Yvonne Langkamer, UCL Institute of Education

Using the theoretical framework of biosemiotics, which is built on the concept of the organism as sign system, my interdisciplinary work examines how the ‘inexpressible’ or, indeed, ‘unexpressible’ experience of trauma is imprinted in the body. Combined processes of the body and of body memory (Merleau-Ponty), therefore, are a means by which trauma – in the form of psychological, or psychic, pain – is represented and interpreted semiotically. ‘Deactivation’ of executive functioning in the brain during traumatising events results in trauma being remembered “not as a story – a narrative with a beginning, middle and end – but as isolated sensory imprints: images, sounds, and physical sensations that are accompanied by intense emotions, usually terror and helplessness” (van der Kolk, 2014). Consequently, it is suggested this may render many so-called talking therapies inadequate for the treatment of traumatized individuals, their being simply unable to narrativize their experience. For this seminar, I hope also to explore the idea of the epigenetic transmission of trauma. Epigenetic changes (unlike genetic changes) do not alter the DNA sequence but modify how the gene is expressed or read: how it is switched on or off. As an example, a parent’s exposure to environmental experiences, such as starvation or air pollution, may subsequently be manifested as metabolic disease or respiratory illness in their offspring. Following Frost (2020), I wish to examine the notion that epigenetic transformations can be deemed to be indexical – as meaning-making processes: “biochemical traces of a body’s response to a particular experience…that are linked materially and causally to a body’s experience and history”, the experience and history here being not necessarily that of the individual but of his or her antecedent(s). (Bio)semiotics is a bridge-building endeavour, allowing us to view the body not as passive but as agentive, as reacting to its environment (and to other bodies intercorporeally), enabling a critique and reimagining of dualistic thinking: mind/body, (psyche/soma), collective/individual, subject/object, matter/meaning

Dear all,

The next CCM seminar presented via Skype by Luz Gutierrez Menendez will take place on 30th of April from 1-2pm. Please find her abstract below.

The Role Of Silence In A Fast-Paced Society

The study about ‘silence’ could seem daunting or even confusing, pondering about the need to reflect on it. Nevertheless, the present study has collected very different meanings of silence from the very beginning of our times to the nowadays. Using a first grounded theory method which allowed the analysis of a radio programme, different meanings of silence were identified. Secondly, interviews to experts in media explored silence in a day to day environment. In all, the interpretative phenomenological research has generated a systematic taxonomy of silence in order to bring clarity to the word silence and ultimately, present resources – in arts, media, education, health, wellbeing – so humanity is able to apply it in their multiple fields.

This seminar will analyse the role of silence in a fast-paced society. To think, reflect or meditate are activities that require certain time from our busy lives. It seems almost impossible to stop our daily routine, for just five minutes, and ponder what we are actually doing, how and indeed why. In this presentation, silence is giving a moment, a voice in order to explain some of its uses and meanings, reaching different fields of action, where silence is far from ‘nothing’. It is a weapon that knowing how to use it in our favour – educators, psychologists, doctors, producers – could bring incredible benefits.