Isabel Löfgren 110 One way to remedy this blind spot in mediatization studies is to incorporate neo-materialist perspectives that focus on elements and environments as actors and agents, not just as supports. For instance, one way to study the magnitude of the planetary network of submarine fiber optic cables is to focus on the maritime space through which these cables pass, rather than merely on the history of fiber optic cables as a means of internet transport (Starosielski, 2016), or to study the mediatization of the airspace of satellite signals and antennas through the media- tization of the “air” element. In this vein, it would be possible to understand the growth of the internet and its logistical appara- tus on a planetary scale through the extractive practices of met- als such as copper, considering the extraction of this ore partly of the historical practices of capital accumulation (Arboleda, 2020). The focus on “elements” (such as metals, atoms, air, water, sea, clouds, etc.), as suggested by Starosielski (2015), is referred to by Durham Peters (2015) as “elemental media,” re- ferring to natural elements as mediums. This leads us to think of natural environments as media, that is, “media-environments”. According to Durham Peters, several natural elements can be considered media in and of themselves, as they carry, produce, and circulate meanings and senses. This idea is particularly rel- evant to the mediatization studies, particularly in the Veronian line, with its focus on the circulation of meanings. Within this elemental perspective, “meaning” is not merely a property of language or signification; it is also a physi- ological process of receiving and recognizing sensations and stimuli through the senses (vision, smell, temperature, pres- sure, etc.), which implies an embodiment of meanings and sens- es through materialities. Therefore, the proposal is to use the term “meaning” in these two interdependent directions – both linguistic-symbolic and physiological – without the need to sep- arate what is (human) language from what is (non-human) phenomenon.Bottom of Form
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjEzNzYz