The electromagnetic medium has re-emerged as the poles of contemporary political tentacles. To apply Carl Schmitt's expression, the two contemporary techniques of governance that distribute order (Ordnung) and location (Ort) are no longer metaphorically referred to as ocean and earth, but are materialised as "star chains" and “Huawei ", and the phobia of electric and embrace of electromagnetism becomes a sort of technological touchstone for understanding the modern world. In this talk, we would like to discuss Ke Yunlu, Liu Cixin and Under One Person--to explore the reversal of the electromagnetic medium in contemporary China and the various facets of the myth of governance of 'modernity' in contemporary society--in the light of Darnton's study of The Death of Marat and Jeffery Sconce's study of the phobia of of electromagnetism.

About the Speaker

Yao Yunfan, Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University, author of Homo Sacer and Divine Economy: Studies on Giorgio Agamben's Political Philosophy. His main research interests focus on the history of Western political thought, contemporary Western literary and cultural studies.