Latemporalità

Latemporalità is a term used in Italian philosophy and cultural theory to describe a mode of temporality characterized by the coexistence or conflict of multiple temporal registers and by delays, postponements, or interruptions in the usual sense of time. The term blends latente/latency with temporalità, signaling a time that is not synchronized with a single linear chronicle. It is employed by scholars to analyze phenomena where timing does not conform to straightforward chronology.

Core features include the persistence of past events in the present, anticipation that is deferred, and the perception of time as asynchronous across scales and media. Latemporalità often emerges in memory studies, trauma theory, archives, and digital cultures, where data, experiences, or bodies inhabit overlapping tempos. It also marks the interaction between local rhythms and global processes, such as the speed of transnational flows versus slower social or ecological times.

In literature, cinema, and art, latemporalità may appear as non-linear narratives, time juxtapositions, or looping sequences that resist a single clock time. In media studies and critical theory, it helps analyze how asynchronous communication, cloud storage, or historical archives shape sense of duration and priority.

The concept engages with classical notions of time, notably chronos (sequential time) and kairos (opportune moment), and is sometimes contrasted with atemporalità. Some critics caution that the term can be elastic and require careful specification within a given analytic framework.

See also: temporality, memory studies, trauma theory, digital humanities, narrative theory.