21 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Social emanations: Toward a sociology of human olfaction.
Within the discipline of sociology human olfaction is rich with social significance yet remains a poorly charted frontier. Therefore, the following discourse is aimed toward the development of a foundation for the sociological study of olfaction. It is formed by the dual goals of unearthing the social history of olfaction and of providing a viable sociological account of the manner in which smells affect human ontology. From these goals arise the following research questions: (1) Have the meaning and social relevance of odors and the olfactory sensorium changed throughout different periods of history?; (2) How have those in the lineage of eminent sociological thinkers addressed the phenomenon of human olfaction during these periods?; and (3) What is the process by which aromatic stimuli are transformed from simple chemical compounds, drifting in the atmosphere, into sensations in a sensory field and then on to perceived objects, to subjects of judgment and interpretation, and finally to bases of knowledge which form and continually reform individuals in the world? The weaving of the sociohistorical tapestry of smell is undertaken to provide examples from thousands of years lived experiences as to the fluid and sociologically complex nature of individuals' olfactory senses. This historical information is presented in a narrative format and is synthesized from data gleaned from books, advertisements, articles in popular non-scientific magazines, as well as from the findings of studies published in medical/neurological, psychological, anthropological, and sociological scholarly journals. Regarding theoretical aim of this discourse, insights are drawn from Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological theory of human perception for the generation of a framework for the sociological study of olfaction. Merleau-Ponty's theoretical notions are modified, modernized, and refitted to more specifically fit the subject of human olfaction and to include all that has been discovered about the biological specifics of olfactory perception since the time of his writing. Taken in sum, this effort is an access point to the understanding of how olfactory sensory perceptions flow toward the ontological unfolding of individuals
The Life of Breath in Literature, Culture and Medicine
This open access book studies breath and breathing in literature and culture and provides crucial insights into the history of medicine, health and the emotions, the foundations of beliefs concerning body, spirit and world, the connections between breath and creativity and the phenomenology of breath and breathlessness. Contributions span the classical, medieval, early modern, Romantic, Victorian, modern and contemporary periods, drawing on medical writings, philosophy, theology and the visual arts as well as on literary, historical and cultural studies. The collection illustrates the complex significance and symbolic power of breath and breathlessness across time: breath is written deeply into ideas of nature, spirituality, emotion, creativity and being, and is inextricable from notions of consciousness, spirit, inspiration, voice, feeling, freedom and movement. The volume also demonstrates the long-standing connections between breath and place, politics and aesthetics, illuminating both contrasts and continuities
Occupational exposure to n-alkane mono thiols, cyclohexanethiol, and benzenethiol
"NIOSH recommends that employee exposure to thiols in the workplace be controlled by adherence to the following sections. The recommended standard is designed to protect the health and provide for the safety of employees for up to a 10-hour workshift, in a 40-hour workweek, during a working lifetime. Compliance with all sections of their recommended standard should prevent adverse effects of exposure to thiols on the health of employees and provide for their safety. Techniques recommended in the standard are valid, reproducible, and available to industry and government agencies. Sufficient technology exists to permit compliance with the recommended standard. Although NIOSH considers the recommended workplace environmental limits to be safe levels based on current information, employers should regard them as the upper boundaries of exposure and make every effort to maintain exposures as low as is technically feasible. The criteria and recommended standard will be reviewed and revised as necessary. Because of systemic effects, absorption through the skin on contact, and possible dermal irritation, "occupational exposure to thiols" is defined as work in any area where thiols are produced, processed stored, or otherwise used. If thiols are handled or stored in intact, sealed containers, e.g., during shipment, NIOSH recommends that only Sections 3, 5(a), and 6(g) of this proposed standard apply. If exposure to other chemicals also occurs, provisions of any standard applicable to the other chemicals shall be followed." - NIOSHTIC-2CurrentPrevention and ControlEnvironmental Healt
Processing spam: Conducting processed listening and rhythmedia to (re)produce people and territories
This thesis provides a transdisciplinary investigation of âdeviantâ media categories, specifically spam and noise, and the way they are constructed and used to (re)produce territories and people. Spam, I argue, is a media phenomenon that has always existed, and received different names in different times. The changing definitions of spam, the reasons and actors behind these changes are thus the focus of this research. It brings to the forefront a longer history of the politics of knowledge production with and in media, and its consequences. This thesis makes a contribution to the media and communication field by looking at neglected media phenomena through fields such as sound studies, software studies, law and history to have richer understanding that disciplinary boundaries fail to achieve.
The thesis looks at three different case studies: the conceptualisation of noise in the early 20th century through Bell Telephone Company, web metric standardisation in the European Union 2000s legislation, and unwanted behaviours on Facebook. What these cases show is that media practitioners have been constructing âdeviantâ categories in different media and periods by using seven sonic epistemological strategies: training of the (digital) body, restructuring of territories, new experts, standardising measurements (tools and units), filtering, de-politicising and licensing.
Informed by my empirical work, I developed two concepts - processed listening and rhythmedia - offering a new theoretical framework to analyse how media practitioners construct power relations by knowing people in mediated territories and then spatially and temporally (re)ordering them. Shifting the attention from theories of vision allows media researchers to have a better understanding of practitioners who work in multi-layered digital/datafied spaces, tuning in and out to continuously measure and record peopleâs behaviours. Such knowledge is being fed back in a recursive feedback-loop conducted by a particular rhythmedia constantly processing, ordering, shaping and regulating people, objects and spaces. Such actions (re)configure the boundaries of what it means to be human, worker and medium
Media Distortions
Media Distortions is about the power behind the production of deviant media categories. It showsăthe politics behind categories we take for granted such as spam and noise, and what it means to our broader understanding of, and engagement with media. The book synthesizes media theory, sound studies, science and technology studies (STS), feminist technoscience, and software studies into a new composition to explore media power. Media Distortions argues that using sound as a conceptual framework is more useful due to its ability to cross boundaries and strategically move between multiple spacesâwhich is essential for multi-layered mediated spaces. Drawing on repositories of legal, technical and archival sources, the book amplifies three stories about the construction and negotiation of the âdeviantâ in media. The book starts in the early 20th century with Bell Telephoneâs production of noise, tuning into the training of their telephone operators and their involvement with the Noise AbatementăCommission in New York City. The next story jumps several decades to the early 2000s focusing on web metric standardization in the European Union and shows how the digital advertising industry constructed web-cookies as legitimate communication while making spam illegal. The final story focuses on the recent decade and the way Facebook filters out antisocial behaviors to engineer a sociality that produces more value. These stories show how deviant categories re-draw boundaries between human and non-human, public and private spaces, and importantly, social and antisocial
On the anatomy of power : bodies of knowledge in South African socio-medical discourse
Derived from a marxist/liberal humanist view of power, conventional
critiques and historical accounts of the socio-medical sciences in
South Africa see only their power to repress and negate the true
bodily attributes and authentic person of the African. In so doing,
they ignore the productive capacity of these knowledges and
practices as a manifestation of what Michel Foucault termed
"disciplinary" power, by which the human body is manufactured and
made manageable as an object of medical knowledge and industrial
utilisation. Accordingly, this thesis offers just such a Foucaultian
reading of western socio-medical knowledge in South Africa to
demonstrate how it has operated to fabricate the bodies of Africans
as visible objects possessed of distinct attributes that have
provoked particular strategies for their surveillance, management,
and government in health and disease.PsychologyD. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology
Broadcasting modernity: eloquent listening in the early twentieth century
This thesis, âBroadcasting Modernityâ is an account of sound technology, namely wireless, as a feature of early twentieth century literature. If modernism is a historical-specific movement, and language a repository of time, then the advent of radio broadcasting cannot be ignored - a medium which inscribed itself into the pages of books. The present study is original, in that it establishes radio as a portal through which to regard the wider cultural mentality, cross-cutting, or âcrashingâ the written word, and thus producing the effect of two wires instantly reacting to one another. Therefore, just as radio may be accessed through literature, certain texts between 1900-1945 may be reinterpreted acoustically. To qualify this argument, a select group of writers are discussed individually, and at length â figures who allowed radio to affect their creative output, at various levels, in a period of rapid technological change
Tort Law: Cases & Critique
My goal in creating this casebook is to do my part to make legal education more affordable, accessible, and adaptable. Thatâs why Iâm making the book available to all for free. By using a CC BY-NC license, Iâm also inviting others to adapt these materials for their own use, so long as they adhere to the non-commerciality and attribution terms. (Anyone interested in âremixingâ this book for their own purposes should feel free to contact me, including if youâd like a more adaptable non-PDF version.)
Youâre welcome to print any part of this casebook if you want a hard copy to accompany the digital version. If you do print it, I ask that you please be environmentally conscious by using double-sided pages. Because the digital version can be easily searched, it contains no index or other finding aids that are conventional for printed books. You should also be able to enhance your experience with the digital version by highlighting text, adding comments, and annotating it in other ways you find helpful.
To see the syllabus accompanying this casebook, please visit www.thomaskadri.com/torts.https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/books/1168/thumbnail.jp