Information and Asignification

This paper presents a detailed explication of the main tenets of Félix Guattari’s theorisation of asignifying semiotics in the context of the mixed semiotics that he developed in the 1970s and which extended throughout his career. This foundational work on the relationship between asignification and signifying semiologies, and the micropolitical necessity of escaping from meaning in the broadest sense encompassing individuation, double articulation, and limited subjectivation, is contextualised in terms of information theory, in the work of Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver, as well in terms of Roland Barthes’ semiology and suggestive extra-structural conception of signifiers without signifieds or obtuse meaning. Guattari’s favourite examples of asignifying technomaterial info-networks and mushrooms sprouting on manure are both discussed

Introducing Deleuze

A review of Claire Colebrook's Understanding Deleuze (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2002)

The Modern Battlefront of Natural History and the Emergence of Animal Heroes

The popular nature writer and conservationist Ernest Harold Baynes (1868-1925) was instrumental in bringing the issue of the place of animals in war to the attention of nature historians in the United States. In Animal Heroes of the Great War,1 Baynes presented a general overview of the use of animals in the Allied war effort of World War I, describing the service of horses, camels, mules, donkeys, oxen, dogs and pigeons. As a representative of Harper's magazine, he travelled through England, France, Belgium, Italy, Egypt and Palestine from the winter of 1919 to the summer of 1920, collecting material for Animal Heroes and "Our Animal Allies in the World War," which appeared in Harper's in 1921.

Storie di cani. La cinofilia freudiana

All'interno del bestiario psicanalitico, i cani si incontrano spesso, e chiunque conoscai dettagli della vita di Freud sa che era un amante dei cani. Sarebbe un errore separare l'attenzione affezionata che Freud nutriva per questi animali nella vita familiare dalla sua pratica analitica e dal lavoro teorico. Al fine di comprendere meglio il ruolo dei cani nel bestiario freudiano va tenuta presente inoltre la sua amicizia con la principessa Maria Bonaparte, anche lei amante dei cani e collezionista di antichità. Congiungendo i fili del racconto, le vite e le opere di Freud e della Bonaparte rivelano la caninità che li teneva uniti, oltre al ricco bestiario che attraversa le rispettive scritture

A Barbara Diagram: Summer of 1984

This version was prepared on the occasion of a one-day special conference in honour of Barbara Godard, organized by the Toronto Semiotic Circle on April 21, 2012, at Victoria Collage in Toronto.This is an updated text of the paper presented at the Barbara Godard memorial, held at York University in May 2011. Focusing on Barbara Godard's lecture notes from Fredric Jameson's seminar during the 1984 International Summer Institute in Semiotic and Structural Studies, the author highlights her contributions to the Toronto semiotics scene

�Explorations�, la publicación desconocida: La revista que McLuhan editó junto a Carpenter

This study focusses on the well-known journal Explorations, coedited by McLuhan and Edmund Carpenter in the 50s. After the first nine issues and a break, it was launched again in 1964 as a supplement of Varsity Graduate magazine, which was published by the Student and Public Relations Department of the University of Toronto. This �magazine within a magazine� was published in colour for no less than eight years, until its final closure in 1972. It included contributions by McLuhan himself and his loyal collaborators Harley Parker, Edmund Carpenter, Barrington Nevitt, Wilfrid Watson, Derrick de Kerkhoe and, at least, one of his sons and his editor-in-chiefEste estudio se centra en la conocida publicación Explorations, coeditada por McLuhan y Edmund Carpenter en los años cincuenta. Tras los nueve primeros números y después de un período de reposo, la publicación vio de nuevo la luz en 1964 como anexo de la revista Varsity Graduate, publicada en el departamento de alumnado y relaciones públicas de la Universidad de Toronto. Esta �revista dentro de otra revista� se publicó en papel a color durante nada menos que ocho años, hasta que cerró en 1972. Contaba con contribuciones como la del mismo McLuhan así como de sus fieles colaboradores Harley Parker, Edmund Carpenter, Barrington Nevitt, Wilfrid Watson, Derrick de Kerkhove y, al menos, uno de sus hijos, junto con su jefe de redacción