Papers by Camila Mozzini-Alister
Phenomenologies of Grace, 2020
Starting from the Flusserian premise that every language existentially articulates what is taken ... more Starting from the Flusserian premise that every language existentially articulates what is taken for reality, we will seek throughout this chapter to make a phenomenology of grace from the lexicon ‘graca’ as it is operationalised in the Portuguese language. Thus, making the Portuguese an instrument of inquiry into the process of longing for the Great, we will trace in the peculiarities of meanings and everyday uses of the notion of ‘graca’ a way of sewing an affective phenomenology of the process of searching for the divine. To this end, we will materialise this work along the following trinity: first, locating in theorists like Vilem Flusser (Lingua e Realidade. Sao Paulo: Annablume, 2007), Michel Foucault (O governo de si e dos outros. Traducao de Eduardo Brandao. Sao Paulo, Martins Fontes, 2011) and Humberto Eco (Quase a mesma coisa – experiencias de traducao. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2007) the intimate relationship between language and production of reality; second, articulating the different meanings attributed to the word ‘graca’ as it appears in the Portuguese language; and finally, using such linguistic possibilities to problematise how the present desperation for the connection with the Whole—with ‘divine grace’—is today manifesting itself through practices of technical mediation that increasingly challenge us to enter and unveil the mysteries of what we do not see or touch. We hope that in this weave of different realities, we can grasp the question: after all, what would be the ‘graca’ of smart devices connected to social networking profiles?
Does Social Media Have Limits?, 2021
Does Social Media Have Limits?, 2021
However, when mediation becomes an addiction, and meditation, an obsession, the desire to unlimit... more However, when mediation becomes an addiction, and meditation, an obsession, the desire to unlimitedly expand our biological substrate can easily be distorted into desire for omnipresence: a deep subconscious desire to get rid of our own animality in order to be as perfect as the images of our virtual profiles and spiritual gurus. In this chapter titled “medi(t)ation,” we will investigate the encounter between mediation and meditation, mind and screen from the perspective of a “General Economy of Light” (GEL) that aims to reprogram our affections in order to make the body, a body of light. We hope that the tracing of this long and discontinuous walk can give visibility to the limits at stake in the so human desire to be more than the body.
Does Social Media Have Limits?, 2021
What is the relationship between the crescent desire to meditate and the expansion modes of the b... more What is the relationship between the crescent desire to meditate and the expansion modes of the biological substratum? Based on such inquiry, this chapter will study meditation as a second anthropotechnical method. Inspired by the personal experience of Tantra Yoga’s practical philosophy proposed by P. R. Sarkar, this chapter will investigate the desire for limitlessness no longer mediated by smartphone screens, but by the inner screens of the mind. Therefore, it will proceed a material archeology of the mind throughout three stages: (1) mind and waves; (2) mind and point; and (3) mind and shock. As an inverted mirror (Bernardo, 2011) of mediation, the first stage studies the waves subtilization processes of the biological substratum that prepare the body to the practice of meditation. The second, describes the dotification process of other layers of the mind that are no longer visible to the human eye. The third, and last, phase thoroughly looks into the procedures of shock of the ...
Flusser Studies, 2020
Entering the Black Box: Flusser and Indian Philosophy in a bookshop in São Paulo where one could ... more Entering the Black Box: Flusser and Indian Philosophy in a bookshop in São Paulo where one could find not only local but also international literature. For Flusser, therefore, Bloch was an important source of contemporary European and North American books (Guldin & Bernardo 2017). A good example of that can be found in their correspondence from 1951, when Bloch writes in his letter, "Auf Ihren Brief hin, habe ich Ihnen die "Buddhistische Meditation" durch ihren Schwiegervater ueberreichen lassen." ("Following your letter, I sent you the "Buddhist Meditation" through your father-in-law.") (Bloch 1951:1) Bloch goes on to quote from this book later in the letter. However, the volume can unfortunately not be found in Flusser's Traveling Library at the Vilém Flusser Archive any longer. Alex Bloch was, as described by Flusser, a freethinker and dreamer (Flusser 2000b). He was deeply interested in Eastern philosophy and became an assistant to a Buddhist monk. He also introduced Zen Buddhism to Flusser, which then they both studied and practiced from the 1950s (Maltez Novaes: 2014). We will not deeply examine the topic of Zen Buddhism, since other authors in this Flusser Studies issue will almost certainly dedicate their papers to this theme. However, the correspondence with Alex Bloch gives us insights about the beginning of Flusser's general interest in Indian Philosophy. In Flusser's Traveling Library we can find the following literature that might have been important sources for Flusser's thought on Indian Philosophy. First, he owned two popular introductory works: The Essentials of Indian Philosophy by Mysore Hiriyanna (1978) and a similar work, Fundamentals of Indian Philosophy by P. Nagaraja Rao (1976). He might also have read Swami Vivekananda's Jnana Yoga in German, because he owned its translation, published in Switzerland (Vivekananda: 1949). Moreover, Pierre Rambach and Vitold de Golish's catalog Indische Tempel und Götterbilder (1950) was part of his library. We could also add to this list Medard Boss' Indienfahrt eines Psychiaters (1966), a piece on the colorful Vedic psychology, and Filmer Stuart Northrop's The Meeting of East and West. An Inquiry Concerning World Understanding (1946) about eastern influences on European and North American cultures. 1 Insights into Flusser's study of Vedic literature can be traced in his book The History of the Devil: "Already during the time of the Veda, Hindu thinkers sought (...)" (Flusser 2014b: 174). The History was originally written in German in 1958, but Flusser reworked it thoroughly, and its revised Portuguese version was then published seven years later in 1965. The recently translated English version (Flusser 2014b) is from the Portuguese, and is one of the basic sources of this paper. Flusser writes about Indian Philosophy, including the Vedas, in his unpublished book manuscript, Das Zwanzigste Jahrhundert (Flusser, n.d.) too-see more about it in Guldin 2015. In it, he praises Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas, and its multifunctionality. This thought was then also repeated in his book Língua e Realidade [Language and Reality] (Flusser 2017). Moreover, two important philosophers who likely played a role in Flusser's interest in Eastern philosophy must also be taken into consideration: Nietzsche (e.g. Thus Spoke Zarathustra) and Schopenhauer (e.g. The World as Will and Representation). Flusser read their works closely and let himself be influenced by their writings, especially on Buddhism. From these sources, the authors of this paper will try to trace Flusser's interest in Indian Philosophy, with the main focus on Yoga Philosophy. 3. Flusser and Yoga Philosophy 3.1 On Yoga Philosophy Yoga Philosophy, or Yoga, is one of the six orthodox 2 philosophical schools of Hinduism that accept the authority of the Vedas (Rao 1976). The other five streams are Sāṃkhya, Nyāyá, Vaiśeṣika, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedānta, from which Sāṃkhya is the closest to Yoga. They all differ in some ways, but at the same time they also have many similarities. One of these resemblances is the premise: "you are not your body". How each arrives at such a conclusion will not be examined here, but it is a fact that for the yogi, wisdom the physical body is only one of the mind's many layers of energy, and, it should be noted, the outermost and least subtle. As Flusser puts it, "The 'body' is nothing but a superior, and entirely fictitious, layer of the mind (...)" (Flusser 2014b: 174). These schools may differ most strikingly in their acceptance of the Pramāṇas. Pramāṇa refers to epistemology in Indian philosophies; it is a theory of knowledge, so to speak, an account of the way humans can gain accurate knowledge. The six Pramāṇas are the following: 1) perception (pratyakṣa), 2) inference (anumāna), 3) comparison and analogy (upamāna), 4) derivation from circumstances (arthāpatti), 5) non-perception (anupalabdhi), and 6) testimony of past or present reliable experts (Śabda) (Bhawuk, 2011). The different schools vary on which ones of these six Pramāṇas are accepted as epistemically reliable means to knowledge. Yoga, for example, accepts only pratyakṣa, anumāna, and Śabda (Bilimoria 1993). Yoga as a physical practice or as a sport has been popularized in Europe and North America since the early and mid-20th century. There is no close association with asana (posture) culture in
Flusser Studies, 2020
Por uma fenomenologia do corpo "Meu corpo, de fato, está sempre em outro lugar. Está ligado a tod... more Por uma fenomenologia do corpo "Meu corpo, de fato, está sempre em outro lugar. Está ligado a todos os outros lugares do mundo, e, para dizer a verdade, está num outro lugar que é o além do mundo. É em referência ao corpo que as coisas estão dispostas, é em relação ao corpo que existe uma esquerda e uma direita, um atrás e um na frente, um próximo e um distante. O corpo está no centro do mundo, ali onde os caminhos e os espaços se cruzam, o corpo não está em nenhuma parte: o coração do mundo é esse pequeno núcleo utópico a partir do qual sonho, falo, me expresso, imagino, percebo as coisas em seu lugar e também as nego pelo poder indefinido das utopias que imagino. O meu corpo é como a Cidade de Deus, não tem lugar, mas é de lá que se irradiam todos os lugares possíveis, reais ou utópicos."
Azimuth: philosophical coordinates in modern and contemporary age, 2020
Keanean Journal of Arts, 2021
The COVID-19 has left us with a changed world, where life will never be as it was in the past. In... more The COVID-19 has left us with a changed world, where life will never be as it was in the past. Instead of resisting these changes, we have to develop a hardy and spiritual mindset to cope and thrive in this new world. As part of the process of developing such a mindset, we will discuss in the first section under the sub-heading of "Remembering," how to extract our positive emotional experiences from our pre-COVID-19 life. We will then discuss the interconnections between memories, and emotions (feelings). We will examine how they affect each other to shape our thinking, decision makings, attitudes, and eventually our character. We will discuss an exemplary practical step in practicing our positive emotional experiences in building a hardy and spiritual mindset. In the second section under the sub-heading of "Remembered," we will discuss the need to relearn our perceptions of key concepts such as spirituality and mindset which will be part of our spiritual legacy. We will discuss an exemplary practical step in practicing a hardy and spiritual mindset. In concluding this article, we are to be reminded that the world will continue to change and evolve. It is we who have to decide how we want to be remembered as a citizen of this world.
Journal of Future Studies, 2021
Reflecting on the Covid-19 pandemic, this paper explores the intersection between ubiquitous tech... more Reflecting on the Covid-19 pandemic, this paper explores the intersection between ubiquitous technology and self. As a point of departure this exploration is undertaken through three domains of enquiry: the virilization of the self as an image (Flusser, 2011) and how this impacts the way we construct self; the desire for omnipresence as a manifestation of a wish to simultaneously inhabit distinct space-times (Mozzini-Alister, 2021); and how this desire is fundamentally linked to a narrowing of the "I". Finally, the 2x2 matrix (Schwartz, 1996) is utilised to present a reflection on how humanity may reconfigure itself in the shadow of Covid-19.
Psicologia & Sociedade, 2016
RESUMO O presente artigo busca debruçar-se sobre o modo como as redes digitais vêm, atreladas a t... more RESUMO O presente artigo busca debruçar-se sobre o modo como as redes digitais vêm, atreladas a tantos sonhos e expectativas, diluindo-se discursivamente no tecido social a ponto de se constituírem enquanto um possível local de veridicção no contemporâneo. Para tal, uma série de incitamentos publicitários à conexão digital será tomada como campo de investigação empírica. O objetivo desta empreitada é problematizar certa concepção de rede que, ao contrário de teoricamente compor uma zona horizontal, abre-se à materialidade como uma instância atravessada por relações de poder e, portanto, produtora de desnivelamentos e conflitos.
From the impressions of a connected body in several ways and intensities, this study aims to disc... more From the impressions of a connected body in several ways and intensities, this study aims to discuss how we are being incited, through advertising, to constitute a life better lived because pervaded by the digital connection. The starting point for such an enterprise is anchored in a theoretical-methodological Foucaultian approach, which made possible the emergence of a series of encounters that opened the gaps required for the constitution of three problems to the thought: digital networks as a local of veridiction, sharing as a form of universalization of the digital connection, and the composition of this universal as a sphere of subjectification. Each of these tensions unfolded in different chapters of analysis: the first focuses on how the notion of digital networks is, tied to several dreams and expectations, being diluted discursively in the social fabric to the point of constituting itself as a possible instance of truth production; the second rests his attention on how the network sharing is positioning itself as a process of constant updating of living that is, aligned to the idea of immaterial labor, producing sharers that mobilize the composition of a universalization strategy regarding the digital connection; the third and last one dive more intensely into this possible universality statute of the digital connection constituted not only due to its spatial expansion and its temporal intensification but especially thanks to the character of a higher good, of a more complete existence if connected. The thread of this path amid the uncertainty of the steps was the set of advertising incitements to digital connection composed by 10 videos and three packages of products found in the course of living. The tracing of this long and discontinuous walk sought to map some routes for the tensioning of the truths that are circulating and objectivating modes of subjectification in this increasingly connected contemporaneity.
Este trabalho apresenta o relato da experiência de estágio de docência, desenvolvida junto à disc... more Este trabalho apresenta o relato da experiência de estágio de docência, desenvolvida junto à disciplina de Psicologia Social I no Instituto de Psicologia. A disciplina é obrigatória para os cursos de Biblioteconomia e Arquivologia e eletiva para diversos outros cursos da universidade, permitindo reunir alunos de diversas áreas e enriquecendo o debate sobre o tema. O estágio de docência envolveu a participação ao longo de toda a disciplina, através do acompanhamento das ações da docente responsável no que se referia ao planejamento e organização das ações pedagógicas, bem como o suporte à avaliação e acompanhamento dos alunos. Assim, o objetivo aqui é contribuir para as discussões sobre a atuação docente mediada pelas contemporâneas tecnologias de informação e comunicação no ensino, a partir da experiência da disciplina em articular atividades presenciais e atividades complementares desenvolvidas com o suporte da plataforma MOODLE. Palavras-chave: ensino de psicologia; estágio docente; ambiente virtual de aprendizagem.
Cadernos de Comunicação, 2013
Resumo: A partir de uma pesquisa bibliográfica, o presente artigo busca problematizar historicame... more Resumo: A partir de uma pesquisa bibliográfica, o presente artigo busca problematizar historicamente a construção do preceito de verdade objetiva enquanto elemento fundante das práticas profissionais no jornalismo brasileiro a partir de meados do século XIX. Para isso, analisa-se a imbricação entre a constituição epistemológica moderna da noção de verdade em Descartes, Comte e em autores do Círculo de Viena e a concepção de objetividade jornalística no processo de empresariamento midiático no Brasil. Palavras chave: Objetividade; verdade; ciência; jornalismo empresarial lA Ascención De lA concepción cArtesiAnA Al pesioDismo Resumen: Desde una búsqueda bibliográfica, este artículo busca problematizar la construcción histórica del precepto de verdad objetiva como un elemento fundante de las prácticas profesionales en el periodismo brasileño desde el siglo XIX. Para eso, se analisa la imbricación entre la constitución de la noción epistemológica moderna de verdad en Descartes, Comte y en los autores del Círculo de Viena y el concepto de objetividad periodística en el proceso de 'empresariamiento' de los medios de comunicación en Brasil.
Page 1. UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL FACULDADE DE BIBLIOTECONOMIA E COMUNICAÇÃO SOCI... more Page 1. UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL FACULDADE DE BIBLIOTECONOMIA E COMUNICAÇÃO SOCIAL DEPARTAMENTO DE COMUNICAÇÃO CURSO DE COMUNICAÇÃO – HABILITAÇÃO JORNALISMO Camila Mozzini ...
Logos, 2017
O presente escrito busca, a partir da sensacao de luto descrita por um rapaz frente a desativacao... more O presente escrito busca, a partir da sensacao de luto descrita por um rapaz frente a desativacao do perfil em rede social de sua companheira, esmiucar o territorio das materialidades corporeas, dos vinculos e dos comuns em jogo nas atuais comunicacoes mediadas digitalmente. Como e possivel que nos afetemos por presencas que nao mais se restringem ao toque da pele? A partir desta questao, pretende-se acompanhar cartograficamente algumas pistas que possam visibilizar dos processos de producao de afetos que perpassam as contemporâneas estrategias de comunicacao mediadas tecnologicamente.
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Papers by Camila Mozzini-Alister