Haute-Cultural-Scientifical Direct-Brain-Stimulation of a Peak-Cultural (Proustian) Pastime

This newly published study may by the most impressive—in some senses—academic publication of our time: “The ‘Proust Phenomenon’: odor-evoked autobiographical memories triggered by direct amygdala stimulation in human,” Fabrice Bartolomei, Stanislas Lagarde, Samuel Médina Villalon, Aileen McGonigal, and Christian G. Benar, Cortex, epub December 18, 2016. The authors write: Vivid memories triggered by odors were […]

“Intellectual Sewing”: Keeping Proust in Stitches

A new academic sub-discipline is born: “Sewing Proust: Patchwork as Critical Practice,” Rhiannon Williams [pictured here], Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, Volume 1, Number 1, November 2013 , pp. 43-56. (Thanks to investigator Neil Martin for bringing this to our attention.) The author, at the University of Derby, explains: “I describe my own […]

Musical Madeleines

“In this paper, we consider musical cell-phone ringtones as virtual, communicative and cultural performances.” The paper is entitled ‘The Musical Madeleine: Communication, Performance, and Identity in Musical Ringtones’ and is published in  Popular Music and Society, Volume 33, Issue 1 February 2010. The authors, at the Department of New Media and Digital Culture Studies of […]