Magma for the Mind

This Crossing Boundaries stems from two events: the recent STS-Italia conference (Bologna, June 2023) and the 4S/ESOCITE conference (Cholula, December 2022). Both events dedicated a space for reflecting on Bruno Latour’s intellectual legacy, inviting some of the scholars who had the chance and the privilege to work with him. The text opens with a reflection by Madeleine Akrich on her two-decade experience working alongside Latour and on the multifaceted nature of his contributions to sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. The text continues with a contribution by Huub Dijstelbloem, who explores Latour’s magmatic thinking, emphasizing the transformative power of his ideas. Annalisa Pelizza traces two key associations in Bruno Latour’s intellectual trajectory. The first one traces back to Latour’s early engagement with the semiotics of the “École de Paris” and Greimas’ theory of enunciation, emphasizing the local context of the French semiotic debate. The second association delves into Latour’s connection with technofeminism and Donna Haraway’s material-semiotics, highlighting a global dialogue initiated in the late 1980s. Finally, Paolo Landri underlines the transformative potential of Latour’s vocabulary in the context of education, underlying the interdisciplinary connections fostered by following Latour

Стадії укладення договору лізингу

Узагальнено вітчизняний та зарубіжний досвід укладання лізингових угод. Здійснено структуризацію стадій лізингового процесу. Ключові слова: лізингова угода, лізингодавець, лізингоодержувач.Обобщен отечественный и зарубежный опыт заключения лизинговых соглашений. Осуществлена структуризация стадий лизингового процесса. Ключевые слова: лизинговое соглашение, лизингодатель, лизингополучатель.The generalization of the domestic and international experience in the concluding of leasing agreements is aimed in this article. The consecutive examination of the stages of leasing process is set up structurally. Key words: lease contract, leasee, leasor

In the Shadow of Asylum Decision-Making: The Knowledge Politics of Country-of-Origin Information

Country-of-origin information has secured a central place in European asylum systems, underpinning state decisions on the asylum status of refugee populations. All European states produce this type of information, and dedicated country-of-origin information units are increasingly common. This article analyzes the knowledge politics of country-of-origin information, with a focus on the relation between knowledge and decision. We are interested in this type of knowledge precisely because it is uneasily positioned in-between social scientific methodology and policy decision-making and is infused with a “pulsional normativity.” We distinguish three phases of country-of-origin information production: first, a phase of investigation, where foreign lands are reduced to stable and mobile forms so that they can be studied as research units; second, the concordance of information production, relying on standardized instruments and practical skill; and third, the consolidation phase, which involves the return of country information constructed inside research units back into the administrative and regulatory world. The final section of the article examines how complex and frail information about countries of origin becomes deployed as valid grounds for asylum decision-making