Book part: Affection and Dividuation
Abstract
In order to counter the monolithic understanding of “affect,“ coined by Brian Massumi in a specific reading of Gilles Deleuze’s concept, I want to unfold a more epistemologically demanding understanding of affective processes through a historical recon- sideration of the philosophically differentiated term “affection,“ meaning “doing with“ or “doing by“ in its literal sense. In Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology it is conceived as a self-contracting temporal process able to catalyze and synthesize interactions and inter-passivities between different entities. Because of its inevitable participation in and with others, I want to highlight its “dividual“ character. “Dividual“ is a term coined by Deleuze for the aesthetics of film and music, which, due to their temporal character, cannot be identified as individual, undivided expressions. Extending on this, I consider dividual affections as stimuli and participants of bio- and socio(techno)logical processes where they can be intentionally reinforced for political aims. Finally I present aesthetic-political affections in a (post)colonial perspective, with regard to Achille Mbembe’s concept of “Afropolitanism“ as to different art works of “African“ artists.
Preferred Citation
BibTex
Ott, Michaela: Affection and Dividuation. In: Bösel, Bernd;Wiemer, Serjoscha: Affective Transformations: Politics-Algorithms-Media. Lüneburg: meson 2020, S. 188-199. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/14990.
@INCOLLECTION{Ott2020,
author = {Ott, Michaela},
title = {Affection and Dividuation},
year = 2020,
doi = "\url{http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/14990}",
editor = {Bösel, Bernd and Wiemer, Serjoscha},
address = {Lüneburg},
booktitle = {Affective Transformations: Politics-Algorithms-Media},
pages = {188--199},
publisher = {meson},
}
author = {Ott, Michaela},
title = {Affection and Dividuation},
year = 2020,
doi = "\url{http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/14990}",
editor = {Bösel, Bernd and Wiemer, Serjoscha},
address = {Lüneburg},
booktitle = {Affective Transformations: Politics-Algorithms-Media},
pages = {188--199},
publisher = {meson},
}
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