*Anna Tsing - The mushroom at the end of the world*
That we are living in time of crisis it is no surprise, and it's actually been a while that the emperor has been going around with no clothes. Of course, we can all laugh about it as it happens in the famous folk tale Andersen rewrote, and indeed we kinda got used to it. But the truth is that not only more and more people started noticing that majestic nakedness: more and more people are experiencing the real consequences of this power loosing its meaning, and that's ain't funny at all. Now, while the emperor keeps walking col suo seguito di cretini, it doesn't matter the
Now, it doesn't matter so much if we use this emperor as a metaphor for capitalism, or progress, or market, or crisis itself. What matters is that this shocking view of a structured reality that crumbles down in its ridiculousness
That we are living in time of crisis it is no surprise, as well as there's no wonder in saying the current [economic and ecologic system] is no longer sustainable. It's actually been a while that the emperor has been going around with no clothes. Of course, we can all laugh about it. But even if more and more people started noticing that majestic nakedness and got used to it, to the point that is no longer a scandal, there is something that remains uncanny about this image, something awkward that a simple smile cannot undo.
I'm wandering what would have happened if only Andersen's folk tale wouldn't have stopped there, and perhaps this is a worthy exercise of imagination: what would have been the reaction of the peasants after the laughter had gone? How to deal with such a realization?
Now, while the emperor keeps walking followed by his retinue of ministers, nobles and other crooks, it doesn't really matter if what we look at is a metaphor for a specific form of power structure, capitalism (sorry, i need to say it), that is loosing its meaning/authority/legitimacy. What matters is that this capitalism, in its multiple forms, has created an incredibly interwoven network of dependencies and dominations which is threatened to collapse at every moment, creating a generalised condition of precarity. And here it comes the big dilemma: are you playing dumb and joining the emperor's entourage or are you facing precarity? And if the latter is the case, how to survive?
that we are talking about capitalism or progress or market or war
I like to think that in this question lies the reason why Andersen couldn't help but end the story with a laughter. Firstly because he could have never answer for somebody else. Secondly because at that point the folktale would probably fork into a miriad of versions, in which the narration had to adapt to the locality of histories and individuals' [own strategies to cope with, well, life.] And thirdly, that collective laughter is the symbol that the folklore encoded in order to point towards the diversity of survival strategies, turning the awkward image of nakedness into an ironic opening of possibilities. (sorry, getting meta).
as Anna Tsing writes at the beginning of her book, among others*, the conditions of precarity this generalised crisis
* connection with the inital quote: the art of noticing and need for tools
* connection of the context of the thesis
...tbc
when the reality created by this emperor going around with his booty in the air
Yet there is something something uncanny, if not shocking, about this view
I wonder what would happen in Andersen's fable after that boy screaming that the emperor was naked.
In this little excerpt, Anna Tsing refers to the fact that progress is
a shocking vision of reality.
talking about crisis is obvious, but what is shocking is to really experience and empathize with the struggle
What matters is that this situation of precarity creates a big dilemma: how to survive? Apparently the choices are 2: either joining the emperor's entourage, or, and this one is more probable, you're left alone, and it is precisely what it is desirable for the absurd theatre to keep running. In this isolation of the ruins, what Anna Tsing has the courage to suggest is that....
introducing the shift of vision, helped by noticing tools
coupling with the entrance quote by ursula le guin: if the emperor is dead then what? tsing proposes to use the lens of precarity
@ -37,7 +47,7 @@ the precarity and the unsustainable
the project of the thesis is a fieldwork in the crisis of evry day life in a specific context
the irony of doing taxes, it seems the monster that self-employed, free lancers need to confront, a topic for adults, a boring weekend on the spreadsheet. What is actually doing the taxes? can we do taxes otherwise? what is it that we need to pay and for whom?
the irony of doing taxes, it seems the monster that self-employed, free lancers need to confront, a topic for adults, a boring weekend on the spreadsheet. What is it actually to do the taxes? can we do taxes otherwise? what is it that we need to pay and for whom?
the contraddiction of paying taxes if we are in a survival mode
grgr
2 years ago