Laughter and Mourning - Pamela Noensie

In Laughter and Mourning: Point of Rupture, Noensie asks what it means when laughter or mourning (grieving, or crying) overwhelms a person so that the 'self' breaks-down. This work focuses on the phenomenal experience as laughs and cries burst repeatedly into the body and explode into rupture, a syncopic break with time, where the 'self' is shed in an opening to the world. This experience can also be said to give rise to a "state of communication" (Bataille), "community in finitude" (Jean-Luc Nancy), and what is "to come" (Derrida) of the future. In a fascinating synergy of the rich philosophical background in this topic and leading contemporary thought and knowledge, laughter and mourning are explored, both literally and as tropes for the unknown, in their entwinement with human artefacts-art, literature, politics, and technology-and as potentialities for the future. About the Author: Pamela Noensie is a writer and teacher who divides her time between San Francisco and Asia. She has a MA in Psychology and a PhD in Communication from The European Graduate School, Switzerland.