In this unique contribution, Blackman focuses upon the affective capacities of bodies, human and non-human as well as addressing the challenges of the affective turn within the social sciences. Fresh and convincing, this book uncovers the paradoxes and tensions in work in affect studies by focusing on practices and experiences, including voice hearing, suggestion, hypnosis, telepathy, the placebo effect, rhythm and related phenomena. Questioning the traditional idea of mind over matter, as well as discussing the danger of setting up a false distinction between the two, this book makes for an invaluable addition within cultural theory and the recent turn to affect.

In a powerful and engaging matter, Blackman discusses the immaterial body across the neurosciences, physiology, media and cultural studies, body studies, artwork, performance, psychology and psychoanalysis. Interdisciplinary in its core, this book is a must for everyone seeking a dynamic and thought provoking analysis of culture and communication today.

Preface
The Subject of Affect: Bodies, Process, Becoming
The Crowd and the Problem of Personality
Mental Touch: Media Technologies and the Problem of Telepathy
The Re-Enchantment of Materialism: Affect and New Materialisms
Affect, Energy, Rhythm and Transmission
The Problem of Automatism: Divided Attention, Voice Hearing and Machinic Vision
Neuroscience: The Bicameral Mind and the Double Brain
Epilogue

Lisa Blackman is a Reader in the Department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. She works at the intersection of body studies and media and cultural studies. She is the editor of the journal Body & Society and a co-editor of Subjectivity. Book include Mass Hysteria: Critical Psychology and Media Studies (Palgrave, 2001, with Valerie Walkerdine); Hearing Voices: Embodiment and Experience (Free Association Books, 2001); The Body: The Key Concepts (Berg, 2008).

She teaches courses which span critical media psychology, affect studies, embodiment and body studies, and experimentation in the context of art/science. She is particularly interested in phenomena which have puzzled scientists, artists, literary writers and the popular imagination for centuries, including automatic writing, voice hearing, suggestion, telepathy and automatism.