making%2Dof%20documentary (Accessed: 20 December 2024).

Figlerowicz, M. (2012) 'Affect Theory Dossier: An Introduction', Qui Parle, 20(2), pp. 3–18. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5250/quiparle.20.2.0003 (Accessed: 20 December 2024).

Gorton, K. (2007) 'Theorizing emotion and affect', Feminist Theory, 8(3), pp. 273–295. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1464700107082369 (Accessed: 20 December 2024).

Massumi, B. (2002) Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation. Durham: Duke University Press.

Vogler, G. (2021) 'Bridging the gap between affect and reason: on thinking-feeling in politics', Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 22(3), pp. 259–276. doi: 10.1080/1600910X.2021.1927782.

[cuadernosafectivos]

Affect as a whole is the virtual co-presence of potentials.

Brian Massumi (Politics of Affect, 2015, p.5)

[mindinganother]

tarte au citron brian massumi meringuée

[allael]

The question is not, Is it true? But, Does it work? What new thoughts does it make possible to think? What new emotions does it make possible to feel? What new sensations and perceptions does it open in the body?

📘 A User Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Brian Massumi, 1992.

[unround]

dont forget

Brian Massumi

[hobodiffusion]

★ 24 mai 2024 > bit.ly/hobo-24mai2024

★ Les nouveautés de nos éditrices et éditeurs sorties le 24 mai 2024 > bit.ly/hobo-24mai2024

Selma JAMES, Sexe, race et classe, Premiers Matins de Novembre

Maria MIES, Patriarcat et accumulation à l'échelle mondiale, Entremonde

PROJET EVASIONS, Petit manuel d'autodéfense en interrogatoire, Éditions du commun

Bertrand BRÉQUEVILLE, L'Humanitaire à l'épreuve de l'impérialisme, Éditions Critiques

Yann DEY-HELLE, Atlas du football populaire, Terres de Feu

CIRA, Refuser de parvenir, Nada

Awa THIAM, La Parole aux négresses, Divergences

Lourdes URANGA LÓPEZ, Guérillera, Éditions du bout de la ville

Jérémie PIOLAT, Portrait du colonialiste, Éditions Libre

Brian MASSUMI, Agitations, Météores

Hélène CLASTRES, Les Morts en partage, Grevis

Juliette FARJAT, Le Langage de la vie réelle, Éditions sociales

Gilles DAUVÉ, Pommes de terre contre gratte-ciel, Entremonde

Nicolas CASAUX, Mensonges renouvelables et capitalisme décarboné, Éditions Libre

Jack LONDON, Les Mains de Midas, Tendance Négative

Virginia PESEMAPEO BORDELEAU, Ourse bleue, Dépaysage

Sarah HASSENFORDER, Pépite, Blast

Audrey CLEES, Seule, Daronnes

Sarah PÈPE, Celle qui ne dit pas a dit, Daronnes

Thomas GEHA, Alone, Goater

Ève GABRIEL CHABANON, The Surplus of the Non-Producer, Rotolux Press

Frans MASEREEL & Christian DU BREUIL, L'Œuvre, Ravin bleu

"Nous sommes l'inévitable. Nous sommes l'apogée du mal social et industriel. Nous nous retournons contre la société qui nous a créés. Nous sommes les échecs réussis du siècle, les plaies d'une civilisation dégradée." Jack London, Les Mains de Midas, Tendance Négative.

[miafreemanardn800]

12/04 | Methods

Reading through a past example of the methodology chapter was very helpful. I've always found this chapter really hard to write about because I've never properly understood the structure or how I'm supposed to talk about each methods. Using the structure that Andrew introduced, we highlighted advantages, definitions, quotes etc. to see how these are used to back up and describe how the method was used. Breaking down the structure made it super clear how to discuss each method and what should be covered in each discussion.

My Methods

Looking firstly at aim in relation to methods. I focused more on techniques and methods of actual making rather than ways to generate ideas and create things, so I need to go through these again. I was a bit confused by these questions so I'm going to do some more research and come back to these for each of my aims.

I wrote up the methods I normally use when making and split them up into three main sections. This is how I split my methods last year in my old exegesis and it really helped me understand my process so I've started by re-outlining this process and can develop it more throughout this project. Andrew suggested I look into action research and Brian Massumi's thinking-feeling concept to help refine my methods. I already know that my methodology will be mostly auto-ethnographic since my project is so personal.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Footnotes 1 - 100

[1] Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Berkeley: Crossing Press, 1984), 4.

[2] Raoul Vaneigem, The Revolution of Everyday Life, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (Seattle: Rebel Press, 2001), 26.

[3] Michel Foucault, “Preface,” in Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983), xi–xiv.

[4] The concept of the “public secret” originated with situationism, and we borrow it from the Institute of Precarious Consciousness, in their suggestion that anxiety is a public secret of contemporary capitalism. See Institute for Precarious Consciousness, “Anxiety, Affective Struggle, and Precarity Consciousness-Raising,” Interface 6/2 (2014), 271–300.

[5] Alfredo M. Bonanno, Armed Joy (London: Elephant Editions, 1998), https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alfredo-m-bonanno-armed-joy.

[6] See, for instance: John Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today, 2nd Revised Edition (London: Pluto Press, 2005), 19–42; The Invisible Committee, To Our Friends 216–219.

[7] The concept of sad militancy comes to us from Michel Foucault and Colectivo Situaciones. See Foucault, “Preface”; Colectivo Situaciones, “Something More on Research Militancy: Footnotes on Procedures and (In)Decisions,” in Constituent Imagination, ed. Erika Biddle and Stevphen Shukaitis (Oakland: AK Press, 2007), 73–93.

[8] Brian Massumi, “Translator’s Foreword: Pleasures of Philosophy,” in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987), ix–xv.

[9] Zainab Amadahy, “Protest Culture: How’s It Working for Us?,” Rabble.ca, July 20, 2010, http://rabble.ca/news/2010/07/protest-culture-how%E2%80%99s-it-working-us.

[10] This phrase is often attributed to Frederic Jameson who wrote “Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism.” See Frederic Jameson, “Future City,” New Left Review 21 (2003), 77.

[11] Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983), 38.

[12] Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (Trumansburg: Crossing Press, 1984), 53.

[13] “The Wild Beyond: With and for the Undercommons,” in The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study, by Fred Moten and Stefano Harney (Wivenhoe: Minor Compositions, 2013), 10. http://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/undercommons-web.pdf.

[14] Gilles Deleuze and Claire Parnet, Dialogues II, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 61.

[15] Dean Spade, “On Normal Life,” interview by Natalie Oswin, Society and Space (January 2014), http://societyandspace.org/2014/01/15/on-6/.

[16] “Joy—Definition of Joy in English,” Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/joy.

[17] Rebecca Solnit, “We Could Be Heroes,” EMMA Talks, Vancouver, February 17, 2016. http://emmatalks.org/session/rebecca-solnit/.

[18] Sara Ahmed, The Promise of Happiness (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010), 192.

[19] Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, “Indict the System: Indigenous & Black Connected Resistance,” LeanneSimpson.ca, http://leannesimpson.ca/indict-the-system-indigenous-black-connected-resistance/ (accessed November 28, 2014).

[20] Our interpretation of Spinoza’s concept of joy comes from many sources, but one of the most helpful is Mary Zournazi’s interview with the affect theorist Brian Massumi, in which he distinguishes joy from happiness. See Mary Zournazi, “Navigating Movements: A Conversation with Brian Massumi,” in Hope: New Philosophies for Change, by Mary Zournazi (New York: Routledge, 2002), 241–242.

[21] Gustavo Esteva, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, email, April 26, 2014.

[22] Silvia Federici, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, telephone, January 18, 2016.

[23] Lorde, Sister Outsider, 57.

[24] adrienne maree brown, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, email, November 11, 2015.

[25] This reading of Deleuze is indebted to conversations with Kim Smith and the reading she has developed of Susan Ruddick. See Susan Ruddick, “The Politics of Affect: Spinoza in the Work of Negri and Deleuze,” Theory, Culture & Society 27/4 (2010), 21–45.

[26] Bædan, “The Anti-Social Turn,” Bædan 1: Journal of Queer Nihilism (August 2012), 186.

[27] This notion of wisdom is drawn from Claire Carlisle’s helpful explanation of Spinozan wisdom as something akin to “emotional intelligence.” See Claire Carlisle, “Spinoza, Part 7: On the Ethics of the Self,” The Guardian, March 21, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/mar/21/spinoza-ethics-of-the-self.

[28] Marina Sitrin, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, email, February 4, 2016.

[29] “Militant,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Militant&oldid=754366474 (accessed December 12, 2016).

[30] Melanie Matining, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, in person, May 6, 2014.

[31] Jackie Wang, “Against Innocence: Race, Gender and the Politics of Safety,” LIES Journal 1 (2012), 13.

[32] Idem, 10.

[33] Glen Coulthard, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, in person, March 16, 2016.

[34] Ibid.

[35] Kiera L. Ladner and Leanne Simpson, eds., This Is an Honour Song: Twenty Years since the Blockades (Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring, 2010), 1.

[36] Deborah B. Gould, Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP’s Fight against AIDS (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), 178.

[37] Sebastián Touza, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, email, February 2, 2016.

[38] Sebastián Touza, “Antipedagogies for Liberation Politics, Consensual Democracy and Post-Intellectual Interventions” (PhD dissertation, Simon Fraser University, 2008), 136–7. https://www.academia.edu/544417/Antipedagogies_for_liberation_politics_consensual_democracy_and_post-intellectual_interventions.

[39] For a fuller discussion of these dynamics, see Marina Sitrin, Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina (London: Zed Books, 2012).

[40] Margaret Killjoy, interview by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery, email, March 8, 2014.

[41] Anonymous, “Robot Seals as Counter-Insurgency: Friendship and Power from Aristotle to Tiqqun,” Human Strike, https://humanstrike.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/robot-seals-as-counter-insurgency-friendship-and-power-from-aristotle-to-tiqqun/ (accessed August 27, 2013).

[42] brown, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[43] The turn of phrase “making kin” comes to us from the feminist philosopher Donna Haraway. See Donna Haraway, “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin,” Environmental Humanities 6/1 (2015), 161.

[44] Idem, 163.

[45] “Freedom—Definition of Freedom in English,” Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/freedom.

[46] Douglas Harper, “Free (Adj.),” Online Etymology Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=free (accessed November 30, 2016).

[47] Ibid.

[48] Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, eds., Word Histories and Mysteries: From Abracadabra to Zeus (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), 103.

[49] Invisible Committee, To Our Friends, trans. Robert Hurley (South Pasadena: Semiotext(e), 2015), 127.

[50] Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks, 2008), Chapter XIII, Of the Natural Condition of Mankind.

[51] This short account of the Age of Reason is drawn primarily from Silvia Federici. See Federici, Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (New York: Autonomedia, 2004), 133–62.

[52] Some books we have found helpful include Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010); Gilles Deleuze, Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza, trans. Martin Joughin (New York: Zone Books, 1992); Moira Gatens, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Benedict Spinoza (University Park: Penn State University Press, 2009); Antonio Negri, The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza’s Metaphysics and Politics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991); Tiqqun, Introduction to Civil War, trans. Alexander R. Galloway and Jason E. Smith (Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2010).

[53] Our reading of Spinoza is drawn primarily from Deleuze and those he has influenced. For helpful introductions to this lineage, see Gilles Deleuze, “Lecture on Spinoza’s Concept of Affect” (Lecture, Cours Vincennes, Paris, 1978), https://www.gold.ac.uk/media/deleuze_spinoza_affect.pdf; Michael Hardt, “The Power to Be Affected,” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 28/3 (September 1, 2015), 215–22; Brian Massumi, Politics of Affect (Cambridge: Polity, 2015).

[54] “Ethics—Definition of Ethics in English,” Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ethics.

[55] Deleuze, “Lecture on Spinoza’s Concept of Affect.”

[56] This anecdote is based on conversations and exchanges with Kim Smith.

[57] Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection (Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2009), 32.

[58] Haraway, “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene.”

[59] Ivan Illich to Madhu Suri Prakash, “Friendship,” n.d.

[60] This is drawn from Anonymous, “Robot Seals as Counter-Insurgency.”

[61] Coulthard, Interview with Glen Coulthard.

[62] See for instance Maria Mies, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour (London: Zed Books, 2014); Andrea Smith, “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Colour Organizing,” in The Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology, INCITE! Women of Colour Against Violence, eds., (Oakland: South End Press, 2006), 66–73; Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2010); Federici, Caliban and the Witch.

[63] Silvia Federici, “Preoccupying: Silvia Federici,” interview by Occupied Times, October 25, 2014, http://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=13482.

[64] Dean Spade, “For Lovers and Fighters,” in We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists, ed. Melody Berger (Emeryville: Seal Press, 2006), 28–39, http://www.makezine.enoughenough.org/newpoly2.html.

[65] bell hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (New York: Routledge, 2006), 249.

[66] Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, “I Am Not a Nation-State,” Indigenous Nationhood Movement, November 6, 2013, http://nationsrising.org/i-am-not-a-nation-state/.

[67] Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, email, November 2, 2015.

[68] Raúl Zibechi, Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements, trans. Ramor Ryan (Oakland: AK Press, 2012), 39.

[69] Idem, 41.

[70] Silvia Federici, “Permanent Reproductive Crisis: An Interview with Silvia Federici,” interview by Marina Vishmidt, July 3, 2013, http://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/permanent-reproductive-crisis-interview-silvia-federici.

[71] Mia Mingus, “On Collaboration: Starting With Each Other,” Leaving Evidence, August 3, 2012, https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/on-collaboration-starting-with-each-other/.

[72] Gustav Landauer, Revolution and Other Writings: A Political Reader, ed. Gabriel Kuhn (Oakland: PM Press, 2010), 214.

[73] Idem, 90.

[74] Idem, 101.

[75] Idem, 91.

[76] scott crow, Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy, and the Common Ground Collective, 2nd ed. (Oakland: PM Press, 2014), 199.

[77] Richard J. F. Day, Gramsci Is Dead: Anarchist Currents in the Newest Social Movements (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2005), 127.

[78] Richard J. F. Day, “From Hegemony to Affinity,” Cultural Studies 18/5 (2004), 716–48.

[79] Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, Ya Basta!: Ten Years of the Zapatista Uprising, ed. Ziga Vodovnik, (Oakland: AK Press, 2004), 77.

[80] Gloria Anzaldúa, “(Un)natural Bridges, (Un)safe Spaces,” in This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation, Gloria Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating, eds. (New York: Routledge, 2002), 3.

[81] Zainab Amadahy, “Community, ��Relationship Framework’ and Implications for Activism,” Rabble.ca, July 13, 2010, http://rabble.ca/news/2010/07/community-%E2%80%98relationship-framework%E2%80%99-and-implications-activism.

[82] Coulthard, Interview by.

[83] Glen Sean Coulthard, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition (Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 2014), 31.

[84] Coulthard, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[85] Leanne Simpson, Dancing On Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence, and a New Emergence (Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Press, 2011), 32.

[86] Luam Kidane and Jarrett Martineau, “Building Connections across Decolonization Struggles,” ROAR, October 29, 2013, https://roarmag.org/essays/african-indigenous-struggle-decolonization/.

[87] Harsha Walia, “Decolonizing Together: Moving beyond a Politics of Solidarity toward a Practice of Decolonization,” Briarpatch, January 1, 2012, https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/decolonizing-together.

[88] Coulthard, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[89] Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None, trans. Thomas Wayne (New York: Algora Publishing, 2003), 42.

[90] Coulthard, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[91] Mingus, “On Collaboration.”

[92] Simpson, interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman.

[93] Ursula LeGuin, “Ursula K Le Guin’s Speech at National Book Awards: ‘Books Aren’t Just Commodities,’” The Guardian, November 20, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/20/ursula-k-le-guin-national-book-awards-speech.

[94] scott crow, Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy, and the Common Ground Collective, 2nd ed. (Oakland: PM Press, 2014), 173.

[95] adrienne maree brown, “That Would Be Enough,” adriennemareebrown.net, September 6, 2016, http://adriennemareebrown.net/2016/09/06/that-would-be-enough/.

[96] VOID Network, “VOID Network on the December 2008 Insurrection in Greece,” B.A.S.T.A.R.D. Conference, University of California, Berkeley, March 14, 2010, https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/03/18/18641710.php.

[97] Many works within this current remain untranslated into English; however, there are a few English sources. In particular, we learned a lot from Sebastian Touza’s PhD dissertation and our interview with him. See Colectivo Situaciones, 19&20: Notes for a New Social Protagonism, trans. Nate Holdren and Sebastian Touza (New York: Minor Compositions, 2012); Deleuze, “Lecture on Spinoza’s Concept of Affect”; Marta Malo de Molina, “Common Notions, Part 1: Workers-Inquiry, Co-Research, Consciousness-Raising,” European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies, April 2004, http://eipcp.net/transversal/0406/malo/en; Marta Malo de Molina:, “Common Notions, Part 2: Institutional Analysis, Participatory Action-Research, Militant Research,” European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies, April 2004, http://eipcp.net/transversal/0707/malo/en; Touza, “Antipedagogies for Liberation Politics, Consensual Democracy and Post-Intellectual Interventions”; Touza, Interview with Sebastián Touza.

[98] Touza, “Antipedagogies for Liberation Politics, Consensual Democracy and Post-Intellectual Interventions,” 210.

[99] Nora Samaran, “On Gaslighting,” Dating Tips for the Feminist Man, June 28, 2016, https://norasamaran.com/2016/06/28/on-gaslighting/.

[100] Matt Hern, “The Promise of Deschooling,” Social Anarchism 25 (1998), http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display_printable/130.

[horsesource]

Brian Massumi

[digitalmedia-by-tejas]

Want some ‘Scare-otonin'?

2.1 The History of the Undead

Creepy blood curdling bedtime stories have been around since the dawn of human civilization. Being used as a way to get the kids to bed or just to keep future civilizations away from certain threats these stories have been an integral part of humanity. And naturally as humans progressed the methods of telling these stories changed.

Although, given the history of its genre, its difficult to pinpoint the origin of "horror" as a media element, However, according to India Marriott, we can accredit "Grimms’ Fairy Tales (1812)" as the first piece of horror ever published (Marriott, 2023). This book was a collection of fairy tales and legends that have been told for centuries, with popular stories like hansel and gretel as a part of their collection (Marriott, 2023).

Fast forward to the late 19th century, and the horror genre would evolve yet again, making its debut in the realm of film with the first horror film "Le Manoir du Diable", by the renowned French director releasing in 1896 Georges Méliès (New York Film Academy, 2022). And the genre has only moved forward ever since encapsulating more audiences than ever before.

But, this does beg the question of "Why do people across cultures and times love it so much? And how can we the storytellers use this evergreen genre to tell effective stories that also have meanings behind them?", well one of the answers lie in the health benefits of this genre.

{https://media.istockphoto.com/id/686063054/photo/zombie-hand-halloween-graveyard-night-monster-scary.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=WGQ4GkG_BluTo16qtEEV4KJM4zjS3jbMjeCU2flwwUw=} (Accessed on Nov 1 2024)

2.2 The curious knock on the gates of the unknown

My personal interest in this topic started with the article titled "The Psychological Benefits of Scary Play in Three Types of Horror Fans" published on July 2021 by Colten Scrivner, Mars Andersen, Uffe Schjødt and Mathias Clasen. In their study they categorised the entire fanbase into 3 different categories Adrenaline Junkies, White Knucklers, and Dark Copers, this distinction was made because of the specific reasons and benefits one had, after engaging with recreational horror. Their research concluded that "Adrenaline Junkies use recreational horror for immediate enjoyment, while White Knucklers feel they learn and develop from the experience. They also found a third category, the Dark Coper, who appears to derive both immediate enjoyment and personal learning and development. In a way, they concluded, Dark Copers may represent a kind of super consumer; an athlete of recreational horror who derives immediate pleasure from the workout and reaps the long-term benefits of training." (Scrivner et al., 2022). But this itself wasn't enough for me, as they did not dive deep into the specifics, and overall it felt pretty broad. So, I wanted to know more about the exact benefits and its effects on people, along with some real life examples not just numbers and data.

And later, We will try to use  Brian Massumi's Affect theory to analyze all the findings and bind this blog together.

2.3 Entering the Abyss

The first study I stumbled upon on this topic was by G Neil Martin titled "(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films". In which he basically synthesizes existing research to the connection between psychology, emotions, and demographic factors that influence the experience of the horror genre. This research concluded that "priming with information about the feared object helps reduce fear and increase enjoyment when children watch a film featuring the feared stimulus;" (Martin, 2019). This means that more exposure to potentially scary and stressful events even in the form of a movie can help build immunity to that stimulus similar to how exposure therapy works.

Fig; iStock, 2019. Scared man watching horror movies at night. [image] Available at: https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1092121720/photo/scared-man-watching-horror-movies-at-night.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=iKV7EbVlsEEVEKY7g0XsQ3MZNoGkaNoBEZDrMLkNtBA= [Accessed 6 January 2025].

Another article by Lindsay Weisner, published in Psychology Today titled "The benefits of true crime and horror movies" gives a more in-depth overview of the benefits of not just watching horror but the different types of horror across different sections of the population.

In her article, she states that horror media can develop various coping skills in people that can translate to an increased sense of real-life survival skills, making the population more resilience to actual global catastrophes like a worldwide pandemic (Weisner, 2021). She argues that "films that imagine surviving an end of the word scenario -- no matter how unlikely -- have been linked to a greater ability to prepare for unlikely events, and higher levels of resiliency, or the ability to bounce back when things go wrong." (Weisner, 2021).

Amongst other benefits she states that watching a good horror marathon can help with blood pressure, help exercise arteries, and release adrenaline. Furthermore, this controlled increase of heart rate leads to a spike in oxygen intake which she directly equates to the same effect as jogging. It can also be a deciding factor in a "life or death" scenario in the real world as "frequent exposure to the stuff that nightmares are made of, actually changes the way your brain processes information. The human brain is designed to keep us alive in the face of the threat. Perhaps you have heard of the “fight or flight” response? In neurological terms, when you encounter something that threatens your survival, like a big scary werewolf, your brain releases a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol causes the release of adrenaline, which in turn makes you a better fighter or a faster runner. Cortisol also increases your fear memory. And fear memory helps us avoid harmful things in the future, this increases our odds of survival the next time we come across a big scary werewolf" (Weisner, 2021).

This was a good start for the research as till now I had found various psychological and physical benefits of this genre from very reliable sources across the academic sphere. The research and conclusion goes in depth with human evolutionary traits and the role of "fear" as an emotion in the survival of the homosapiens.

2.4 The Unexpected Twist

But its not all rainbows and butterflies for the horror genre. As an article published by Ima Liana Esa1, Chairunnisa2, Salsabila Rakhfi Khoirunnisa2, Nailul Mona2 and Salva Feyza Najwa Zaferina of Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universitas Indonesia, Jl Margonda Raya, Depok titled "THE EFFECT OF WATCHING HORROR FILM ON HEALTH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN INDONESIA" argues.

This research is aimed at finding the effects of the horror genre on kids aged between 10-17 years mainly their personality and emotional responses to this type of stimuli. In their research, they found that exposure to scary movies can adversely affect the mental well-being of kids. Children may encounter different emotional disruptions following exposure to horror movies, including fear, anxiety, and anticipation of unlikely events. The mental health of a child can be impacted by emotional disturbances, resulting in issues like insomnia, eating disorders, and behavioral problems. Discomfort is the sensation of unease or illness experienced by an individual. Children may face different emotional disturbances following the viewing of horror films, including fear, anxiety, anticipation of unlikely occurrences, and unease or discomfort. The emotional disruptions children feel after watching horror movies may persist for an extended period, even after the child has finished watching the film. These emotional disruptions have the potential to impact a child's psychological well-being and may result in issues like sleep disturbances, unhealthy eating habits, or behavioral issues (IL Esa, 2023).

2.5 The Arc that binds this all together

After the last article, I was pretty bummed out as, if assumed like a medicine, horror genre wasn't doing so well, having side effects that could literally change the personality of an individual. It would certainly wouldn't pass the CDC Clearance but then I came across a post on the National Geographic website that according to me affectively binds the entire blog together. This article titled "How horror movies can help people overcome real-world trauma" written by Nicole Johnson in 2020.

I will be using this post as a case study, as it was directly written from the perspective of the author based on his real life events. This would work as a great real life example to understand the overall point of the blog as well.

In his post, Johnson talks about the death of his mother in a very young age and how it affected him psychologically and emotionally to the point of him actually avoiding basic children activities like riding a bike, out of fear of dying young.

And it was actually a horror movie called "Return to horror high", that made him feel an increased sense of relief and euphoria after a long time, that movie ended up becoming his gateway movie into the horror genre and how he used horror movies as a escape way while dealing with real-life traumas like the death of other loved ones or divorce.

The then delves into the actual science behind those feelings, specifically "the exposure therapy', that's on play from behind the curtains. "Extensive research has confirmed the effectiveness of exposure therapy. It has been found particularly helpful for treating anxiety disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The treatment works by retraining the amygdala— the fear center of the brain—through a process of activating it via exposure to the feared object or situation. The benefit of a controlled fear experience like this is that it happens in a safe environment. The terror takes place under a therapist’s watchful eye, in situations that can be manipulated and ended at will. The therapeutic effect of horror movies may operate similarly: A 2018 study by Clasen, Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, and Johnson titled "Horror, personality, and threat simulation: A survey on the psychology of scary media" found that horror fans may enjoy being scared because it helps them gain a sense of mastery or control over their fears from the safety of living room couches or darkened movie theatres" (Johnson, 2022).

2.8 An Affective Lense

Affect Theory gives a perfect lense to analyse this nuanced approach of viewing horror genre as a psychological and emotional experience. Massuimi interprets affect as “the emotional energy that occurs when the body shifts from one emotional state to another, either amplifying or reducing our ability to respond to situations.”(Lenters, 2023), in simple terms means that affect emotional energy that occurs in the body when we experience something, in this case, horror. This changes how we feel or react . This change of energy determines how we react to things. This can be used to highlight how horror films engage the viewer's emotional memory, reinforcing survival mechanisms embedded in our physiology, such as fear responses and resilience (Martin, 2019). We can also use affect theory to explain how differently individuals view horror, aligning with Scrivner et al. (2022)'s categories of Adrenaline Junkies, White Knucklers, and Dark Copers. This categorization can be related to the direct affective responses people have, where some seak immediate emotional stimulation, while others process fear for personal growth or catharsis. This also reimposes my agenda that that horror is not just about fear; it also provides emotional regulation and psychological release. On the flip side, we also see the inverse reaction to horror from children, where younger audiences were observed experiencing emotional disruptions that can affect their well-being, showing that the intensity of horror's emotional impact can vary significantly (Esa et al., 2023). By using affect theory in this case, we can see how horror can both heal and harm. The major factors being an individual’s emotional state and personal resilience.

2.7 And Cut, That's a Wrap!

Ultimately, the path of horror is a very personal journey. While horror genre can serve as powerful tools for personal growth, resilience, and coping with trauma for some, they can also pose severe challenges, particularly for younger audiences. And although the research on this subject is very limited, I think it still provides us "the storytellers" a new perspective towards this genre, and can help us tell more engaging stories in a more empathetic ways making it more user centeric and inclusive to the audience. We also saw how academic tools like the affect theory, ultimately, can be used to enriches our understanding of horror by linking embodied emotions to psychological benefits and challenges, enabling us as storytellers to craft more empathetic, emotionally resonant narratives that balance thrill with meaningful emotional engagement (Johnson, 2022).

So, the next time you dive into a scary story as a member of the audience or the storyteller, remember: it’s not just about the fright; it’s about the strength you can find and harness within.

2.7 References

2.7.1 Clasen, M., Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, J., and Johnson, J.A. (2018) 'Horror, personality, and threat simulation: A survey on the psychology of scary media', Personality and Individual Differences, 126, pp. 20-30. Available at: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-58515-001 (Accessed: 1 November 2024).

2.7.2 Esa, I.L., Chairunnisa, C., Khoirunnisa, S.R., Mona, N., and Najwa Zaferina, S.F. (n.d.) 'The effect of watching horror film on health children and adolescents in Indonesia', Atlantis Press. Available at: https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125993569.pdf (Accessed: 1 November 2024).

2.7.3 Johnson, N. (2022) 'How horror movies can help people overcome real-world trauma', National Geographic, 30 October. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/how-horror-movies-can-help-overcome-trauma-and-relieve-stress (Accessed: 1 November 2024).

2.7.4 Marriott, I. (2023) The Evolution of the Horror Genre, Gale Literature Resource Center. Available at: https://review.gale.com/2023/02/02/the-evolution-of-the-horror-genre/ (Accessed: 1 November 2024).

2.7.5 Lenters, K., 2023. Affect theory and textual variations. In R. J. Tierney, F. Rizvi and K. Ercikan, eds. International Encyclopedia of Education (Fourth Edition). Elsevier, pp. 911-917. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.07082-2 [Accessed 6 January 2025].

2.7.6 Martin, G.N. (2019) '(Why) do you like scary movies? A review of the empirical research on psychological responses to horror films', Psychological Bulletin, 145(11), pp. 1154-1172. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6813198/#abstract1 (Accessed: 1 November 2024).

2.7.7 New York Film Academy (2022) 'How horror movies have changed since their beginning', New York Film Academy. Available at: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-horror-movies-have-changed-since-their-beginning/ (Accessed: 1 November 2024).

2.7.8 Scrivner, L., Garcia, S., and Gunter, R. (2022) 'The psychological benefits of scary play in three types of horror fans', Psychology of Popular Media, 11(2), pp. 186-197. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353296884_The_Psychological_Benefits_of_Scary_Play_in_Three_Types_of_Horror_Fans (Accessed: 1 November 2024).

2.7.9 Weisner, L. (2021) 'The benefits of true crime and horror movies', Psychology Today, 6 July. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-venn-diagram-life/202107/the-benefits-true-crime-and-horror-movies (Accessed: 1 November 2024).

[cuadernosafectivos]

When you affect something, you are at the same time opening yourself up to being affected in turn, and in a slightly different way than you might have been the moment before. You have made a transi-tion, however slight. You have stepped over a threshold. Affect is this passing of a threshold, seen from the point of view of the change in capacity. It's crucial to remember that Spinoza uses this to talk about the body. What a body is, he says, is what it can do as it goes along. This is a totally pragmatic definition. A body is defined by what capacities it carries from step to step. What these are exactly is changing constantly. A body's ability to affect or be affected - its charge of affect - isn't something fixed.

Brian Massumi (Politics of Affect, 2015, p.4)