{"id":19450,"date":"2026-02-20T09:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kulturwissenschaften.de\/?post_type=veranstaltung&#038;p=19450"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:36:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:36:37","slug":"kwi-colloquium-13","status":"publish","type":"veranstaltung","link":"https:\/\/www.kulturwissenschaften.de\/en\/veranstaltung\/kwi-colloquium-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Between Aesthetic and Anesthetic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since 2022,\u00a0the prevalence of\u00a0Chinese-financed\u00a0scam centers in Southeast Asia has emerged as a significant issue, as they have swindled many people and\u00a0perpetrated human trafficking. Scam compounds are extremely difficult to access; relatively few scholars and investigative journalists\u00a0have managed to\u00a0explore\u00a0this\u00a0new global\u00a0phenomenon by interviewing victims from China and other Asian and African countries who were forced to work as scammers and experienced physical and sexual abuse. Not all\u00a0scammers have been coerced, however.\u00a0Many Southeast Asian youngsters, including young Laotians, have willingly entered scam compounds.\u00a0Their narratives, particularly how they have submitted\u00a0and adapted\u00a0to the fraudulent work regime,\u00a0are equally crucial to the analysis of recent scam operations. Drawing on\u00a0life\u00a0histories\u00a0of\u00a033 young Laotian scammers\u00a0I interviewed and interacted with between 2022 and 2025,\u00a0I examine\u00a0how these willing\u00a0scammers are assisted by air conditioners to embrace\u00a0their work\u2019s\u00a0sociotechnical milieu. Consequently, the air conditioners\u2019\u00a0artificial cooling <i>affects<\/i>\u00a0digital scam workers\u2019\u00a0reproductive spheres <i>aesthetically<\/i>\u00a0and <i>anesthetically<\/i>.\u00a0To better understand the air conditioner\u2019s affective mechanisms,\u00a0I argue that\u00a0it is necessary to\u00a0attend not only\u00a0to\u00a0what the scammers\u2019 bodies perceive and feel while working and living in air-conditioned spaces (<i>aesthetic<\/i>), but also\u00a0to\u00a0what senses and affective states are suppressed or diminished by this\u00a0cooling technology (<i>anesthetic<\/i>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","event_category":[45],"class_list":["post-19450","veranstaltung","type-veranstaltung","status-publish","hentry","event_category-colloquium"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kulturwissenschaften.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/veranstaltung\/19450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kulturwissenschaften.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/veranstaltung"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kulturwissenschaften.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/veranstaltung"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kulturwissenschaften.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"event_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kulturwissenschaften.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_category?post=19450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}