AV¶ÌÊÓƵ

Waves and Forms: Materiality of Culture

This project appraises the theoretical foundations of?, with a special emphasis on studies of China and the Middle East. It is based on the work of Asian studies scholars Geremie Barm¨¦, John Lie and Donald Davis, and on a new ontology of cultural difference that draws from theories and methodologies in science and technology studies. Its core framework is discussed in Basile Zimmermann¡¯s book? which was published by The MIT Press in 2015.

Waves and Forms (WV) is an attempt to bridge the particular and the universal through a combination of the relativist perspective of the social sciences and humanities, together with a positivist,? but non-essentialist, view of materiality rooted in classical physics. By focusing on the concrete traces of expressions, artifacts and actions, WV allows us to analyze the dynamics of what we call "culture" as its forms are created, propagated or dissipated among people, objects, and (especially) digital media.

Currently, WV is being developed iteratively through trans-disciplinary empirical analyses, with core works published in the fields of contemporary Sinology, science and technology studies, design studies, and human-computer interaction. For case studies and examples of WV analyses, see the list of selected publications below.

This research is led by Dr.?Basile Zimmermann?in collaboration with Dr.?Ammar Halabi. For more information about the project, please contact Basile Zimmermann.

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References

Barm¨¦, G. R. ¡°¡±.?Chinese Studies Association of Australia Newsletter, Issue No. 3, 2005.

Barm¨¦, G. R. "".?China Heritage Quarterly, 2008.

Davis, D. R. ¡°¡±.?The Journal of Asian Studies, 74-1, 43-67, 2015.

Guiheux, G. "".?Etudes chinoises, Hors-s¨¦rie, 11-23, 2010.

Lie, J. ¡°¡±.?Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, 2, e-journal, 2012.

Publications (selected)

Zimmermann B. "". Paris: AOC, 2024

Zimmermann B. . Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2023.

Zimmermann B. "." In Rethinking Music through Science and Technology Studies, edited by Hennion, Antoine, and Levaux Christophe, 227-238. London: Routledge, 2021.

Sahin, O.?PhD Diss. 2021 DOI:10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:156249

Halabi A., Zimmermann B.?"."?AI & SOCIETY 34 (3), pp. 403-417, 2019. See also the editorial .

Zimmermann B.?" ". Asiatische Studien / ?tudes Asiatiques, 72(1), pp. 87-116, 2018.

Zimmermann B., Nova N. ¡°¡±, with Nicolas Nova.?Design and Culture?Vol. 7-2, pp. 167-184, 2015.

Zimmermann B.?. Inside Technology Series. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2015. [Chinese edition forthcoming: "²¨ÓëÐΣºµç×ÓÒôÀÖÉ豸ºÍ¼ÆËã»ú±àÂëÔÚÖйú" ·­Ò룺ԬåãÍ©£¬Öйú´«Ã½´óѧ³ö°æÉç (¼´½«³ö°æ).]

Conferences

?"What is AI? What is Culture? An anthropological perspective", 7th International Conference on Interdisciplinarity in Translation and Interpreting, Shanghai International Studies AV¶ÌÊÓƵ. Novembre 2023.

"Learning from China: The Social Rematerialization ?of Sound", Soundin' China panel, Tonmeistertagung 32, D¨¹sseldorf. November 2023.

"". Caf¨¦s philosophiques des Bains des P?quis, Gen¨¨ve. Octobre 2023. Cliquer sur le title pour visionner la vid¨¦o.

"R¨¦soudre la crise des humanit¨¦s", Laboratoire d¡¯¨¦tude des sciences et des techniques (STS Lab), ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù¨¦ de Lausanne. Septembre 2023.

"", workshop Governance by Infrastructure, Laboratoire d¡¯¨¦tude des sciences et des techniques, ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù¨¦ de Lausanne. Mars 2022. Click on the title to access the video recording.

"ÎÒÃÇÈçºÎÐèÒªÈËÀàѧ¨C¨C¶ÔÈËÎĺÍÉç»á¿Æѧ¹ýÈ¥¡¢ÏÖÔÚÓëδÀ´µÄ·´Ë¼"?("How Do We Need Anthropology? Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of Humanities and Social Sciences", presentation in Chinese). School of Sociology and Anthropology, Xiamen AV¶ÌÊÓƵ, September 2020 (online).

"²¨ÓëÐÎʽ±¾ÌåÂÛ" ("Waves and Forms Ontology", presentation in Chinese). Department of Philosophy, Nanjing AV¶ÌÊÓƵ, China, November 2019. Online?.

"The Circulation of Ideas vs Physical objects". Keynote lecture for the international workshop Place, Migration and Imagination: Contemplating Mobility in Southwest China and Beyond, Research Institute for Social Anthropology, Nanjing AV¶ÌÊÓƵ, China, November 2019.

"²¨ÓëÐÎʽ£ºÊý×ÖÁ÷µÄÎïÖÊÐÔ" ("Waves and Forms: The Materiality of Digital Flows", presentation in Chinese). 9th Finance, Technology and Society Workshop. Center for Social Research, Peking AV¶ÌÊÓƵ, China, October 2018.

"How to trace materiality?". The Sound of the Anthropocene, IRCAM, Paris, France, September 2018.

"Three perspectives on the concept of culture".? Annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science, Washington D.C., United States, March 2018.

¡°The concept of ¡®culture¡¯ and its quotation marks: Learning from electronic music practice in China¡±, Confucius Institute for Scotland and the Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation, AV¶ÌÊÓƵ of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, June 2017.

¡°In-Game Advertising within the ¡®Happy Network¡¯: Circulation and Recyling of Design Elements in a Chinese Social Networking?Site¡±, Convergence or Differentiation? Copyright Protection and Business Models in China¡¯s Digital Creative Cultural Industries, Business School, AV¶ÌÊÓƵ of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, June 2017.

¡°Mat¨¦rialit¨¦(s) de l'analogique et du num¨¦rique: Extraits de musique ¨¦lectronique allemande ¨¤ Beijing au d¨¦but du 21e si¨¨cle¡±. Facult¨¦ des lettres, Section de langues et civilisations slaves et de l'Asie du Sud, ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù¨¦ de Lausanne, March 2017.

¡°Au croisement de la sociologie des sciences et de la sociologie de la musique: la mat¨¦rialit¨¦ du son¡±. Colloque Savoirs de la musique, ¨¦tude de sciences, r¨¦sonances. Laboratoire de recherche en sciences de l'information et de la communication du CELSA, Paris IV Sorbonne. October 2016.

¡°Waves and Forms: Electronic Music Devices and Computer Encodings in China¡±, Departments of Science & Technology Studies, Music Studies, East Asia Program, and the Contemporary China Initiative. Cornell AV¶ÌÊÓƵ, United States, November 2015. Video?

¡°The Present of Everyday Things: Electronic Music Devices and Computer Encodings in China¡± China Humanities Seminar and the Department of History of science, Harvard AV¶ÌÊÓƵ, United States, November 2015.

¡°Waves and Forms: A Framework for the Materialities of the Digital¡±, annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science, Denver, United States, November 2015.

¡°Waves, Forms, and the Imitation Game¡±, School of Social Sciences, AV¶ÌÊÓƵ of Cardiff, United Kingdom, May 2015.

"ººÑ§ºÍµ±ÏÂÑо¿" (Sinology and the Study of the Present),?World Sinology Conference, Renmin AV¶ÌÊÓƵ, Beijing, China (presentation in Chinese), September 2014.

¡°An inspection of the concepts of culture and interactional expertise¡±, Communities of Integration Workshop, Studies of Expertise and Experience, Arizona State AV¶ÌÊÓƵ, United States, May 2013.

¡°Waves and Elements: Toward a new conceptualisation of culture¡±,?The Future of Content is Context, ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù¨¦ de St-Gall, Switerzland, April 2013.

¡°Chinese studies and the study of the present¡±.?European Association of Chinese Studies XIXth Conference, ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù¨¦ Paris Diderot, France, September 2012.