Mattalgia
To consider the enmeshing of our world through ecological thought, is to also consider the couplings, the connections, the forces that are considered impossible, intangible, and unimaginable. As Barad dictates, it is in the nature of matter to insist on ‘experimenting with different possible ways to connect, playing at all matter of errant wanderings in a virtual exploration of diverse forms of coupling and dis/connected alliance.’
Emerging from this space, I have been prompted to consider whether there is a path of ‘impossibility’ that could be connected, through the proposition of my eco-concept. As Barad outlines, ‘matter’ connects the ‘intermesh’ that Morton proposes, and thus faculties privileged within humans are consistently undermined within the existence of other forms of ‘matter.’ My eco-concept is concerned with extending the ability of emotive feeling towards matter that has never been considered anything but ‘personified.’ What if animals felt emotional and psychological states as acutely as the human does? What if we radically outstretched the mesh to connect a disconnected alliance?
‘Algia’ = the suffix originating from Latin, and meaning ‘pain.’
The philosopher, Glenn Albrecht, establishes this “psychoterratic” condition he calls solastalgia, which he and his research team have observed in multiple cultures. Solastalgia is a type of mental pain that arises when home is irreparably changed by the subtle indexations of the climate. Things that should bloom don’t. Small rituals are relocated. Albrecht affirms that with new challenges within contemporary climate contexts, arises new emotional responses to such situations. Thus, the emergence and introduction of new eco-emotions is inevitable within the worsening face of global warming.
Mattalgia
I propose that mattalgia is a new eco-emotion that describes the ability for all matter to feel pain. In engaging with the intermesh of the world that reaches each of the pockets of life that are omnipresent, yet often concealed; deep intimacy, embarrassment, annoyance and abjection, as well as the environment, humanity, plants and even abstract elements such as air. I propose that faculties that are simultaneously made up of, and in constant interaction with matter, possess the capacity to be affected by emotional pain. I particularly apply this theory within the context of environmental degradation, where they may experience profound or subtle grief at the emotional experience of losing one’s mesh, and one’s home.