Lectio Magistralis by Massimo di Felice
In the field of human sciences, the debate on the protagonism of non-humans has intensified in recent years. From G. Harman’s object-oriented ontology to the ontological shift in anthropology (P. Descola, V. De Castro, B. Latour), among the various positions, the advent of a new type of materiality has also begun to be highlighted. This has attracted the attention of various authors who have provided different definitions. These include T. Morton’s hyper-objects, M. Perniola’s thing that feels, and the forms of info-materiality produced by datification and digital hyper-realities.
The aim of the lecture will be to present the concepts of transubstantiation and info-materiality within this debate.
Massimo Di Felice is a full professor of Data Ecology in the Environmental Sciences Programme at the Institute of Energy and Environment (IEE) of the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil and of Network Theory at the same university. He is a national researcher with a high-level productivity scholarship from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of Brazil. He is a postdoctoral fellow at the Sorbonne in Paris, holds a PhD in Communication Science from the University of São Paulo and is a sociologist at La Sapienza University in Rome. In Brazil, he coordinates the Atopos International Research Centre on Digital Networks and the Cidig platform for the research and dissemination of digital citizenship, a network that connects 12 states and 30 professors from different universities.