Masks and Human Connections: Disruptive Meanings and Cultural Challenges

CEFH researchers, Luísa Magalhães and Cândido Oliveira Martins, edited and published a new book on the prestigious publisher Springer (Palgrave Macmillan).

The researchers edited a group of essays from several international contributors, that examined masks as identity and character to develop hybrid cultural processes leading to a new social contract. This book is structured in twenty chapters, and contributes to a deepen knowledge and reflexion, about the scarce interdisciplinary research on the meaning and ambiguity of masks and how it fosters human relationships. This new work introduces a new interdisciplinary epistemological framework, to approach human nature in communicative contexts. This "Masks and Human Connections" volume, can be found online at Springer link site.

Synopsis

"This interdisciplinary collection explores four distinct perspectives about the mask, as object of use for protection, identity, and disguise. In part I, contributors address human identities within collective social performance, with chapters on performativity and the far right and masked identities in political resistance and communication. Part II focuses on the mask as a signifying object with strong representational challenges, exploring representations in festivals, literature, and film. Part III investigates the ambiguous use of the mask as a protective and concealing element, delving into visual culture and digital social media contexts. Finally, Part VI draws on the work of Levinas and Deleuze to investigate a philosophical view of the mask that addresses memory and ethics within intersubjective relationships. Questioning the contemporary world, using communication, sociology, visual culture, and philosophical theory, the volume provides a pedagogical and formative perspective on the mask."