Erotic Power Futures/Relations That Matter

Abstract

New materialist and posthumanist studies lack accounting of colonial impact on how we think about who is and is not human. In this essay, I posit questions of what is real, who is human, and who we are in relation to each other. These questions, which are key to inquiry and posthuman relationalities, must be thought with Tiffany Lethabo King's “decolonial refusal,” a relational stance offering radical possibilities. In example, I turn to Audre Lorde's “erotic power” thought with adrienne maree brown's “pleasure activism” focusing not only on how we do research, but also on how we feel in relations of research. This move opens potentials for engaging in research relations that matter.