Bøker av Dominic Pettman

In a bid to wean himself off Facebook and Twitter, media scholar and cultural theorist Dominic Pettman decided to revive an ancient custom. He decided to tell the local bees of his thoughts, theories, musings, and meditations. The result was an apian journal that parses the daily news and the routines of modern life in a more sustained and reflective way than the Pavlovian posts to which we are so addicted. The account that emerges from Pettman's regular discussion with the bees forms a compelling portrait of the tumultuous period running from the Fall of 2019 to New Year's Eve, 2022. What began as a reflection on the traumatic effects of an "unprecedented" presidency soon evolved into a real-time response to the equally extraordinary events of the pandemic and its aftermath. One key concern that emerges from Pettman's ongoing discussion with the bees is the extent to which, thanks to the alienating effects of neoliberalism, we were already engaged in an advanced form of social distancing long before anyone had heard of COVID. Other key themes include education, human-animal relations, climate change, mediated intimacy, attention ecologies, collective memory, slow violence, the self-fulfilling prophecy that is New York City, the never-ending end of history, and the mundane strategies we share in a bid to forge on, despite the accumulating challenges of the twenty-first century. Telling the Bees is an invitation to rediscover the art of reflection and a profound meditation on human connection, alienation, and our collective yearning for intimacy in an age of distance. Through what Pettman describes as an "interspecies monologue," readers are treated to a unique perspective on navigating the complexities of the twenty-first century, inspired by the ingenuity and resilience of our natural cohabitants

Highly ritualized expressions of desire reveal an era's attitude toward what it means to exist as a self among others. Using the writings of such important thinkers as Giorgio Agamben, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Bernard Stiegler as a springboard, this book explores the "techtonic" movements of contemporary culture, in relation to the language of eros.

Arguing that our ears are far too narrowly attuned to our own species, this book explores different types of voices, both natural and artificial, in the name of helping us to decipher the complex cacophony of an increasingly imperiled planet.

A fascinating look at the role of animals in human love through the ages

It is often argued that contemporary media homogenize our thoughts and actions, without us being fully aware of the restrictions they impose.

Argues that humanity can be seen as a case of mistaken identity.

Are totems merely a thing of the distant past? Or might it be that our sleek new machines are producing totemic forces which we are only beginning to recognize? This book asks to what degree todays media technologies are haunted by a Freudian ghost, functioning as totems or taboos (or both). By isolating five case-studies (rabbits in popular culture, animated creatures that go off-program, virtual lovers, jealous animal spirit guides, and electronic paradises), Look at the Bunny highlights and explores todays techno-totemic environment. In doing so, it explores how nonhuman avatars are increasingly expected to shepherd us beyond our land-locked identities, into a risky - sometimes ecstatic - relationship with the Other.