Minds Online: The Interface between Web Science, Cognitive Science, and the Philosophy of Mind

Alongside existing research into the social, political and economic impacts of the Web, there is a need to study the Web from a cognitive and epistemic perspective. This is particularly so as new and emerging technologies alter the nature of our interactive engagements with the Web, transforming the extent to which our thoughts and actions are shaped by the online environment. Situated and ecological approaches to cognition are relevant to understanding the cognitive significance of the Web because of the emphasis they place on forces and factors that reside at the level of agent–world interactions. In particular, by adopting a situated or ecological approach to cognition, we are able to assess the significance of the Web from the perspective of research into embodied, extended, embedded, social and collective cognition. The results of this analysis help to reshape the interdisciplinary configuration of Web Science, expanding its theoretical and empirical remit to include the disciplines of both cognitive science and the philosophy of mind

Understanding the Cognitive Impact of Emerging Web Technologies: A Research Focus Area for Embodied, Extended and Distributed Approaches to Cognition

Alongside existing research into the social, political and economic impacts of the Web, there is also a need to explore the effects of the Web on our cognitive profile. This is particularly so as the range of interactive opportunities we have with the Web expands under the influence of a range of emerging technologies. Embodied, extended and distributed approaches to cognition are relevant to understanding the potential cognitive impact of these new technologies because of the emphasis they place on extra-neural and extra-corporeal factors in the shaping of our cognitive capabilities at both an individual and collective level. The current paper outlines a number of areas where embodied, extended and distributed approaches to cognition are useful in understanding the impact of emerging Web technologies on future forms of both human and machine intelligence

Mnemonic Insecurity: The German Struggle with New Trends of Radicalization

The so-called refugee crisis of the last years has presented Germany with a massive inflow of refugees and migrants. The scale has disrupted Germany’s self-narrative as open and tolerant state that has learned from its Nazi past. With local and national institutions not being prepared logistically, with media images portraying a nearly ‘overrun’ country, and with a significant upsurge in anti-migrant sentiments, a state of mnemonic insecurity has developed in Germany. Far-right political movements gathered strength and voter support, and right-wing extremist violence increased. On the other side, many people actively engaged in a ‘welcome culture’. The contribution traces key developments in Germany’s approach to the refugee crisis in the context of radicalization trends. It illustrates the dislocation of Germany’s identity and self-narrative in an emotionalized discourse, and the following acts to defend memory. It closes with current attempts at memory’s re-politicization to something larger than before

Tourism and beyond: Commodification of communist memoryscapes in Central and East Europe

The aim of this dissertation is to shed light on the phenomenon of commodification of communist memoryscapes in Europe, exploring the main strategies and forms of urban and mnemonic re-branding of post-socialist capitals. Illuminating the variety of commercial solutions for dealing with “difficult” legacies of communism in Europe, the thesis aims to enhance our understanding of actors, processes and dynamics framing the contemporary engagement with communist urban heritage. Relying on grounded theory method, triangulated through multiple case study, participatory observation and netnography, the study examines patterns of convergence in spatial, mnemonic and narrative organisations of communist urban experiences. Elaborating commodification of (1) communist landmarks (iconic buildings), (2) suburban heritage (statues, parks), (3) underground spaces (communist bunkers) (4) cultural objects (museums of communism), (5) urban discourses (guided city tours) and (6) urban hospitality (communist restaurants), the analysis thus reveals different urban and narrative “commercial interventions” in post-communist urban landscape. Through the in-depth analysis of major communist museums, tours, landmarks, bunkers, peripheries and hospitality spaces across Central and East Europe, the dissertation accentuates similarities and divergences in contemporary discursive, spatial and commercial treatment of communism. It reveals particular mechanisms and outcomes of commodification, which emerges both as a strategy to “contain” communism and “re-pack” it for tourist consumption. Ultimately, the thesis argues that commodification of communism is the essential aspect of contemporary tourist narratives, curatorial practices and urban organisation of communist memoryscapes. It identifies and interprets urban, mnemonic, discursive and experiential manifestations of commodification, arguing that commercial engagement with communism fundamentally challenges the prevailing mechanisms for “coming to terms with the past.” It demonstrates that both suppliers and consumers of communist memoryscapes (co)produce and (co)participate in commodification process, most often through the interplay of tourism and entertainment industry. Finally, the study claims that commodification is reinforced through glocalisation, disneyfication and orientalisation of difficult heritage of communism, which further contribute to (re)locating specific urban context, (re)imagining particular urban history and generally changing the ways in which contemporary society values, exhibits and sources communism in urban space.El objetivo de esta disertación es arrojar luz sobre el fenómeno de la mercantilización de los paisajes de memoria comunistas en Europa, explorando las principales estrategias y formas de cambio de marca urbana y mnemotécnica de las capitales postsocialistas. Iluminando la variedad de soluciones comerciales para lidiar con los legados “difíciles” del comunismo en Europa, la tesis tiene como objetivo mejorar nuestra comprensión de los actores, procesos y dinámicas que enmarcan el compromiso contemporáneo con el patrimonio urbano comunista. Basándose en el método de la teoría fundamentada, triangulado a través del estudio de casos múltiples, la observación participativa y la netnografía, el estudio examina los patrones de convergencia en las organizaciones espaciales, mnemotécnicas y narrativas de las experiencias urbanas comunistas. Elaborando la mercantilización de (1) hitos comunistas (edificios icónicos), (2) patrimonio suburbano (estatuas, parques), (3) espacios subterráneos (bunkers comunistas) (4) objetos culturales (museos del comunismo), (5) discursos urbanos ( visitas guiadas por la ciudad) y (6) hospitalidad urbana (restaurantes comunistas), el análisis revela así diferentes “intervenciones comerciales” urbanas y narrativas en el paisaje urbano poscomunista. A través del análisis en profundidad de los principales museos, recorridos, puntos de referencia, búnkeres, periferias y espacios de hospitalidad comunistas en Europa Central y Oriental, la disertación acentúa las similitudes y divergencias en el tratamiento discursivo, espacial y comercial contemporáneo del comunismo. Revela mecanismos y resultados particulares de la mercantilización, que surge tanto como una estrategia para “contener” el comunismo como para “reempaquetarlo” para el consumo turístico. En última instancia, la tesis argumenta que la mercantilización del comunismo es el aspecto esencial de las narrativas turísticas contemporáneas, las practicas curatoriales y la organización urbana de los paisajes de memoria comunistas. Identifica e interpreta las manifestaciones urbanas, mnemotécnicas, discursivas y experienciales de la mercantilización, argumentando que el compromiso comercial con el comunismo desafía fundamentalmente los mecanismos predominantes para “llegar a un acuerdo con el pasado”. Demuestra que tanto los proveedores como los consumidores de paisajes de memoria comunistas (co)producen y (co)participan en el proceso de mercantilización, con mayor frecuencia a través de la interacción de la industria del turismo y elentretenimiento. Finalmente, argumento que la mercantilización se refuerza a través de la glocalización, disneyficación y orientalización de la difícil herencia del comunismo, lo que contribuye aún más a (re)ubicar un contexto urbano específico, (re)imaginar una historia urbana particular y, en general, cambiar las formas en las que la Sociedad contemporánea valora, exhibe y origina comunismo en el espacio urbano.Escuela de DoctoradoDoctorado en Arquitectur

Communicating History: The Mnemonic Battles of the 2011 Arab Uprisings

This dissertation explores how history has been communicated during the 2011 Arab uprisings and their aftermath (2011-2015). It is a study about the struggle for finding a historically-grounded revolutionary narrative for an assumed Arab body politic that is torn apart by multiple political forces. I analyze popular communicative practices that invoke history and argue that they have played a crucial role in propagating a narrative that portrayed the uprisings as a collective Arab revolution and awakening. The strategic claim that protestors were making history, I suggest, paved the way for expressing hopes about the future through invoking past history. From 2011 to 2015 in the Arab world, contentious debates about politics were often expressed through a language and a symbolism about history. These controversies were projected towards specific symbols and tropes, which evoked condensed cultural meanings, and which became subsequently used to communicate political aspirations and to assert power in the present and onto the future. In this dissertation, I analyze four case-studies that demonstrate the centrality of collective memory in articulations of identity and politics in the contemporary Arab world. Through a historically-cognizant approach, I suggest that many of the political controversies in the period under study in the Arab world represent mnemonic battles about the past and the future, which echo a political repertoire from the era of the Arab Nahda (awakening), the cultural and political movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when ideas about modernity and nationalism were first theorized and popularized in the Arab region. I contend that since the Nahda, a desire to make a new future history has been contrasted with a forked past history, one to be discarded as deviant, and another to be resurrected as originary. This conceptualization of history has dominated modern political and cultural expressions of collective aspirations in the Arab world. My dissertation explores how communicative practices during the 2011 uprisings and their aftermath echoed and provided new iterations of this conception of history and how that exploded in battles, literally and metaphorically. Through a historically-cognizant approach, I suggest that many of the political controversies in the period under study in the Arab world represent mnemonic battles about the past and the future, which echo a political repertoire from the era of the Arab Nahda (awakening), the cultural and political movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when ideas about modernity and nationalism were first theorized and popularized in the Arab region. I contend that since the Nahda, a desire to make a new future history has been contrasted with a forked past history, one to be discarded as deviant, and another to be resurrected as originary. This conceptualization of history has dominated modern political and cultural expressions of collective aspirations in the Arab world. My dissertation explores how communicative practices during the 2011 uprisings and their aftermath echoed and provided new iterations of this conception of history and how that exploded in battles, literally and metaphorically

Takeover of the memory field: changing commemorative practises regarding Stalinist repressions in Russia

Current paper primarily focuses on the analyses of Russian memory regime on the issue of Stalinist repressions. Over the recent years, Russian government established a monopoly of commemoration of the past events by oppressing existing independent memory agent in the field. Current empirically driven case study aims to define modern memory regime in Russia and main reasons behind the takeover happened. With the help of framing analysis, the comparison of narratives used by state and non-state memory agents is done in order to distinguish key differences in how same commemorative events are framed by different actors. According to the analysis, in authoritarian settings independent memory agent Memorial is considered as a threat, as it emphasizes the connection between Soviet repressions and the ongoing ones in modern Russia. New state-controlled actor Memory Fund was introduced to the field in order to promote legitimacy of the incumbent regime and establish the monopoly of commemoration.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5242179*es