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SUMMARY: Sociology Lunchtime Seminar: The Love of Books in the UK. Remedia
 tion and attachment in the digital age. - Dr María Angélica Thumala Olav
 e\, Senior Lecturer in Sociology\, University of Edinburgh
DTSTART:20241029T123000Z
DTEND:20241029T140000Z
UID:TALK222328@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:A B Youngman
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Dr María Angélica Thumala Olave\, Senior Lecturer i
 n Sociology\, University of Edinburgh\n\nChair: Patrick Baert\, Professor 
 of Social Theory\, University of Cambridge\n\nAbstract: The humanistic sta
 nce towards print and the sacralisation of the codex have been critiqued b
 y media and book historians as normative\, nostalgic\, elitist and oppress
 ive. In spite of the historical variations in its forms and uses\, the cod
 ex defines how present-day readers conceive of and sensually apprehend boo
 ks. The codex is the template with which e-books are evaluated by both pri
 nt and digital readers. Just as the construction of the e-book emulates th
 e print book\, the aesthetic experience of e-books is closely tied to the 
 affordances of the codex. \n\nUsing interviews and Mass Observation materi
 al Dr Thumala will consider the kinds of attachment that emerge between re
 aders and the reading they do on electronic devices.  She will develop a c
 ultural sociology of reading which builds on theories of attachment and ic
 onicity to interpret the twofold response to e-books among committed book 
 lovers of a range of ages and backgrounds: the strengthening of attachment
  to reading as a practice and the rejection of e-books’ material feature
 s. One of the arguments is that the preference for print is not the nostal
 gic reaffirmation of print’s aura but the outcome of the subjective expe
 rience of print books’ iconic power.\n\nMaría Angélica Thumala Olave i
 s Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh. Her researc
 h brings together the sociology of religion\, the sociology of the self an
 d cultural sociology\, to interpret accounts of self and the justification
  of action in a global perspective. She is the author of the edited volume
  The cultural sociology of reading. The meanings of reading and books acro
 ss the world. (2022\, Palgrave Macmillan Cultural Sociology Series) and is
  writing a monograph entitled The Love of Books. Attachment to a changing 
 cultural object.
LOCATION:Sociology Department Seminar Room\, Free School Lane
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