Francisco Tirado

Extituciones: del poder y sus anatomías

Francisco Javier Tirado y Miquel Domènech Arrancamos del vinculum en sí, de los pasajes y de las relaciones, sin aceptar como punto de partida ningún ser que no emerja de esta relación, que es a la vez colectiva, real y discursiva. Ni arrancamos desde los seres humanos, muy recientes, ni del lenguaje, todavía más reciente. El mundo del significado y el mundo del ser es un único y mismo mundo, el de la traducción, sustitución, delegación, del pasar.

George Herbert Mead y la psicología social de los objetos

From several social sciences disciplines, for more than ten years, we are claiming about the necessity of a material semiology. Reality is eminently symbolic, but that feature is not only exclusive of textual and discursive realms. It has to do with objects and things, as well. How can we interpret objects and things? How can we manage those? What is actually their meaning? What is the relationship that links that meaning with the social? The answers will come along from the material culture proposals. But the elaboration of this one demands the revision of the G.H.Meads proposals. Four topics from George Herbert Meads broad and varied treatment of the physical object have been selected for examination: the function of objects in the definition of the bodily self and its environment; the phenomena of resistance and interiorization in the selfs contact with physical objects; the selfs identification with the world of physical object and the perceptual and manipulatory phases of the act. This paper reviews all these questions. And we will conclude that they constitute the first steps to outline a Social Psychology of the objects.Hace mas de una decada que diversas disciplinas de las ciencias sociales vindican la necesidad de una semiologia de lo material. Sin duda, la realidad social es eminentemente simbolica, pero tal simbolismo no se cine exclusivamente a lo textual, discursivo o linguistico. Existen practicas mas alla de esta dimension que producen sentido y significado. Los objetos y las cosas estan implicados en ellas. ?Que elementos definen semejante semiologia? ?Como hay que interpretar esas practicas? ?Como se relacionan con la produccion de lo social? Las respuestas vienen de la mano de la formulacion de una cultura material. Mas la elaboracion de esta exige la revision de las propuestas que al respecto realizo G.H.Mead. Efectivamente, en su obra es posible encontrar una explicacion para el papel que los objetos juegan en la constitucion y mantenimiento de identidades sociales, entender como confieren al self un ambiente estable y familiar, examinar como los actos de tocar y comprender, en tanto que relacion basica con lo material, detentan un papel clave en la construccion y mantenimiento de la realidad, y, en definitiva, observar como la relacion del self con el mundo fisico se configura como relacion social. En el presente trabajo revisaremos todas estas cuestiones. Y concluiremos que constituyen los primeros pasos para esbozar una Psicologia Social de los objetos

The global condition of epidemics: Panoramas in A (H1N1) influenza and their consequences for One World One Health programme

Abstract Among the most relevant elements contributing to define the One World One Health programme we find epidemics. The reason is that in recent decades, infectious diseases such as HIV/SIDA, SARS and Influenza have shown that we need new approaches and concepts in order to understand how biological emergencies and health alerts deploy new scales of action. Especially relevant has been the case of A(H1N1) influenza. This reached the status of global threat virtually from its onset, triggering an international response with a diffusion, visibility and rapidity unparalleled in previous health alerts. This article maintains that this global condition cannot be explained solely by the epidemiologic characteristics of the disease, such as mortality rate, severe cases, propagation capacity, etc. Resorting to the approach proposed by the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this paper suggests that the action of certain socio-technical operators was what built a heterogeneous network of ideas, concepts and materials that turned the A (H1N1) influenza into a global-scale phenomenon with unprecedented speed. Among these operators, the most important ones were: the speaking position, a discourse about threat, the protocols and guidelines that were used and, lastly, the maps that allowed a real-time monitoring of the influenza. The paper ends with the notion of panorama, as defined by Bruno Latour: a suggestion to describe the common denominator of the aforementioned operators, and a means to foresee the development of global scales for certain health alerts. The paper will conclude by proposing that this type of analysis would allow the One World One Health to understand with greater precision the dynamic of epidemics and thus make its principles of action much more specific as well as its definition of what global health should be.

Cosmopolitanism or globalisation: the anthropocene turn

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance the debate on “cosmopolitanism or globalization” by approaching this rich literature from cultural, ethical and governance angles, and by introducing key notions from the work that has taken place in the natural sciences, around the Anthropocene. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on analytical tactics that draw on a literature review and thematic analysis. Findings The composite analytical “lens” is introduced here (crafted around cultural, ethical and governance angles) to approach the debate on “cosmopolitanism or globalization” plus the engagement with the literature on the Anthropocene, allow us to engage with current understandings of the global and the “planetary” that are at the heart of cosmopolitanism. Research limitations/implications The paper deals with and merges two complex streams of literature (“cosmopolitanism or globalization” and the Anthropocene), and as such, needs to be seen as part of an initial, exploratory scholarly effort. Practical implications The analytical “lens” described here shall be of further use to develop current trends re-claiming cosmopolitanism for the study of organizations. Social implications This work can help nurture a cosmopolitan sensitivity which celebrates difference, highlights expanded concerns for the “distant other” and fosters involvement in new forms of governance. Originality/value The approaches introduced here bring new angles to continue thinking about the planet as the “cosmos” of cosmopolitanism, and to explore new understandings around organizations and (global) responsibility.

Extitutions and security: movement as code

How can we guarantee the security of our means of transport? How can we strengthen that of our communications? How can we keep our ideology or our market safe? Etc. In this context, the press has recently been asking whether it is possible to be 100% certain that a person is not concealing a dangerous item on passing through an airport control. Nonetheless, technical solutions may be about to alter the aforementioned scenario. Indeed, the authorities in a number of countries have decided to install scanners at airports that allow people to be completely undressed without having to remove their clothes. The protests which have been voiced, quite reasonably, against this measure have been completely stifled by arguments based on security. Just a glance at the press in any European country in the last few days will confirm this affirmation. The example of scanners has not been a random choice to begin this article. It has to do with the fact that airports are truly a unique place to illustrate one of the most characteristic phenomena of our current societies: the need to manage mobility and security in unison. However, from our point of view security is much more than an excuse for legitimising procedures for surveillance and control, or a characteristic feature of contemporary states. It constitutes the very logic of such states. It is characterised by circulation and movement, and it operates as an authentic code that is capable of generating new forms of sociality and regimes of power.

Not Just Software: Free Software and the (Techno) Political Action

The practice of developing and creating Free Software has been the centre of attention for studies related to economics, knowledge production, laws and the intellectual property framework. However, the practice that constitutes the initiative of Free Software also means a call to rethink current forms of political action and the in-depth meaning of what is understood as “political†. This constitutes the field which has been called techno-activism. Along these lines, the authors propose a particular reading of the political challenge that is Free Software from the standpoint of Hardt and Negri’s (2000) theoretical work. The authors put forward various contributions -regarding the organization, the agents and the form of political action- that they consider to pose a crisis for traditional proposals and urge society to renew its way of relating to information, the raw material upon which the current exercise of government and practices of techno-activist resistance rest.

The epidemiological factor: A genealogy of the link between medicine and politics

From the beginning of our civilization, the existence of infectious and contagious diseases required a search for solutions for both an individual and medical-health problem, and political interventions that involve a territory and population that must be managed. In this respect, epidemiology constitutes a strategic dimension in analysing the complex relationships established between scientific conduct and the political management of a territory. With this focus, we will provide a short historic genealogy of the links established between medicine and politics in European societies since the 18th century. From this, we should be able to see a movement from the concepts of healthiness/unhealthiness common to the ‘public hygiene’ managed by the 19th-century nation-state, towards the imperative of ‘public health’ operating with the ‘global health’ concept promoted by our current global institutions.

Resisting long working hours: The case of Spanish female teleworkers:

Spain has some of the longest working days in the European Union and this presents problems for women employees, especially with regard to their work–life balance. Teleworking has been introduced as a possible solution. Our article analyses this working relationship and shows how female teleworkers produce new interpretations of time, space and agency. When it comes to time, we conclude that there is ‘gendered time’ and ‘resistance time’. This (a) illustrates how women who telework deploy different approaches in the way they relate to their temporal, spatial and material worlds, and (b) defines a particular type of agency associated with teleworking that vindicates their condition as both female workers and mothers, and denounces a patriarchal labour model designed by and for men.

Resisting Long Working Hours: The Case of Spanish Female Tele-Workers

Spain is considered to be one of the countries with the longest working days in the European Union. This produces several problems in the daily life of workers, especially in the work-life balance. Teleworking has been implemented as a possible solution. Based on qualitative research, our paper analyses the relation between telework, time and the work-life balance. Our work shows how female teleworkers produce new articulations of temporality in which space, materiality and agency acquire a new meaning. We conclude by affirming that they build what we will call a ‘gendered and resistance time’. This: a) illustrates how women who telework deploy systems of engagement involving different approaches in the way they relate to their temporal, spatial and material worlds; and b) defines a particular type of autonomy associated with teleworking that vindicates their condition as both female worker and mother, and denounces a patriarchal labour model designed for men.

Nuevas formas de habitar la ciudad: hacia una conceptualización de la ciudadanía biovigilante

The citizenship concept is probably, one of the most studied along the History from a social perspective: from Aristoteles and the Greek polis until the liberal city of the 20th Century. In this sense, it has been recently emerged several studies such as the Nikolas Rose or Kezia Barker works highlighting key role of bioscience and biotechnology in order to understand the citizen without pointing out the link with a concrete territory. In this paper, we will be linked with this line and we will present the biowatcher concept in order to frame many politics, actions and events around the contemporary city in a field where the social studies has not arrive deeply: biosurveillance and biosecurity practices in our daily life. Through a study case with documentary material about biosurveillance, we will present the difference in our work with the other mentioned proposals using the paraskeue (equipment) concept given by Michel Foucault. Finally, we will discuss about the biopolitics consequences within this new kind of citizenship and we will put forward the value of the scenario concept in the biosurveillance politics.