The Mimetic Turn, Special issue of MLN

Posted on March 22, 2024 by wp_8686836

In this special issue of Modern Language Notes (Johns Hopkins UP) edited by Nidesh Lawtoo, contributors join literary and philosophical perspectives to further the interdisciplinary field of mimetic studies. After the linguistic and the affective turn, the new materialist and the performative turn, the cognitive and the posthuman turn, the issue argues for a re-turn to the ancient, yet also modern and still contemporary realization that humans are mimetic creatures, or homo mimeticus. Essays on Plato, Nietzsche, Wilde, Benjamin, Adorno, Borges, as well as on contemporary film and fiction, give theoretical and aesthetic substance to this claim. More information and OA articles available HERE.

HOM Videos 10: Ancient Foundations for Mimetic Studies

Posted on March 10, 2024 by wp_8686836

What a better place to conclude the Homo Mimeticus project than the ancient Agora of Athens were philosophy was born? It is in fact here that Socrates among many other philosophers conceived of philosophy not only as a love of wisdom but also as a way of life, as Pierre Hadot would say.

(Nieuw) Fascisme: Besmetting, gemeenschap, mythe

Posted on January 19, 2024 by wp_8686836

Kunnen we ons immuun maken voor het (nieuwe) fascisme (Noordboek 2024)? Nidesh Lawtoo betwijfelt het. Onze rationaliteit is simpelweg niet opgewassen tegen de besmettelijkheid van de mythe. Of we het nu willen of niet: we praten elkaar na (mimesis). En nieuwe media versterken de fascistische boodschap. Toch is er hoop. We kunnen ons bewust worden van ons mimetische gedrag. Als we onszelf doorzien, wordt het mogelijk om de mythe anders te framen en de angel eruit te trekken. Interviews in Trouw & Mare.

HOM Videos 10: Ancient Foundations for Mimetic Studies II

Posted on January 19, 2024 by wp_8686836

In this last episode of HOM Videos, Nidesh Lawtoo returns to the place where mimetic studies begun: the Great Theatre of Dionysus in Athens. It is in fact here that mimesis was not simply represented but, rather, performed by actors on mimes endowed with the capacity to generate a mimetic, dramatic, or Dionysian pathos in the audience as well.

Violence and the Mimetic Unconscious: vol. 2 The Affective Hypothesis

Posted on October 1, 2023 by wp_8686836

Representations of violence have subliminal contagious effects, but what kind of unconscious captures this imperceptible affective dynamic in the digital age? In volume two of a Janus-faced diagnostic on violence and the unconscious, HOM PI Nidesh Lawtoo traces a genealogy of a long-neglected, embodied, relational, and highly mimetic unconscious central to the problematic of (new) media violence. Now OUT with MSU P!

HOM Videos ep.9, The Neuroscience of Mimesis: Vittorio Gallese. II. Mirror Neurons Now & Then

Posted on September 1, 2023 by wp_8686836

In this second episode of HOM Videos on The Neuroscience of Mimesis, Vittorio Gallese discusses with Nidesh Lawtoo important precursors of the discovery of mirror neurons in aesthetics, phenomenology and the tradition of the mimetic unconscious: from Nietzsche to Lipps, Merleau-Ponty to Aby Warburg, Charles Féré to Pierre Janet, a number of fin-de-siecle philosophical physicians were sensitive to the mirroring relation between movement and sensation later confirmed by the discovery of mirror neurons.

HOM Videos 9, The Neuroscience of Mimesis: Vittorio Gallese. I History of a Discovery

Posted on September 1, 2023 by wp_8686836

As HOM Videos moves toward a conclusion, Nidesh Lawtoo travels to Parma, Italy, to interview neuroscientist Vittorio Gallese who, along with Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team, discovered mirror neurons in the early 1990s. In the first of four episodes on a major contribution to the mimetic turn, Gallese retells the history of the discovery of mirror neurons in nonhuman and human primates, discusses what more is known about mirroring mechanisms 30 years later, and begins to lay out the theoretical implications of embodied simulation for the transformations of homo mimeticus in the 21st century.

Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation–BOOK LAUNCH (Fri. Nov. 18, 4 pm CET, hybrid)

Posted on November 8, 2022 by wp_8686836

5 years ago the HOM project promised a new theory of imitation to face some of the main challenges of the present. Here it is, with Leuven UP! In this book launch, HOM/GM team members Niki Hadikoesoemo, Marina García-Granero and Giulia Rignano talk with Nidesh Lawtoo about the main insights and takeaways of Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation (Freely available Open Access here). All are welcome, reception to follow, and on hybrid mode More information including Zoom link here.

MET Seminar 2: Biomimicry Revolution (with Henry Dicks)

Posted on November 5, 2022 by wp_8686836

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