Monday, August 6, 2018

HOMEWORK: LOCALISM IN AND AGAINST THE SPACE OF FLOWS

TUES SEPT 11
7.30-9.00p.m.
LINC classroom, 4th floor, Central Branch, Hamilton Public Library

Innis spent a lot of time wondering “Why do we attend to what we attend to?” Our attention is increasingly divided between the space of places and what Manuel Castells calls the space of flows, the apparently fluid and encyclopedic space beyond our screens.  We will consider a few works of fiction in which this city is depicted, and also some of the blogs which have arisen in the space of flows to direct attention to the city’s places. Is the space of places freer than the space of flows? Citizens living under censorious regimes sometimes resort to “inner emigration.” Does it make any sense to think about defecting from the global aggregation of attention in the space of flows to dwell only in the space of places?

Shawn Selway is a Stelco-trained millwright and the author of “Nobody Here Will Harm You”, a book about the evacuation of Inuit from the Eastern Arctic to the Hamilton Mountain Sanatorium during the sixties. His writing has appeared in a variety of journals and on the local civic affairs blog, ”Raise the Hammer”. He is currently an active member of the Hamilton Tenants Solidarity Network. Don't agonize, organize.