ABSTRACT

Mindfulness, as the cultivation of ways to become attentive to the present moment, has grown exponentially in some areas of the global north over the past decade or so. As such, it has generated much important debate about its efficacy and the politics it produces, especially in terms of whether and how mindfulness is a response to, or effect of, neoliberalism. Drawing on Berlant's argument that affects are structured and collective but not necessarily determinative of how people feel and act in relation to them, I explore the affective relations between mindfulness and contemporary (neo)liberal culture as a series of relays, modulations, or recalibrations. More specifically, I approach these affective relations through focusing on temporality. I argue that the practice of mindfulness as a deliberate and conscious focus on the present is central to how its value is imagined by those who promote it and experienced by those who practice it. Drawing on interviews with mindfulness practitioners, analysis of mindfulness books, online forums and communities, I centre the significance of the present to an understanding of the recent proliferation of mindfulness. I draw out the affectivity of mindfulness presents and think these ‘mindfulness presents’ alongside Berlant's identification of the significance of the present to contemporary liberal-capitalism. Situating my argument within broader work that sees time, temporality and affect as central means through which contemporary capitalism is organized and hence should be conceived, I examine how mindfulness is perhaps one way in which contemporary liberal-capitalism is felt and lived with.

摘要

在过去十年左右的时间里，正念作为一种专注于当下的方法的培养，在全球北部的某些地区呈指数级增长。因此，它引发了关于其功效及其产生的政治的重要辩论，特别是在正念是否以及如何是对新自由主义的回应或影响方面。借鉴 Berlant 的论点，即情感是结构化的和集体的，但不一定决定人们对它们的感受和行为，我将正念与当代（新）自由主义文化之间的情感关系作为一系列中继、调制或重新校准来探索。更具体地说，我通过关注时间性来处理这些情感关系. 我认为，将正念练习作为对当下的刻意和有意识的关注，对于促进它的人如何想象它的价值以及如何实践它的人体验它的价值至关重要。通过对正念练习者的采访、对正念书籍的分析、在线论坛和社区，我将当前的重要性集中在对最近正念扩散的理解上。我提取了正念礼物的情感性，并认为这些“正念礼物”与伯兰特对当下对当代自由资本主义的重要性的认同。将我的论点置于更广泛的工作中，将时间、时间性和影响视为组织当代资本主义并因此应该被设想的核心手段，