Elizaveta Friesem
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POWER OF MEANINGS // MEANINGS OF POWER (New Project)

11/18/2021

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Picture
I am starting a new project! I have been thinking about it for a long time. The topic of power intrigues and fascinates me. I think it's essential to explore if we want to live in a better society.

I often see the notion of power used to explain why some people are powerFUL and others are powerLESS. I want to challenge this division, and to explore power as a paradox instead: we all have it and lack it at the same time.
I believe that it is counterproductive to divide people into those having and those lacking power. This division prevents us from working on social change together, as it turns our awareness about social problems into blame. 

I already wrote about this paradox as I was formulating the theory of micro- and macropower in my first book Media is us: Understanding communication and moving beyond blame. Now it's time to explore this complicated and controversial topic further! 

I will use the approach that I have started playing with in my online experimental book Me, Looking for Meaning. Which means that my new project POWER of meanings // MEANINGS of power will be a hypertext.


The topic of power is incredibly complex, as we can see any aspect of human relationships through its lens. My goal is to present this complexity in a way that would make my exploration clear and useful for people from different walks of life. In order to properly explore such a difficult topic, I want to be able to generate new, unexpected directions of thought. In order to do this, I will gradually create a hypertext consisting of multiple entries interconnected through links.

Scholars should know that this hypertext will use the rhizomatic research method introduced by postmodernist philosophers Deleuze and Guattari. According to this approach, because human thinking is nonlinear, using non-hierarchical structures for data representation and interpretation can be especially fruitful when investigating complex notions. The hypertext format is ideally suited for this task, as it will enable me to trace connections between multilayered, multi-branching ideas through links.

Curious non-academics should know that the hypertext will consist of relatively short entries written in an accessible language that should make sense to the general audience. Each entry will focus on one idea or even an aspect of an idea, with examples and illustrations. Some pages will explain theories or concepts, others will tell stories and describe practices, yet others present summaries of books and (later) contain interviews with their authors. My investigation will look at a wide variety of social contexts, including parenting, education, art, politics, commerce, and media. 

Why is such an of power exploration necessary? I believe that understanding power is a prerequisite for social change, for three main reasons:

1. Power is an aspect of all human relationships. If we want to improve these relationships, power must be properly understood.

2. As people are looking for ways to improve the social system, the issue of power inevitably comes up, hidden in such questions as: "Whose fault is this problem?", "Who is supposed to fix it?", "Who gets in the way of making things better?".  

3. Power is often seen as a binary: some people have it while others do not. Because this assumption obscures the complexity of social relationships, there is a risk of creating new problems as we are trying to eliminate old ones. 


The perspective I am proposing is based on a variety of ideas. The complexity of human co-existence has been explored in many disciplines within the humanities, social and behavioral sciences. My exploration will bring to public and scholarly attention how various aspects of power as a paradox have been presented by different thinkers and practitioners. ​

Where does the name of this project come from?

Although all power-related social processes have tangible outcomes, their source is in people's heads, in ideas we use to understand the world. This project will explore meanings we attach to the notion of power and to related concepts (such as free will and social system). At the same time, I will pay special attention to the role of meaning-making in power relations that permeate society. I am intrigued and inspired by Clifford Geertz’s description of people as “animal[s] suspended in webs of significance [they themselves have] spun”. I believe that disentangling these webs with patience and without blame can help us become better individuals who live in a happier society.
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  • About
  • Books
    • Media is us >
      • Principles of communication
      • Micro- and macropower
      • ACE model
      • Description of chapters
    • Hypertexts >
      • Me, looking for meaning >
        • A
        • B >
          • Binaries
          • Both sides
          • Bureaucracy
        • C >
          • Can I give myself credit for being empathetic?
          • Choice
          • Circumstances
          • Cognitive biases
          • Common sense
          • Communication
          • Coincidence
          • Content and form of this book
          • Coronavirus and me
          • Culture
          • Cycle of violence
        • D >
          • Depression
          • Do children ask themselves about the purpose of life?
          • Doing the right thing
        • E >
          • Emotional pain
          • Empathy
          • Empathy as a matter of self-preservation
          • Everybody has their struggles
          • Everybody is connected
          • Explain/excuse conflation
        • F >
          • Feelings and emotions
          • Forgetting about your purpose
          • Free will
        • G >
          • Good vs. Bad
        • H >
          • Meaning of honor
          • How much do we understand each other?
          • Human brain
          • Human nature
          • Human needs
          • Human thinking
          • Human thinking is nonlinear
          • Hurt people hurt people
          • Hypertext books
        • I >
          • I am an optimist
          • Ideas
          • "I'll never understand!"
          • Individual meanings vs. shared meanings
          • Inner compass
          • Interpretation
          • "It is what it is"
        • J
        • K >
          • Knowing your true purpose
          • Knowledge
        • L >
          • Language
          • List of completed pages
          • Literal vs. nonliteral communication
        • M >
          • Make Sense
          • May I meet this, too, with kindness
          • Meaning as importance
          • Mean and stupid
          • My Anxiety
          • Meaning
          • Meaningless
          • Meaning wars
          • Meaning of life
          • Meaning communities
          • Meanings perceived by animals
          • Meaning-seeking vs. meaning-making
          • Media
          • (Mis)understanding each other's needs
          • Misunderstanding
          • My perfectionism
          • My quest for meaning
        • N >
          • Norms and normal
        • O >
          • Objectification
          • On being a scholar
          • On being a writer
          • On being right
        • P >
          • Paradox
          • Privilege
          • Polarization
          • Postmodern worldview
          • Postmodern philosophy
          • Power
          • Power of the mind
          • Problem/solution binary
        • Q
        • R >
          • Reality
          • Rhizome in philosophy
        • S >
          • Science, religion and art
          • Self-awareness and empathy of higher order
          • Self-awareness
          • Self-empathy
          • Stories we tell
          • Society vs Individual
          • Subjectivity and objectivity
          • Suggested citation format
          • Symbolic interactionism and Buddhism
          • Synesthesia
        • T >
          • "The Death of the Author"
          • The importance of having a purpose
          • Truth
        • U >
          • Understanding ourselves
          • Us and them
        • V >
          • Verbal vs. nonverbal communication
          • Violence in the human nature
        • W >
          • What does it mean to "understand"?
          • What is a text?
          • What we can learn about ourselves from media
          • What is "natural"?
          • What's the point?
          • What will this project become?
          • When conflicts get out of control
          • Where do meanings come from?
          • Why am I trying to stay sane?
          • Why do people hurt each other?
          • Why is language so unhelpful?
          • Why do everyday objects make sense?
          • Why do misunderstandings happen?
        • X
        • Y
        • Z
      • Power of meanings // Meanings of power
  • Editing
    • Me as your editor
    • How I will help you
    • Pricing
    • Privacy policy
  • Blog
  • Learn more
    • Workshops >
      • Five (easy) steps to become media literate
      • Surviving the polarization vortex
      • Understanding yourself
      • Not enough
    • Bio
    • Talks and interviews
    • Essays
    • Poetry >
      • Russian poems >
        • Stranger
        • Lonely heart
        • Fairy tales
        • Dreams and nightmares
        • Puzzles
        • Moon
        • Seasons
        • Muse
        • Art
        • Games
        • Sketches
        • Nonsense
      • Video poems (English and Russian) >
        • Butterfly (poem)
        • One day, I will return (poem)
        • Where are you now? (poem)
        • Hole in the world (poem)
        • Wondering (poem)
        • Wanderer II (poem)
        • What people call love (poem)
    • Epoxy resin
    • Photography
    • Educational materials
  • Contact me