writing the Sleep CRisis: 24/7 cAPitalism and neoliberal Subjectivity

Project Information

SCRAPS

Grant agreement ID: 892459

DOI

10.3030/892459

Project terminated on 21 July 2023

EC signature date 15 April 2020

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 257 209,92

EU contribution

€ 257 209,92

Coordinated by

POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SCRAPS (writing the Sleep CRisis: 24/7 cAPitalism and neoliberal Subjectivity)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2024-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Sleep has increasingly become a matter of public health concern in the twenty-first century. In what some experts define as a sleep crisis, we supposedly sleep one to two hours less than our ancestors and sleep disorders are on the rise. This research project is the first to explore contemporary cultural engagements (fiction, non-fiction, digital culture) with this crisis. For while not all experts agree that we are in the grip of this sleep-related public health emergency, depictions of contemporary society as chronically sleep deprived and exhausted are widespread.

The project seeks to understand why the sleep crisis has gained so much traction in contemporary culture. It also explores what the stories we tell about sleep reveal about the way we live today. Arguably, the discourse of the sleep crisis voices anxieties about contemporary life, from the nature of twenty-first-century capitalism and the rhythms of work, to the affective impacts of the climate crisis. Culture highlights the political nature of sleep. Contrary to popular understandings, sleep isn’t a retreat from the world but is intertwined with the society where the sleeper sleeps, or fails to.

In addition to these research objectives, the Fellowship also sought to accelerate the professional development of the PI (Principal Investigator).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work on the project was structured around 5 Work Packages (WPs). WP1 and WP2 were research-focused and consisted in the analysis of relevant contemporary cultural texts engaging with the sleep crisis and the development of appropriate theoretical frameworks to interpret these texts. WP3 consisted in activities aimed at disseminating the research in both academic and public settings. WP4 aimed at developing the PI’s professional profile and skills, including project management, leadership, and communication skills, through dedicated training and on-the-job training. WP5 consisted in the management of the Fellowship, including its financial management.

The MSCA grant was terminated early due to the PI obtaining a permanent position elsewhere. The effective duration of the grant was of 12 months, over which the PI exceeded the planned results and outputs. An overview of the main results and outputs is provided below.

Research results are being disseminated to the academic community through the following publications:
• De Cristofaro, D and Chiodo, S (2023), “Quantified Sleep: Self-Tracking Technologies and the Reshaping of 21st-Century Subjectivity”, Historical Social Research 48 (2): 176-193. https://dx.doi.org/10.12759/hsr.48.2023.21 This peer-reviewed article is available open access at https://re.public.polimi.it/handle/11311/1232687?mode=complete
• [Forthcoming] De Cristofaro, D, “Insomnia”, in A Cultural History of Sleep and Dreaming vol. 6, ed. by Robert Meadows and Christiane Solte-Gresser. London: Bloomsbury.
• An additional peer-reviewed article on the relationship between the sleep crisis and the climate crisis, as well as an edited collection based in part on the project conference (see below), are also forthcoming. A monograph is currently in progress.

The PI delivered papers at 4 international conferences and gave two talks at international research groups. She also organised an international multidisciplinary conference, “Sleep and Digital Health: Multidisciplinary Perspectives”, which took place online. For the programme of this multidisciplinary international conference see: https://www.writingsleep.com/events-sleep-and-digital-health-conference/

The PI has also worked to disseminate the results of the research to a non-academic audience. The main initiative in this sense is the “Sleep Stories” podcast series, available here: https://www.writingsleep.com/sleep-stories/. This successful podcast series was developed with, and launched at, Durham Book Festival 2021. It features 3 exclusive short stories written by major contemporary writers introduced by sleep experts, including the PI.

Beyond “Sleep Stories”, other initiatives aimed at the public dissemination of the project’s results included:

• “Il sonno è in crisi? Cosa ci dice la cultura contemporanea”, a talk at MeetMeTonight 2021, part of the European Researchers’ Night.
• “A Reading Guide to the Sleep Crisis”, public-facing article for The Posthumanist magazine, September 2022.
• “The Counter-Productive Promise of a ‘Sleep Goal’”, public-facing article for The Week magazine, March 2022.

Regular updates on the research have also been published on the project website (www.writingsleep.com) and social media:
• https://twitter.com/writing_sleep;
• https://www.facebook.com/writingsleep;
• https://www.youtube.com/@writingsleep/about.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This medical humanities project intervenes in the emerging field of critical sleep studies. It advances the field’s state of the art in three main ways: (1) the project is the first wide-ranging analysis of cultural engagements with today’s supposed sleep crisis. (2) the project contributes to advance the field through its engagement with literature, and specifically very recent literature, which remains a minor focus for critical sleep studies. (3) the project develops one of the most promising, yet still only emerging, directions in the field, namely, the theorisation of the relationship between the politics of sleep and the politics of the environment in the twenty-first century. In this sense, the project also seeks to respond to growing calls for more sustained exchanges between the environmental and the medical humanities, for sleep is key to both human and planetary health.

In addition to the results summarised above, the Fellowship has allowed the PI to develop knowledge of new methodologies, in particular in the fields of philosophy of technology and STS, which has enhanced her track-record of successful interdisciplinary research. It is anticipated that the research will continue to inform the PI’s future projects and publications.

Communication activities to non-academic audiences have promoted better understanding of today’s sleep practices and the sleep crisis in the general public. The research has contributed to two of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: good health and wellbeing, as well as climate action.

A bed in the background; in the foreground "Writing the Sleep Crisis. Research project"