Rethinking communication with Raymond Williams: structure of feelings, technoculture and affective landscapes

Abstract

This paper points out the importance of Raymond Williams’ cultural hypothesis of structure of feeling for the discussions and analyses that take the notion of historicity as decisive for the reflections on communicative and cultural practices. We start from the recognition that this notion allows to take into account different temporalities that mark every social process and offers elements to think methodologically the work with texts / textualities and forms of communication in articulation with the political dimension that should mark such an initiative. We chose in our course three thematic inputs to reflect from, with and in addition to Williams: 1) the epistemological gesture around the notion of structure of feeling; 2) the seizure of determinations and technological determinisms; 3) its contribution to understand contemporary identity engagements in articulation with affective landscapes, decisive aspects to think contemporaneity.