Four years ago, on May 15th 2011, we witnessed in the Spanish State ‘something’ that was quickly and popularly referred to as 15M or the Indignados. Since that day, 15M has had a tremendous impact on the way a large part of the Spanish population understands itself and its response-abilities and rights. In addition, 15M has affected the way in which a large part of the Spanish population understands its environment and those living-beings with whom said environment is co-created and co-inhabited. In this essay I immerse myself in an on-going non-disciplinary, multi-traditional multilogue with individuals being 15M. What I witness, feels and looks like a complex; mutating and dialogic; collective and cooperative; agonistic and transformative 'climate' that many refer to as el clima 15M (15m climate). Allowing different 15M wisdoms to frame the research, I envision this essay as an attempt at gaining a dialogical understanding of what it is that we might be speaking of when referring to 15M. Through this exploration, I seek to place my work within the sketched parameters of what James Tully refers to as public philosophy. The essay engages with individuals being 15M and with the vast literature in Spain around 15M and party-movement Podemos by academics and participants, and the European literature around populism, horizontality and Podemos grounded in Antonio Gramsci. It also draws on reciprocal elucidation literature in theory and in participatory, community-based social science. Moreover, the essay enters into dialogue with a whole body of literature on instrumental versus constitutive means-ends views of political change going back to Mahatma Gandhi and forward to Aldous Huxley, Richard Gregg, Hannah Arendt, Robert Young, Gene Sharp and Cesar Chavez. By giving ‘perspicuous representation’ or thick description of 15M by means of reciprocal elucidation, I am able to make a unique contribution to the theoretical literature on reciprocal elucidation and public philosophy. I am also able to disclose the field of 15M (the phenomenon) in a way that shows it to be different from the way 15M appears in other theoretical frames. Finally, the use of this method of reciprocal elucidation makes a unique contribution to community-based and engaged forms of social scientific research. / Graduate / 0422 / 0615 / 0344 / pouziel@uvic.ca

Internet révolutionne les foyers et concerne plus spécifiquement les adolescents. Il s'agit de nouvelles façons de communiquer, d’être en relation avec les pairs. Dans cette dynamique actuelle d'échanges caractérisée par un brouillage des repères habituels d'espace-temps, les adolescents se frayent une nouvelle voie d'accès à la connaissance, loin des sentiers battus de l'école et de la transmission familiale. La culture numérique adolescente paraît se heurter à une réalité scolaire qui ne fait plus sens. La scolarité mais aussi la vie familiale (soumise elle aussi à de profonds changements) subissent les conséquences de la reconfiguration du quotidien imposée par les nouvelles technologies. L'évolution de notre société a contribué au manque de visibilité de la place de l'adulte (parent/enseignant) dans le processus développemental de l'enfant et de l'adolescent. L’approche socio-constructiviste de Vygotski (1933 – Zone Proximale de Développement) ainsi que l’approche psychanalytique de Bion (1982 – capacité de penser) et de Winnicott (1971 – aire transitionnelle) posent l’importance de la place de l’Adulte dans les processus développementaux. La prédominance de la dimension d’horizontalité accentuée par les nouvelles technologies occultant l’exigence de verticalité semble s’accompagner de risques sur la socialisation et la mobilisation scolaire des adolescents. Cette recherche vise à identifier les relations entre les pratiques numériques, les représentations de l’engagement éducatif de l’Adulte (parents et enseignants) et la mobilisation scolaire des adolescents. La question que nous nous posons est la suivante : dans quelle mesure les pratiques numériques des adolescents peuvent-elles favoriser leur mobilisation scolaire ? Une enquête par questionnaires menée auprès de 323 collégiens, âgés de 11 à 16 ans, nous a permis de confirmer que les adolescents ayant élaboré des représentations de l’engagement éducatif parental vis-à-vis d’Internet en lien avec la scolarité investissent la sphère culturelle d’Internet. Les analyses de discours par l’approche phénoménologique, lexicométrique et à l’aide de catégories conceptualisantes, effectuées à l’issue des entretiens menés auprès d’un sous-échantillon de 9 adolescents confirment que la visibilité de la symbolique de la verticalité représentée par l’adulte (parents et enseignants) contribue à la co-construction de sens dans la mobilisation scolaire. L’étude de cas atteste de la pertinence de notre modèle soulignant l’importance des interactions d’une part et le rôle des processus inconscients d’autre part. / Internet revolutionizes homes and reaches more specifically teenagers. It’s a matter of practising, new ways of dealing with one’s peers, communicating. In this present exchanges dynamism characterized by a scrambling of usual spacing and timing marks, teenagers break their way in having access in Knowledges, turning aside from the beaten track (school and family). School as well as family life (under deep changes too) are closely questioned by the consequences of the reconfiguration of the daily life carried out by new technologies. The evolution of our society contributed to the want of visibility of the adult’s place (parents and teachers) in the developmental process of children and teenagers. The socio-constructivist approach of Vygotski (1933, Developmental Proximal Zone) as well as the psycho-analytic approach of Winnicott (1972, Transitional area) and of Bion, (1982, the Thinking ability) set the importance of the adult’s place in the developmental processes. The prevalence of the horizontal dimension emphasized by new technologies hid-ing the need of verticality seems to go along with socialization and school risks for teenagers. This research aims at pointing out the relations between numer-ical practices, teenagers’perception of adults’ involvement (parents and teach-ers) and school mobilization. To what extent teenagers’numerical practices can further school mobilization ? An extensive study achieved among a sample of 323 adolescents from 11 to 16 years old, has confirmed parental involvement adolescents’ perception guide adolescents towards Internet cultural practices. The answers of 9 teenagers chosen for their Internet intensive use, collected during semi-directive interviews, enabled us to provide greater details concern-ing these results. The need of verticality symbolised by the adult (parents, teachers) leading to the co-construction of meaning in school mobilization is confirmed by the qualitative analysis (phenomenologic, conceptual categories and lexico-statistics analysis). The clinical study certifies our model is relevant underlining the significance of interactions on the one hand and of the part of the unconscious processes on the other hand.

No description available.

This thesis concerns the 2.0 decade, the decade when the social web started to develop. The main research objective is to contribute to our embedment in Internet technology in a conscious and livable way. The thesis is part of a general attempt to improve our understanding of the transformation taking place in the development of the web. We live in a time when knowledge contexts are moving from expert knowledge towards conversational knowledge. My research is mainly presented in the form of five essays. This thesis can be described as a conversational analysis of knowledge processes during the 2.0 decade. The 2.0 decade came to life in the wake of the information technology bubble in the end of the 1990s. The first decade of the 2000s was the decade when 'the Web' became 'Web 2.0' and the energy of the Internet switched from monetary speculations to conversations. Everyone wanted to start conversations and build digital technology, which induced conversations. Like the concept Web 2.0, this thesis came to life in the wake of the information technology bubble. It presupposes the knowledge relation between humans and our technology to be conversational rather than rational. This basically means that digital technology is not a tool but an integrated part in the person assemblage. There are many important thinkers embedded in this thesis. Some of them are more important than others, notably Gilles Deleuze and Donna Haraway. However, the thesis does not analyze the text of other thinkers, it involves them in the conversation. Important concepts as assemblage, rhizome (Deleuze) and cyborg (Haraway) are participants in the text rather than being its objectives. They are part of the general experience behind the essays, together with all the persons I have linked up to and the digital technology I have tried to become with. To become with (or develop together with) technology means to acknowledge the idea that technology is more than a tool. It is something within, not something external.

[pt] A proliferação de movimentos sociais que se organizam em uma estrutura dita horizontal vem despertando a imaginação daqueles que questionam as formas atuais de fazer política. Esta tendência suscita a questão de saber até que ponto sujeitos diversos encontram voz em meio a esses grupos e a alegada horizontalidade se concretiza. Visando lançar luz sobre esta questão, esta pesquisa qualitativa interpretativista debruça-se sobre as lutas urbanas contemporâneas, tomando as práticas discursivas de cicloativistas engajados em grupos de debate no Rio de Janeiro como seu objeto micro. A partir da compreensão de que suas reivindicações se encontram atravessadas pelas lutas de grupos minoritários na esfera pública, elege como norte analítico a noção de gênero enquanto performance. Embora diversas assimetrias possam manifestar-se nas interações, o enfoque aqui conferido decorre de observações proporcionadas pelo estudo de campo e pelo contato aproximado aos dados gravados. No intuito de ouvir vozes tradicionalmente marginalizadas, a pesquisa propõe uma escuta (auto)etnográfica, privilegiando narrativas contadas por protagonistas mulheres. A microanálise é dividida em duas lâminas: a primeira centrada na construção do mundo narrado e a segunda nas interações que se desenvolvem no mundo narrativo. Buscando compreender a articulação e a negociação dos significados emergentes, bem como os possíveis diálogos com as contingências macrossociais que posicionam os atores sociais de forma diferenciada nas interações, o estudo se baseia na concepção da prática narrativa enquanto modo de resistência, assim como terreno fértil para a negociação de performances identitárias e o acúmulo de poder simbólico. A partir dessa perspectiva, o percurso analítico busca mapear a navegação pelas dinâmicas de poder em jogo nas interações. As práticas discursivas identificadas indicam que as narradoras desestabilizam concepções essencialistas de gênero, contestando assimetrias convencionais e reivindicando a criação de relações mais simétricas ‒ tanto no nível micro, como na sociedade mais ampla em que buscam efetuar mudanças. Isso posto, a valorização de traços simbolicamente masculinos frisa a linha tênue trilhada pelas narradoras na busca por status, e na evitação de sanções sociais sutis, no contexto de uma cultura pós-feminista. O questionamento de suas performances, a partir da prática de conarração, sinaliza a emergência de disputas tácitas por aprovação, por reconhecimento e pela pauta, saldo do embate entre práticas de resistência e pressupostos generificados conflitantes. As interlocuções multifuncionais das quais seus pares lançam mão: práticas de higiene verbal, alternâncias de código e problematizações, representam eventuais obstáculos à participação significativa na construção de significados e na deliberação da agenda. Simultaneamente, a análise destaca a dinamicidade de valores socioculturais ‒ passíveis de renegociação a partir da prática intersubjetiva de segundas narrativas e a negociação de práticas identitárias atreladas a meios distintos de fazer política, entre as quais os participantes oscilam. Estes entendimentos indicam que a ação discursiva dos ativistas ora desafia noções binárias de gênero, se aproximando do ideal da horizontalidade, ora as reifica, tornando a criação de espaços discursivos mais igualitários objeto de contestação. Desse modo, a pesquisa salienta a urgência de um olhar mais crítico direcionado a interações localmente situadas a fim de fazer avançar uma compreensão mais nuançada da construção da horizontalidade. Assim, será possível identificar eventuais atropelamentos microdiscursivos, arena para resistência; bem como práticas discursivas, potencialmente, fomentadoras da participação ativa de vozes plurais, para que as próprias práticas transformacionais almejadas pelos movimentos sociais possam ser colocadas em ação. / [en] The notion of horizontal organization continues to hold resounding appeal for those in pursuit of fairer societies, disillusioned with archaic models of representation. To an extent, overriding enthusiasm for such a model has led to the concept becoming something of a rallying cry for contemporary activists. Yet further reflection on the role of their own discursive practices in its construction can be scarce on the ground. This qualitative interpretive case study therefore asks to what extent symmetrical relations may materialize discursively within an ostensibly horizontal group, by taking a critical look at the narrative and interactional practices of a group of bicycle advocates, guided by a view of gender as performance. This is based on the understanding that the group s claims over the use of public space are intertwined with the struggles of minority groups in civil society more generally. Though numerous social asymmetries may manifest themselves in such a group s discursive practices, the focus here lies on gendered asymmetries. This choice stems from observations gained during fieldwork, as well as those made possible by audio recordings of face to face debates held in Rio de Janeiro. With the aim of zooming in on these traditionally marginalized voices, data selection prioritized narratives told by women protagonists, as part of what is deemed an (auto)ethnographic listen. Microanalysis of these narratives is split into two layers: the first centered on the construction of the narrated world and the second on the interactions which unfold during the narrative world. In order to further comprehend this process, the analysis draws on constructs of narrative practice as a form of resistance, as well as identity as performance. Such practices are conceived of as fertile terrain for the negotiation of social roles and the accumulation of symbolic power. Such locally produced meaning is understood here as part of the geopolitics of gender on a macro scale, at once informed by and informing such structures. Based on this view, we seek to trace the navigation of power dynamics at play between those whose perceived social identities are understood to be organized hierarchically. The analysis indicates that essentialist notions of gender are destabilized by narrators who contest conventional social asymmetries and lay claim to the creation of more symmetrical relationships, both at the level of micro interaction as well as in wider society in which they seek to effect change. Having said that, the extolling of symbolically masculine traits highlights the fine line which must be negotiated in the quest for status while simultaneously avoiding tacit social sanctions in a postfeminist culture. The questioning of these performances, via conarration, suggests that discursive struggles arise over claims for approval and recognition, which may result from conflicting gendered assumptions brought to bear on the interactions. The deployment of multifunctional discursive phenomenon, such as practices of verbal hygiene, code switching and problematization appears to hinder more significant participation in the construction of meaning as well as agenda setting. At the same time, the analysis highlights the fluidity of sociocultural values, which may be subject to renegotiation via the intersubjective practice of second narratives and the (re)negotiation of identity claims bound up with distinct ways of doing politics, between which the participants oscillate. Such insights suggest the activists linguistic action at once reifies and challenges binary notions of gendered social roles, rendering the creation of fairer discursive spaces fraught with discursive contestation, albeit subtle. This study therefore highlights the need to critically examine locally situated interactions in order to obtain a more nuanced understanding of the construction of horizontality. As a result, it may be possible to identify discursive practices which potentially foster the active participation of less privileged groups. This might then enable the very transformative practice sought out by those engaged in social movements.

Als Bild- und Medientheoretiker hinterließ Walter Benjamin nicht nur die berühmte „materialistische“ Auratheorie, sondern auch scheinbar esoterische Theorien der bildenden Kunst. Der Zusammenhang und Inhalt der beiden Theorien können erhellt werden, wenn wir genauer sehen, wie er sich dort mit der Beschreibung der Kindheit beschäftigte. Der Ursprung seiner Auratheorie liegt in seiner „Tagebuch“-Literatur, wo er in die melancholisch gefärbten Visionen der „Jugend“ zu versinken pflegte. Der topologische Aufbau dieser Visionen – ihre eigenartig „photo-graphische“ Struktur – soll mithilfe der Zweiten Topik Freuds analysiert werden. Und aufgrund dieser Analyse werden wir eine Revision der üblichen (übersimplifizierten) Gegenüberstellung von seinem historischen Materislismus und dem „apolitischen Formalismus“ Clement Greenbergs vornehmen. Greenbergs Kunstkritik dient aber auch zur Entschlüsselung der „esoterischen“ Bildtheorien Benjamins. Die letzteren verwirren uns vor allem deshalb, weil dort das Sehen der Kinder zuerst (um 1915) irreführender Weise nach den üblichen Dichotomien der Romantik (Linie / Farbe; männlich / weiblich; erwachsen / kindlich…) beschrieben worden war; ihren eigentlichen Inhalt konnte Benjamin erst präzisieren, als er – anhand seiner Betrachtungen der graphischen „Horizontalität“ und nach seinen Spekulationen über das magische Wesen von „Zeichen“ und „Mal“ (1917) – eine Trichotomie der Bildgattungen (Malerei / Graphik / getuschtes Bild) aufgestellt hatte. Wir rekonstruieren diese Theorieentwicklungen nicht nur durch detaillierte Bild- und Textanalysen, sondern auch unter Heranziehung seines „materialistischen“ Spätwerks (der Passagenarbeit und der „Berliner Kindheit“), da erst im letzteren der einzigartige Zusammenhang zwischen seinen frühen Bildtheorien und seiner Geldtheorie als „Konstellation“ sichtbar werden sollte. / Walter Benjamin’s writings on visual arts include not only the famous „materialistic“ essays on aura but also seemingly esoteric notes on painting and the graphic arts. The content and correlation of all these writings become clear once we grasp how they perform the task of describing childhood experience. His theory of aura was prefigured in his philosophical „Diaries“ where his struggle with his depression was often followed (or interrupted) by dreamlike visions of "youth". The discursive structure of these visions – which will prove to be a strangely „photo-graphic“ one – is to be analyzed by using the second Freudian topology as a comparison. Through this analysis we will be able to reconsider the well-known (oversimplified) antagonism between his historical materialism and the „apolitical formalism“ of Clement Greenberg from a new viewpoint. Greenberg’s criticism helps us also to decipher the „esoteric“ texts of Benjamin. They puzzled scholars especially because they described children’s vision at first (about 1915) misleadingly in accordance with the conventional dichotomies of Romanticism (line / color; masculine / feminine; adult / child…); Benjamin could specify their original implication only after he had set up – based on his reflexions on the „horizontality“ of the graphic arts, and by speculating further on the magic nature of „Zeichen“ and „Mal“ (1917) – a trichotomy of genres (painting / the graphic arts / ink and watercolor illustrations). We will reconstruct this development of his theory not only through detailed analyses of related works of art but also in view of his „materialistic“ late writings (the Arcades Project and „Berlin Childhood“), for it is only there that we find out an essential relation – a singular „constellation“ – of his early art theory and his theory of money.