Hi Dave, Thanks for sharing your thinking. I find your direction invigorating. For now, I am wondering whether you might find Lisa Samuel's older essay 'Membranism, Wet Gaps, Archipelago Poetics' interesting for its imaginative examination of boundaries and representation. Some general themes that speak to me in your work are: the materialities (or immateriality) of touch and the question of 'what is therapeutic'. I also intrigued by what appears to be a circling back to ethics. Best wishes for the reading and writing :-)
Yes, indeed! I guess one of the things I'm interested in is what lies beyond the human experience of touch. I was listening to someone talking the other day about evidence that bacteria show signs of what we would call empathy. We know a lot about how humans do these things, but human agency is such an infinitesimally small part of what goes on in the cosmos, it seems like hubris to only think of the physical therapies in that way. Do bacteria touch to heal? Is a tropical storm therapeutic? Feels like there's more going on here than just effleurage.
Hi Dave, Thanks for sharing your thinking. I find your direction invigorating. For now, I am wondering whether you might find Lisa Samuel's older essay 'Membranism, Wet Gaps, Archipelago Poetics' interesting for its imaginative examination of boundaries and representation. Some general themes that speak to me in your work are: the materialities (or immateriality) of touch and the question of 'what is therapeutic'. I also intrigued by what appears to be a circling back to ethics. Best wishes for the reading and writing :-)
Thanks so much for the kind words and for the recommendation. I hadn't see Lisa Samuel's paper but have a copy now. Thanks for sharing. Dave.
Dave, I think this is fascinating. What about other kinds of touch? psychological, emotional...so much more than the physical touch of the body
Yes, indeed! I guess one of the things I'm interested in is what lies beyond the human experience of touch. I was listening to someone talking the other day about evidence that bacteria show signs of what we would call empathy. We know a lot about how humans do these things, but human agency is such an infinitesimally small part of what goes on in the cosmos, it seems like hubris to only think of the physical therapies in that way. Do bacteria touch to heal? Is a tropical storm therapeutic? Feels like there's more going on here than just effleurage.