Karmic Assemblages and the Network Society

By now there is little doubt that the Internet has brought dramatic changes to human society on a global scale, and that probably more radical transformations are yet to come. Whether these changes are for the best interest of humanity and the planet or for intensifying exploitation, hegemony and ecological disaster is at the center of recent academic debate. The fruit of this critical debate, I think, should be the ability to generate emancipatory ideas and projects from a position of deep understanding of what is at stake. While some scholars raise criticism by analysing the evolution of the Internet as a means for the deepening and widening of commodification, hegemony, exploitation, surveillance and control, others point with optimism at the potential for change embedded in the technology. There is yet another view that systematically contests the expressions of optimism by translating the assumptions in which they are based into Marxist terminology, a critical reading that declares that 'free culture' is ultimately 'free labour', and a new form of capitalistic rent. Across the academic field, however, there is a nearly unanimous call to find alternatives to the current system that has spread poverty, brought ecological disaster, and dis-articulated the rich cultural heritage of communities around the globe, and to make them succeed before it is too late.

This research project seeks to participate in the becoming of these alternatives.

Read more >  PhD Research Project « Nicolás Mendoza