#mētis

[deathlessathanasia]

"Within this theoretical framework, I focus on Athena and Hermes in the imaginative world of early Greek poetry and myth. Given that these two Olympians have no apparent similarities in character or realms of interest and function, nevertheless in Homer and the mythic tradition they display an unexpected degree of overlap. Here are some striking points of similarity.

1) In the Olympian Council that opens the Odyssey, Zeus decides to send Athena to Ithaca and Hermes to Ogygia in exactly parallel roles to stir father and son into action.

2) Both Athena and Hermes speed to these missions with winged sandals as their characteristic attribute”.

3) Both have the power to bestow invisibility on their favorites or to use invisibility strategically’. Thus there is a close parallel between Athena’s covering Odysseus with a mist of invisibility to guide him safely to Alkinoos and Arete in Odyssey 7, and Hermes’ making Priam invisible to guide him safely to Achilles in Iliad 24.

4) In Odyssey 10, a section of the narrative where Athena has dropped out of her role as Odysseus’ divine helper‘, Hermes intervenes in what is normally Athena's role to give the hero protection against Kirke’s powers”.

To these instances from early epic we may add an example from a myth that is clearly very old: In the hero Perseus’ quest against the Gorgon, Athena and Hermes join forces as a pair of divine helpers, and are in a sense redundant‘. …

The first implication of these parallels is that some of the powers of Athena and Hermes are alternate and related versions of the same quality. For example, each god embodies the kind of clever intelligence or μῆτις that manifests itself in the clever ruse and the winning strategy. For Hermes this quality leans toward the ‘night-time’ realm of stealth and theft, cunning deception, and successful guidance to the underworld"”. while for Athena it leans toward the ‘day-time’ realm of good judgement, quick thinking, and successful guidance on the battlefield. While pulling in opposite directions, the two gods’ interests share a common center. Consider the qualities singled out for praise in Athena’s statement to Odysseus at Od. 13. 330 ff.: I can never abandon you, she says, for all your unfortunate state, because "you are so clever at speech, strong-minded, and intelligent", οὕνεκ᾽ ἐπητής ἐσσι Kal ἀγχίνοος καὶ ἐχέφρων.

These qualities come close to the very ones that distinguished Odysseus’ grandfather Autolykos as described at Od. 19. 395-398, 407-409; a man who used sharp practice (κλεπτοσύνη) and clever use of speech to gain advantage over everyone he met, so as to make himself strongly disliked by human society but a favorite of the god Hermes. It was Hermes who granted Autolykos these sharp qualities of mind (θεὸς δέ οἱ αὑτὸς ἔδωκεν ‘Eppeias) and who stood by him as his divine patron (ὁ δέ οἱ πρόφρων ἅμ᾽ ὀπήδει}, Thus each deity, Athena and Hermes, has followed and fostered the career of a favourite mortal who was an ideal embodiment of the qualities essential to that deity, and the mortals happen to be grandfather and grandson. They share a strong family resemblance in mental acuity, but the grandfather leans toward the negative and is therefore "hated by many" (πολλοῖσιν. ὀδυσσάμενος, 19. 407), while the grandson leans toward the positive, a greatly admired Achaean hero whose ‘shadow’ side, and the ‘odium’ it provokes, remain largely hidden, but frequently hinted at and hauntingly emblematic in the very name he bears (τῷ δ᾽ Ὀδυσεὺς ὄνομ᾽ ἔστω ἐπώνυμον) "ἢ Thus we have another parallel between Athena and Hermes to add to the five listed above: both are patrons of one member of the grandfather-grandson pair Autolykos-Odysseus, their patronage based on a shared interest in metis, the cunning use of intelligence. Yet we might say that much like Hesiod’s distinction between good eris and bad eris, these deities embody an intriguing distinction between good and bad metis: the first is the metis of successful campaigners, while the second is the metis of swindlers, equivalent to dolos."

- J. Russo, Athena and Hermes in Early Greek Poetry: Doubling and Complementarity, in Poesia e religione in Grecia. Studi in onore di G. Aurelio Privitera

[diaryofaphilosopher]

In every confrontation or competitive situation - whether the adversary be a man, an animal or a natural force- success can be won by two means, either thanks to a superiority in ‘power’ in the particular sphere in which the contest is taking place, with the stronger gaining the victory; or by the use of methods of a different order whose effect is, precisely, to reverse the natural outcome of the encounter and to allow victory to fall to the party whose defeat had appeared inevitable. Thus, success obtained through mētis can be seen in two different ways. Depending on the circumstances, it can arouse opposite reactions. In some cases, it will be considered the result of cheating since the rules of the game have been disregarded. In others, the more surprise it provokes, the greater the admiration it will arouse, the weaker party having, against every expectation, found within itself resources capable of putting the stronger at his mercy. […] It [Mētis] is, in a sense, the absolute weapon, the only one that has the power to ensure victory and domination over others, whatever the circumstances, whatever the conditions of the conflict.

— Marcel Detienne & Jean-Pierre Vernant, Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society.

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[bitchfrommarianatrench]

hi everyone soo maybe i didnt read othello for my class today 😉 i will update how badly this goes

iago give me ur powers of deception odysseus give me ur mētis i will convince my teacher with my words that i read the book !!!!! let’s do this lads

[astranemus]

Scott draws a contrast between the radically simplified designs for natural environments forwarded by "high modernist" developmental state elites and the wide array of practical skills and acquired intelligence that emerge from local actors who are pressed to adapt to a con stantly changing natural and human environment at the social grassroots. In Scott's telling (1998: 7) the value of mētis [practical and improvisational knowledge] lies less in the breadth and depth of techno-scientific knowledge than "in the limits, in principle, of what we are likely to know about complex, functioning order" Invoking the example of Odysseus, who was frequently praised for his cunning intelligence, and for have made ample use of it to outwit his enemies and make his way home, Scott highlights the value of classic Greek narratives of resilience and adaptation in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability in a manner uncannily like what we find in both the early and enduring Raven myths of the North Pacific and classical China. Like Odysseus, ultimately, Raven teaches us that humans, or other pretentious beings, cannot single-handedly engineer their futures or know all the critical thresholds, boundaries or safe spaces of the complex systems in which they dwell.

Raven suggests we must recognize and respect, as Gaia theory and most indigenous cosmologies hold, that earth systems' responses are contingent in part upon anthropogenic stimuli. Wallace Broecker, a preeminent climate scientist, put it this way: "The climate is as an angry beast and we are poking at it with sticks," an analogy Julie Cruikshank's (2005: vii) animistic Tlingit and Tagish informants could readily identify with in terms of their own intersubjective view of glaciers, which "listen" and respond to humans in a moral way. Indeed such conceptualizations confirm that earth's complex systems collectively comprise not only a kind of colossal being - a beast - but one capable of listening, and of being seriously insulted and reactive if per turbed by human activity (be it consciously directed or not). This is the anarchic stuff of Raven stories. Of course, the reaction is contingent on the level of insult; and our ability to respond appropriately is contingent upon our ability to recognize what constitutes an insult as opposed to an acceptable level of manipulation (as in Raven pricking the Old Woman of the Tides), and adjust our behavior accordingly.

In short, Raven teaches us, through his accomplishments and failings, how we must become aware and respectful of the contingency and integrity of human-environmental relations. He does not accomplish this through high moralism against human profligacy as an environmental Jeremiad, or through the high managerialism of the Technofix Earth Engineer, or by reenchanting scientific knowledge as New Genesis proponents seek to do. Rather, Raven demonstrates - sometimes with humor and sometimes with hubris - his own capacity to adapt to the exigencies of life he faces and dynamic reactions he catalyzes in a world in which critical thresholds are often exceeded.

Thomas F. Thornton and Patricia M. Thornton, The Mutable, the Mythical, and the Managerial: Raven Narratives and the Anthropocene

[finelythreadedsky]

Could you elaborate on the nobody pun in Greek? You got me curious

hmm i’m actually not sure if i can but we’ll see! 

the first important thing is that ancient greek has two negative particles, μή (mē) and οὐ (ou), and they vary depending on the precise nature of the verb/clause (οὐ is used with indicative verbs and μή with imperatives, οὐ negates fear clauses and μή negates conditional statements, οὐ goes with negative natural result clauses and μή with negative actual result or purpose clauses, etc).

the second important thing is that the ancient greek for “no-one” or “nobody” is built by combining one of those negative particles with the word τις (”someone”, “somebody”), so you would use either μήτις (mētis) or οὔτις (outis) depending on whether μή or οὐ would be the fitting negative particle in that context.

and the third thing is that capital letters, punctuation, and spaces between words, in homeric greek, mean nothing because homer 1) is oral poetry and 2) was initially written down, when it was written down in all caps with no spaces, punctuation, or diacritics.

odysseus tells the cyclops Οὖτις ἐμοί γ᾽ ὄνομα, “Nobody is my name,” using the form οὔτις.

and then here’s the exchange later:

ἱστάμενοι δ᾽ εἴροντο περὶ σπέος ὅττι ἑ κήδοι: “τίπτε τόσον, Πολύφημ᾽, ἀρημένος ὧδ᾽ ἐβόησας νύκτα δι᾽ ἀμβροσίην καὶ ἀύπνους ἄμμε τίθησθα; ἦ μή τίς σευ μῆλα βροτῶν ἀέκοντος ἐλαύνει; ἦ μή τίς σ᾽ αὐτὸν κτείνει δόλῳ ἠὲ βίηφιν;” τοὺς δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἐξ ἄντρου προσέφη κρατερὸς Πολύφημος: “ὦ φίλοι, Οὖτίς με κτείνει δόλῳ οὐδὲ βίηφιν.” οἱ δ᾽ ἀπαμειβόμενοι ἔπεα πτερόεντ᾽ ἀγόρευον: “εἰ μὲν δὴ μή τίς σε βιάζεται οἶον ἐόντα, νοῦσον γ᾽ οὔ πως ἔστι Διὸς μεγάλου ἀλέασθαι, ἀλλὰ σύ γ᾽ εὔχεο πατρὶ Ποσειδάωνι ἄνακτι.

i’ll translate it once from polyphemus’s perspective, with his understanding of what everyone is saying:

standing around the cave, they asked what could be troubling him: “why are you shouting so much, polyphemus, as if you’re in pain, and keeping us awake at night? nobody is driving off your sheep! is nobody killing you with trickery or force?” strong polyphemus addressed them from his cave: “friends, nobody is killing me with trickery, not force!” and they replied and spoke winged words: “if nobody is hurting you and you’re alone, well then it’s impossible to escape zeus’s sickness, just pray to dad, lord poseidon.”

but the other cyclopes have a very different understanding of the conversation:

standing around the cave, they asked what could be troubling him: “why are you shouting so much, polyphemus, as if you’re in pain, and keeping us awake at night? is someone driving off your sheep? is someone killing you with trickery or force?” strong polyphemus addressed them from his cave: “friends, nobody is killing me with trickery or force.” and they replied and spoke winged words: “if nobody is hurting you and you’re alone, well then it’s impossible to escape zeus’s sickness, just pray to dad, lord poseidon.”

when they say ἦ μή τίς σ᾽ αὐτὸν κτείνει δόλῳ ἠὲ βίηφιν; they mean it in the sense of “is someone killing you, either by trickery or force?” (a question of whether injury is happening), but he hears it in the sense of “nobody is killing you! is it by trickery or force?” (a question of how the injury is happening). and he answers by saying Οὖτίς με κτείνει δόλῳ οὐδὲ βίηφιν, which he means as “Nobody is killing me by trickery, not by force,” (an answer to how the injury is happening) but they hear it as “nobody is killing me, neither by trickery nor by force” (a negative answer to whether injury is happening). but the greek is the SAME and the scene plays with ambiguities in greek that kind of have to be resolved in translation.

the pun is made more complicated by the fact that all the time the other cyclopes use μήτις and μή, since those are the forms that fit their sentences, and polyphemus uses οὔτις and οὐ, which are the forms that fit his sentences, but he’s actually using οὔτις as a name, not because it fits. so they say “nobody” and he says “no, Nobody,” and they respond, “yeah, nobody,” because of the two different ways of saying “nobody.” not sure if that makes any sense but. it is very clever in greek. it does work incredibly well in english, especially if you play with the capital N of Nobody that a reader would see but would know the cyclopes can’t hear. but there are more things going on in the greek.

[ipixelos]

Son of Poseidon - I Can Hear You Mētis, I Can Smell You

[chthonicdivinebard]

A second aspect of intelligence involves qualities and quantities within a simple paradigm defined by inheritance from Zeus. Athena's mētis is mainly, as already noted, a combination of rationality with astuteness, political sagacity, and practical skills; in Hesiod, for example, the carpenter is Her "apprentice" ("Works and Days" 430). Later Her key term becomes sophia, in the sense of "wisdom", including the philosopher's. Apollo is, already in Homer, the patron of such "higher" levels of intelligence as self-knowledge and the measure and harmony expressed in music. Aphrodite, while charged with the nonrational forces of procreation, is also the mistress of deceits, wiles, persuasion, and other arts for amorous ends between man and woman. The mental powers ascribed to Aphrodite and Athena are in a sense combined in a fourth offspring of Zeus, Hermes, who commands magic, thieves' cunning, business and technological acumen, and the skillfulness of the messenger and negotiator, most of which require the ability to act between boundaries.

“The Meaning of Aphrodite” by Paul Friedrich (p 90)

[theculturedmarxist]

Matthias Scheiblehner is a longtime carpenter, builder, and student of history from the Seattle area. He founded Mētis Construction Inc. in 2008. In early 2016, he and 17 coworkers completed the process of restructuring Mētis as a worker controlled, trust held cooperative.

Economic Update: [S8 E23] Seattle Firm Converts to Worker Co-Op THIS WEEK'S TOPICS (w/timestamps): 00:58 - Updates on Amazon subsidized by New York, Virginia; 07:04 - French people act to limit corporate greed; 09:15 - Sears favors bosses in bankruptcy too; 10:40 - Pfizer ups drug prices despite Trump; 12:26 - California fires expose US economic divide. 14:10 - announcements; 15:09 - SPECIAL GUEST: Matthias Scheiblehner on why his Seattle construction firm Metis converted into a worker co-op.

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[democracyatwrk]

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Help us reach 100,000 subscribers and gain access to more studio time! Please hit the red SUBSCRIBE button above. ^^^ Support the show! Become an EU patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/economicupdate Updates on Amazon subsidized by New York, Virginia; French people act to limit corporate greed, Sears favors bosses in bankruptcy too, Pfizer ups drug prices despite Trump, California fires expose US economic divide. Guest Matthias Scheiblehner discusses why his Seattle construction firm converted into a worker coop. To watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvoC7... Follow us ONLINE: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/economicupdate Websites: http://www.democracyatwork.info/econo... http://www.rdwolff.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EconomicUpdate http://www.facebook.com/RichardDWolff http://www.facebook.com/DemocracyatWrk Twitter: http://twitter.com/profwolff http://twitter.com/democracyatwrk Instagram: http://instagram.com/democracyatwrk Subscribe to our podcast: http://economicupdate.libsyn.com Shop our Store: http://bit.ly/2JkxIfy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthias Scheiblehner is a longtime carpenter, builder, and student of history from the Seattle area. He founded Mētis Construction Inc. in 2008. In early 2016, he and 17 coworkers completed the process of restructuring Mētis as a worker controlled, trust held cooperative.

[deathlessathanasia]

“In addition to his quickness of mind, Hermes has an innate ability to get things done without drawing attention to himself and without arousing the suspicions of those with whom he does engage. He displays this particular talent when he loosens his swaddling clothes and escapes from his home without attracting his mother's attention. Shortly thereafter he slips back inside and leaves a second time, still without notice. He then makes his way to Pieria to find Apollo's sacred cows. Once he locates them, Hermes easily evades the four keen-eyed hounds whose job it was to guard the herd, and makes off with all fifty of his brother's cows (Hymn to Hermes 4.140ff.). After driving them to his desired destination and completing what he had planned to do with them, Hermes then conceals the cows in a cave and takes himself back home, attracting the notice of neither god nor man nor beast. Thereafter he lets himself into the house by 'turning sideways and going in through the foyer's keyhole like a late summer's breeze, even as a mist' (145-7).

Hermes' ability to move through space in a stealthy manner can be just as evident in his manner of speaking. This too is put on display almost as soon as he leaves the house. When setting out to get Apollo's cows, Hermes unexpectedly spies a tortoise and (while plotting its death and conversion into a lyre) talks it into accompanying him indoors without raising any suspicion whatsoever (26-40). Later, when he is seen by an old man near Onchestos as he is driving the cows from Pieria to the banks of the River Alpheios, Hermes warns the man against telling anyone what he has seen in words that have a riddling quality to them, but which contain a threat couched in a promise of benefit that is itself all too clear (90-3). The next morning when Apollo finds Hermes at home and charges him with being a cattle-thief, the young god offers to swear an oath in an attempt to misdirect his brother. His clever way with words is further on display when, after leading his brother back to Olympos so that the case can be put before their father, Zeus, rather than arguing for his own innocence , Hermes defends himself by showing how poorly Apollo has made his case against him. In light of just these few highlights from the Hymn it should come as no surprise that the same set of epithets and cult titles which serve to acknowledge Hermes' metis are equally as appropriate for expressing this aspect of Hermes' innate talents. . . .

However, the same metis that gives Hermes his quickness of mind and ability to move stealthily also underlies some very unique expression of this god's creativity. The Fourth Homeric Hymn is again our primary source for instances of Hermes' innate creative vision and intuitive sense of what needs to be done to bring a desired end to fruition. Over the course of his first twenty-four hours of life, Hermes brings into existence no fewer than five items, each from pre-existing materials. He has the ability to see the potential in things, the possibilities in their use, either in whole or in part, in entirely new ways. Thus the very first thing he does as he goes out into the world to catch Apollo's cows is to see a tortoise and instantaneously recognise the usefulness of its shell as a sounding box for a musical instrument, the lyre. The rapidity with which he is able to put thought into action is expressed by the praise-singer thus: 'As when swift thought passes through the breast of a man ... or as when sparkles dance from the eyes, so glorious Hermes together wrought thought and deed' ( 43-6). We might rather say, 'in the twinkling of an eye'. It is as if Hermes no sooner visualises something that does not yet exist than he instantaneously knows how to bring it into being and does so.

But his creative ability goes beyond even this: not only can Hermes recognise the hidden potential in things, but he can also recognise one thing as a' sign' indicative of something else. Thus, Hermes interprets his 'chance' encounter with the tortoise as a 'sign' that he will meet with good fortune on his quest for timai ('honours') within Zeus' ruling council. Hermes also proceeds to assign an equally favourable significance to other members of the tortoise's family: for a mortal, a living tortoise will serve as an apotropaic sign, 'a defence (echma) against baneful attacks' (37-8). In fact, these two instances are indicative of a significant talent that clearly sets Hermes apart from the other gods: his creative relationship with signs and symbols and their interpretation. The Hymn signals this relationship in the use of the term 'most notable' (12) in the description of Hermes' birth; the event itself was, if taken literally, a 'strong sign' (ari-sema) of things to come. Hermes has the innate ability to establish signs and symbols within his father's cosmos and assign meaning to them as evidenced by his 'reading' of the tortoise as a sign, a 'profitable symbol' (sumbolon, 30). . . . in addition to being sign-maker, Hermes is also a sign- reader: he knows that the tracks left by the cows might be recognised by another as 'signs' that could lead them to their hiding place. The same realisation was made with regard to his own tracks. To create a confusing sign for the cows' movement, Hermes simply turns them around and makes them walk backwards (76-8); but to conceal his own footprints, he devises a novel form of footwear, made from interwoven switches of tamarisk and myrtle, which, when worn, leave very large and confusing marks on the ground (79-86). If Hermes is not the first god to see the earth as a surface upon which to inscribe signs, he appears to be the first to conceive of inscribing deliberately misleading signs on its surface. Hermes' sandals were inventions of the moment, meant to serve the needs of a particular situation: they could be ( and were) readily discarded when that need had been met. The next thing Hermes invents, again brought into being to meet an immediate need, would be a tool of repeated value to humankind, for it gave mortals the ability to re-kindle a fire without having to fetch a living flame from one already burning to ignite another. Hermes' fire-sticks (108-11) were an improvement on Prometheus' earlier theft of a living flame from Hephaistos' hearth (Theogony 565-67): that fire had to be kept continually burning since there was no way for mortals to re-steal the ember from its Olympian source. His creative acts do not end here: later on, after gifting his lyre to Apollo, Hermes invents a new instrument for himself, the shepherd's pipes ( 511).”

 - Arlene Allan, Hermes

[rankentech]

Abigail Pritchard was drawn to the craft of carpentry - the ability to apply knowledge and skill to fashion useful items and structures from raw materials. She graduated from Ranken Technical College with an Associate Degree in Carpentry and Building Construction Technology in May 2020. Abby thrived in the program. Carpentry instructor John Davis noted her reliability and the fact she “always jumped in to help out.” In her second year, she especially enjoyed the ability to work on actual construction projects on properties owned by the Ranken Community Development Corporation (RCDC). “After learning the basics of carpentry and construction, my transition into an apprenticeship was as smooth as it could be,” Abigail tells us. Among her favorite memories is the day she helped install the roof trusses. “It was very satisfying seeing our house get one step closer to being closed off from the elements.” Not long after graduation Abigail established herself on the west coast in Seattle, where she has family. Abby has worked for Mētis Construction on a variety of remodeling projects, uncovering timber and trusses and repurposing older buildings while restoring them to their former glory. Andy Madden, a project manager at Mētis, has been astounded by the new apprentice’s immediate impact. “She is a quick learner . . . with an amazing work ethic. Abby was well-prepared by Ranken; she is ready to work every day.” Mētis is an organization committed to the tradition of the craftsperson contractor, and Abigail was also impressed by their dedication to equity and social justice. “The fact that it is worker-owned drew me to this company,” Abby observes. “I am loving my job and my mentors have been fantastic . . . I couldn't be happier in my new home.” Learn more at https://ranken.edu/find-your-career-path/ https://www.metisconstructioninc.com/ @rankentech, #rankentech

[diaryofaphilosopher]

Every animal with mētis is a living eye which never closes or even blinks. 

— Marcel Detienne & Jean-Pierre Vernant, Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society.

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[didistutterproject]

I struggle to speak, so I’m told. Apparently I labor over words; they gap and cram, clawing at my mouth. I used to deliberate over phrasing to avoid l’s and w’s—those pestery sounds that would not eject. But inevitably some other would take its place unexpectedly and inopportunely. It was a futile game of outwitting my tongue. Speaking is no longer this type of work. I now say whatever I Wwwaaa--- wANT, no matter the charitable interjections, the averted eyes, or the length of the Starbucks line. Yet there is still labor. Sarah Ahmed remarks that the embodied “repetition of work is what makes the signs of work disappear,” but for me redoubled work merely produces the repetition of signs. The labor theory of value suggests that (exchange) value is produced in relation to the labor invested in a commodity. Yet the value of speech seems to exist in an inverse relation to its production process. I feel the value and the weight of my words sharply decline as they linger in the air, shaped and reshaped. People edge away anxiously, wishing they had purchased a warranty, looking to shop elsewhere. I struggle to speak. I am a perversion of capitalist logic. Disabled speakers are nonetheless artisans. We welcome syllables like old friends and are not quick to part. We tongue the edges and clefts of phonemes. It takes effort and skill to do what we do. We form wor/l/ds with great care and sometimes with playful abandon. We stretch and clump language into polyglot shape, into our shape, into shapes that exceed our control. ​ People tell me that I struggle to speak, that I struggle with stuttering. They are the ones who struggle, and fail, to understand. It may be true that our bodies knot winding time and limbs in the concerted effort to speak linearly. Yet read through a crip and queer phenomenology, perhaps the disabled are not the misshapen ones. Bodies, as Ahmed notes, are formed and twisted into straight shape through the forceful repetition of norms over time (553). The straightening of bodies is an achievement of history: being orientated and habituated to move predictably towards desirable (capitalist and heteronormative) futures.   Defying straight norms, futures, and bodily comportments gathers the crip and queer together in generative dialogue. The production of fluent and linear speech—wringing tongues, contorting bodies, and sitting on hands—is complicit in reproducing straight distorted temporalities. Perhaps the rational and calculable trajectory of fluency, of logos, is a very condition of possibility for straight time and futurity. Shooting words like an arrow through time (or time like an arrow through words) is a capacity engendered by ableist choreographies of the body that restrict certain capacities in order to induce clear, fluid, and rational speech. How, then, are bodily capacities, relations, meanings, and futures cut off by the straightening of speech? More importantly, what queer/crip capacities, relations, meanings, and futures are made possible by crip/queered speech? …  Stuttering crip is a transformation not in the phonological but the political-phenomenological register. Stuttering crip may often sound the same—grasping for words in crowds and chasing down runaway syllables scattering into noise. Yet to reduce our speech to floundering straight lines assumes an impossible mastery over language and communication. This is a basic intuition of disability politics: outsiders do not get to decide what our bodies mean. Stuttering crip is thus to stutter subversively, playfully, critically. It embodies the rhetorical posture of mētis, as Jay Dolmage describes it, in the effort of interrupting logical flows. Stuttering crip creates affective openings and invitations to gather within subaltern spaces and temporalities. Like claiming crip, stuttering crip is not grasping an identity as much as becoming into a political community.             If stuttering crip is a struggle at all, it is not a struggle to communicate despite (and against) the body, but a sympoietic struggle with the body against those who delimit the range of intelligibility, police the boundaries of noise, and confine and straighten our voices. From “Straight Lines and Crooked Speech: Stuttering a Crip Politic,” Josh St. Pierre. Notes:

Ahmed, S. (2006). Orientations: Toward a queer phenomenology. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Volume 12(4), pp. 543-574.  

Dolmage, J. (2014). Disability Rhetoric. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

[astranemus]

Raven represents multiple knowledges, both practical and conceptual, and we argue that his intersubjective manipulations of earth systems and species reveal the integrity, balance, exigencies, and contingencies of life on earth. Indeed, we propose that Raven, through his knowledge and encounters, often exhibits what Scott (1998: 6) has termed mētis: "the indispensable role of practical knowledge, informal processes, and improvisation in the face of unpredictability" (Scott 1998: 6). Raven is a master of this mode, even if his novel experiments and improvisations do not always produce their intended ends. Raven's other crucial modality is as a mutable transcender of conventional boundaries. He marries other species, becomes their offspring, and otherwise pushes beyond the conventional limits of intersubjectivity and interanimation, such that nothing is beyond his manipulations. In this respect Raven in the "Ravencene" anticipates humanity in the Anthopocene, both as an agent (or "driver") of change through his appetites and aspirations to control things for his own purposes, and as a resilient respondent to change (through coping, mitigation, adaptation, etc.) when earth systems and their constituent elements prove too powerful, dynamic, and complex to be harnessed for the benefit of one being or species.

Thomas F. Thornton and Patricia M. Thornton, The Mutable, the Mythical, and the Managerial: Raven Narratives and the Anthropocene

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

First, here we are in Periclean Athens, following the Ten Years’ War. Many Athenians have been wounded and disabled. The city must be rebuilt. A huge festival is held to celebrate Hephaestus, the Greek god of metallurgy, a god with a physical disability, his feet twisted and pointed in opposite directions. In this “new” Athens, there will be a need for craftspeople like Hephaestus—everyone will have to get to work. There is also a shift toward new bodily values. Hephaestus becomes the figure for new forms of ingenuity and production, but he also embodies these values. He embodies these values through the rhetoric of mētis.

Dolmage, Jay Timothy. Disability Rhetoric (Critical Perspectives on Disability) (Kindle Locations 128-133). Syracuse University Press. Kindle Edition.

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Son of Poseidon - I Can Hear You Mētis, I Can Smell You