Relaxor ferroelectricity induced by electron correlations in a molecular dimer Mott insulator

We have investigated the dielectric response in an antiferromagnetic dimer-Mott insulator beta'-(BEDT-TTF)2ICl2 with square lattice, compared to a spin liquid candidate kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)3. Temperature dependence of the dielectric constant shows a peak structure obeying Curie-Weiss law with strong frequency dependence. We found an anisotropic ferroelectricity by pyrocurrent measurements, which suggests the charge disproportionation in a dimer. The ferroelectric actual charge freezing temperature is related to the antiferromagnetic interaction, which is expected to the charge-spin coupled degrees of freedom in the system.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Rethinking human-nature relationships in the time of coronavirus: Postmodern animism in films by Miyazaki Hayao & Shinkai Makoto

Article ID 5455.Issues we are confronted with in the age of the Anthropocene, such as climate change, extinction, and the coronavirus pandemic demand a fundamental rethink of human-nature relationships, but at the same time we are faced with a ‘crisis of imagination’, which is highlighted by the paucity of stories or narratives that enable us to fully engage with these issues. We have a ‘climate crisis’ as well as a ‘crisis of culture’ and both derive from the same source: epistemological limitations in the paradigm of modernity. The most problematic limitation is the fact that our social scientific knowledge has blind spots when it comes to nature and spirituality which makes it almost impossible for us to rethink human-nature relationships in a meaningful way. Miyazaki Hayao and Shinkai Makoto, however, directly illuminate these blind spots by making nature and spirituality central features in their animation films. This opens up new epistemological and ontological spaces in the hearts and minds of a global audience, making it possible to imagine something new. And that ‘something new’ is ‘postmodern animism’ which emerged from the fusion of a critique of modernity with the intangible cultural heritage of grassroots Japan. Postmodern animism is a philosophy that sees nature as a combination of the life-world and the spiritual-world thus enabling us to engage with climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic in a radically different way. It helps us to conceive a new paradigm that is more suitable for the Anthropocene.Shoko Yoneyam

Miyazaki Hayao's Animism and the Anthropocene

The need for a reconsideration of human-nature relationships has been widely recognized in the Anthropocene. It is difficult to rethink, however, because there is a crisis of imagination that is deeply entrenched within the fundamental premises of modernity. This article explores how ‘critical animism’ developed by Miyazaki Hayao of Studio Ghibli can address this paucity of imagination by providing alternative ways of knowing and being. ‘Critical animism’ emerged from the fusion of a critique of modernity with informal cultural heritage in Japan. It is a philosophy that perceives nature as a non-dualistic combination of the life-world and the spiritual-world, while also emphasizing the significance of place. Miyazaki’s critical animism challenges anthropocentrism, secularism, Eurocentrism, as well as dualism. It may be the ‘perfect story’ that could disrupt the existing paradigm, offering a promise to rethink human-nonhuman relationships and envisaging a new paradigm for the social sciences.Shoko Yoneyam