
Posthuman Buddhism and the Digital Self
The Production of Dwellspace
Les Roberts(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 18. December 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-032-55930-8 (ISBN)
Description
In Posthuman Buddhism and the Digital Self, Les Roberts extends his earlier work on spatial anthropology to consider questions of time, spaciousness and the phenomenology of self. Across the book's four main chapters - which range from David Bowie's long-standing interest in Buddhism, to street photography of 1980s Liverpool, to the ambient soundscapes of Derek Jarman's Blue, or to the slow, contemplative cinema of Tsai Ming-Liang - Roberts lays the groundwork for the concept of 'dwellspace' as a means by which to unpick the shifting spatial, temporal and experiential modalities of everyday mediascapes. Understood as a particular disposition towards time, Roberts's foray into dwellspace proceeds from a Pascalian reflection on the self/non-self in which being content in an empty room vies with the demands of having content in an empty room. Taking the idea of posthuman Buddhism as a heuristic lens, Roberts sets in motion a number of interrelated lines of enquiry that prompt renewed focus on questions of boredom, distraction and reverie and cast into sharper relief the psychosocial and creative affordances of ambience, spaciousness and slowness. The book argues that the colonisation of 'empty time' by 24/7 digital capitalism has gone hand-in-hand with the growth of the corporate mindfulness industry, and with it, the co-option, commodification and digitisation of dwellspace. Posthuman Buddhism is thus in part an exploration of the dialectics of dwellspace that orbits around a creative self-praxis rooted in the negation and dissolution of the self, one of the foundational cornerstones of Buddhist theory and practice.
Reviews / Votes
"Through a series of fascinating case studies, Les Roberts explores what it means to be an emplaced and embodied human being in a digital, mediated age. His book is full of both vivid, concrete examples and suggestive theoretical interventions. It takes the study of the everyday into new, exciting areas." - Joe Moran, Liverpool John Moores University, UKMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate and Undergraduate
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
266 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-55930-8 (9781032559308)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2023
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download

Book
09/2023
1st Edition
Routledge
€195.70
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
09/2023
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
Person
Les Roberts is a Reader in Cultural and Media Studies at the University of Liverpool, UK.
Content
Introduction: In Search of Spaciousness; 1. Dwelling in the Space of the Self: Home, Extensionality, Memory; 2. The Lama, the Changeling and the Wardrobe: Bowie, Buddhism, Transitional Space; 3. Wherever You Go, There You Are Wired: Empty Time, Boredom, Liminality; 4. Streaming the Mindstream: Ambience, Slowness, Spaciousness; Conclusion: The Production of Dwellspace