Subjectivity, ecology and meditation – Performing interconnectedness

Abstract

This article explores the set of practices promoted by the Zen Master ThichNhat Hanh and reflects on the articulations of meditation and environmentalism. Informed by current debates in Science and Technology Studies, I reflect on the role of meditation in the construction of an ecology of the self. Through the analysis of practices of mindfulness, this article investigates a variety of devices recruited to transform subjectivities, enacting relational and interconnected versions of selfhood, opposed to the modern and dualistic paradigm of subjectivity. I reflect on the performative, experiential and social dimensions of these relational ontologies, exploring the potential of meditation practices to tackle the current 'ecological crisis'. Subjectivity (2014) 7, 131-150.

Carnation Atoms? A History of Nuclear Energy in Portugal

“…As we have suggested elsewhere (Santos Pereira et al 2016), Portuguese civic epistemologies are technology specific. The public was utterly ignored during the unfolding of other socio-technical controversies in Portugal during the 1990s and 2000s such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and the potential risks of emerging technologies haven't generated much public participation (Carvalho andNunes 2013, 2018). The permeability of nuclear energy policy to social mobilization clearly contrasts with other technologies, turning it into an emblematic case study to analyze how major technological projects and State-sanctioned sociotechnical imaginaries can be questioned by a multitude of social actors.…”

“…Moreover, the assembly of Ferrel's population took place after everyone heard the church bell ringing. Bells are material devices that often mediate affective and social change (Carvalho 2014) -in the case of Ferrel they were used to assemble the entire population. Silvino João told us that:…”

Voices from the water: experience, knowledge, and emotions in long-term ecological research (LTER Italy)

“…In this conclusive musings I wish to make a step further, emphasizing some voices that are much overlooked, and which whisper that the LTER sites could be also the starting point where develop a deep connection with Nature, entering in what is called the "soul of the place" (Harding, 2011): places in which one may spend time getting to know them intimately with intuition and feeling, whilst using the rational mind to find out about their ecology and about how humans have interacted with these places over the years. The age we live in is characterized by uncertainties, complexity and by crucial environmental and societal challenges (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005): according to many scholars, it is necessary, more than ever, to embrace a shift of perspectives for a transformative change (Leiserowitz et al, 2005;Ericson et al, 2014), which requires the elaboration of a deep and broadened form of subjectivity, in which humans identify also with non-humans, allowing to suspend the illusion of separateness (Naess, 1984;1995;Carvalho, 2014;Geiger et al, 2018;Eisenstein, 2018).…”

“…I decided not by chance to start this paper citing a famous sentence of the Buddhist monk Tich Nath Han, whose practices and insights aim at fostering the awareness of interconnectedness and "inter-being" (Carvalho, 2014), since he expresses in a poetical and vibrant way the deep interconnections that are at the foundation of any ecological and LTER study: interconnections among human beings, in a long chain that links the past to the present and to the future through LTER studies, and among us humans and non-human beings that surround us, in intertwined and mutually dependent functions and processes (Abrams, 1997).…”

Ecologies of the self in practice – meditation, affect and ecosophy

“…Subjects should become aware of the present moment; this includes not only the moving and relational body but also thought patterns and the environment that surrounds them. This kinaesthetic appreciation is materialized in practices such as walking and eating meditation, which explicitly emphasize the contemplation of nature and the deep interconnection between all entities (Carvalho 2014). The aim is to prompt an ecological or decentred form of selfhood which translates into a deepened sense of connection with other humans and nonhumans.…”