Ripples of Becoming-With: Co-creating a Postdisciplinary Module About Posthumanism

Abstract

This article provides a diffractive reading of the second-year undergraduate university module on posthumanism that I teach. The module is designed specifically for mature students. I consider the “postdisciplinary” nature of the module, and think through the ways in which the module “becomes” through co-creation with the students. This involves a discussion of Braidotti’s (2019) notion of the posthuman university, Lykke’s (2018) conception of the postdisciplinary, and Barad’s (2007) and Haraway’s (2016) imperatives to (1) think-with, and (2) be response-able within multispecies communities. Using these ideas, I consider the unexpected directions in which the students take the module. I attend to how it changes through their entangled discussions. I share how I designed the module and its assessment and discuss some of the texts and issues we bring into our learning community. Throughout, I advocate for an affirmative approach to social justice in higher education pedagogy that acknowledges the partiality and situatedness of knowledge, recognizes interdependence, and the need for affinity.