Michel Serres’ messengers

Barker, T. (2021) Michel Serres’ messengers. Media Theory, 5(1), pp. 163-184.

Abstract

Although central to his philosophy of communication, the figure of the messenger in Michel Serres’ thought has so far received little attention in English speaking media and cultural theory. This essay explores the characters of messengers that Serres develops throughout his philosophical project, focusing on the way that they allow him to develop topics such as the ethics of exchange, interdisciplinarity, pedagogy, rituals of communication and what he sees as the violence of dialectics. The discussion of Serres’ work then leads to a discussion of the messenger figure in terms of the interruptions that they can introduce to systems of exchange, ending with an exploration of what Serres’ thought may offer as we try and grapple with a new culture of miscommunication.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Barker, Professor Timothy
• Authors: Barker, T.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies
• Journal Name: Media Theory
• Publisher: Media Theory
• ISSN: 2557-826X
• Published Online: 25 September 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © The Author(s) 2021
• First Published: First published in Media Theory 5(1): 163-184
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence