The Social Imaginary of Ruination: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Disaster Mediation.

Background Although the popularity of ruins has accompanied Western modernity in waves since the eighteenth century, the post-9/11 decade marks a notable resurgence of the imagery, aesthetics, and rhetoric of ruins, especially in American culture. This article was completed a few months prior to the global COVID-19 crisis. Analysis While many scholars dismiss contemporary forms of ruin gazing as a mindless fascination with disaster and destruction in its virtual circulation, the author contends that this contemporary imaginary has significant political and social implications. Conclusion and implications Although each geographic site of ruination has its own social, political, and historical specificity, the author draws from Cornelius Castoriadis' psychosocial extension of Lacanian theory to designate a broader iconographic and discursive trend in American culture whereby the imagery and rhetoric of destruction contributes to what he calls the "social imaginary of ruination". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]