Electronic media and mimesis: the role of mimetic processes in the practice of teleparticipation of the electronic media

• Grant number: 10/16685-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: December 01, 2010
• End date: February 02, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications - Theory of Communication
• Principal Investigator: Malena Segura Contrera
• Grantee: Malena Segura Contrera
• Host Investigator: Christoph Wulf
• Host Institution: Vice-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação. Universidade Paulista (UNIP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Abstract

This research investigates how the electronic communication means (especially television) configure the mimetic procedures, considering if the disguise of television behaviors is not an attempt of rescuing a shared symbolical universe from ritual. It proposes to compare the function of the mimetic operations in the archaic rituals and in the media rituals, considering that the current virtualization of the communications may be generating new formats of teleparticipation that simulate the immersion existent in the archaic rituals. Accordingly, it is also concerned with investigating the role of the mimetic procedures in the constitution of communicative bonds, considering the differences existent between interpersonal communication and telecommunication, evaluating what were the relevant transformations occurred in the replacement of the ritual participation (which implied a differentiated dimension of presential corporeal existence) through the teleparticipation, that is, by the projections through electronic media. (AU)