Tag Archives: mimetic studies

Violence & the Oedipal Unconscious: Book Launch

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Book launch with M. Garcia-Granero, William Johnsen and Nidesh Lawtoo (Paris, 2023)

In this book launch of a diptych on Violence and the Unconscious, Nidesh Lawtoo, Marina Garcia-Granero and William Johnsen present the latest output of the ERC project Homo Mimeticus. Rather than entering the debate on media violence from a quantitative perspective, the book retraces the genealogy of the concept of catharsis that still informs, or misinform the popular imagination. The launch contextualizes the book within mimetic studies and discusses key thinkers of violence and the unconscious, from Aristotle to Nietzsche, Freud to Girard, among others. More information here: https://msupress.org/9781628964851/vi…

Violence and the Oedipal Unconscious: vol. 1, The Catharsis Hypothesis

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In his latest contribution to mimetic studies, Violence and the Oedipal Unconscious (MSU P, 2023), Nidesh Lawtoo reframes current debates on (new) media violence by tracing the philosophical, aesthetic, and historical vicissitudes of the “catharsis hypothesis” from antiquity to modernity into the present via Aristotle, Nietzsche, Bernays, Freud, Girard, Morin among others. In the process, he outlines a new theory of violence, mimesis, and the unconscious that does not have desire as a via regia, but rather, the untimely realization that all affects spread contagiously and thus mimetically.

The Angel as Host: J. Hillis Miller Last Flight

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Hillis Miller's Concept of Critic as Host – Literary Theory and Criticism

The HOM project officially ended in 2022 but publications are still forthcoming. In this article Nidesh Lawtoo revisits J. Hillis Miller’s career as one of the most influential theorists and critics of the past 50 years and shows that Miller’s last work offers an essential contribution to the mimetic turn, or re-turn. Published with symploke, the article is available Open Access HERE.

Homo Mimeticus Book Launch and Conclusion

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In this book launch of Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation (Leuven UP, 2023, OPEN ACCESS), HOM/GM PI Nidesh Lawtoo joins forces with his team (Niki Hadikoesoemo, Marina Garcia-Granero & Giulia Rignano) to sum up the main results of the HOM project and open up the new transdisciplinary field of mimetic studies Homo Mimeticus proposes.

The Insurrection Moment: Insurrection, Conspiracy, Assault

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Black Mirror and the 2020 Election: Conclusion | Psychology Today

In this HOM piece for a Theory & Event special issue on the Storming of the Capitol on January 6, Nidesh Lawtoo furthers mimetic studies by discussing the role of Dionysian intoxications, conspiracy theories, and dispossession in the company of Nietzsche, Deleuze and Black Mirror. Article available OA here

MET Seminar 2: Biomimicry Revolution (with Henry Dicks)

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Dr. Henry Dicks contributes to mimetic studies from the revolutionary perspective of biomimicry. Drawing on his forthcoming book The Biomimicry Revolution (Columbia UP, 2022). Dicks provides new philosophical foundations to rethink nature as a model, as an inspiration for measure, and as a mentor. Video available here.

Metamorphoses Seminar: Introducing Mimetic Studies

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If it is true that humans are mimetic animals (or homo mimeticus), and if it is true that we are entering an epoch of catastrophic transformations (or Anthropocene), which metamorphoses do we want to promote to affirm survival in the present and future? Mimetic studies should have a role to play in charting metamorphoses for the future. More information available here.