Posthuman Research Articles

Critical Posthuman Nursing Care

Nursing care is an embodied and co-creative world-building practice made hypervisible in pandemic times. A traditional praxis that became a professionalized care practice, nursing bares the indelible mark of the ideologies that have come to shape the discipline like whiteness, patriarchy, and capitalism to name a few. Embracing a critical feminist posthuman and new materialist perspective, in this paper we advance the notion that nursing care is a situated and embodied endeavor that cannot and should not be disconnected from sites of care, people receiving care, and the powers that structure care relations. Even in idealised contexts, nursing care is shaped by the confines of these forces. We tease out ideas that have molded nursing across time and within the epoch of the Covid pandemic. We draw upon imaginations from Arundhati Roy that the pandemic is a portal, an opportunity for rebirth. Care practices are proposed with a critical posthuman perspective, in the spirit of Haraway’s idea of composting. Composting is used metaphorically as actions to morph and decay the boundaries beyond traditional notions of care based in humanism. We imagine this in an effort to rethink what worlds we want to co-produce, a call to action where care can be revisioned as an arena where nurses, people, all matter, all creatures and worlds are co-created.

What does person-centred care mean, if you weren't considered a person anyway: An engagement withperson-centred care and Black, queer, feminist, and posthuman approaches.

Despite the prominence of person-centred care (PCC) in nursing, there is no general agreement on the assumptions and the meaning of PCC. We sympathize with the work of others who rethink PCC towards relational, embedded, and temporal selfhood rather than individual personhood. Our perspective addresses criticism of humanist assumptions in PCC using critical posthumanism as a diffraction from dominant values We highlight the problematic realities that might be produced in healthcare, leading to some people being more likely to be disenfranchised from healthcare than others. We point to the colonial, homo- and transphobic, racist, ableist, and ageist consequences of humanist traditions that have influenced the development of PCC. We describe the deep rooted conditions that structurally uphold inequality and undermine nursing practicethat PCC reproduces. We advocate for the self-determination of patients and emphasize that we support the fundamental mechanisms of PCC enabling patients' choice; however, without critical introspection, these are limited to a portion of humans. Last, we present limitations of our perspective based on our white*-cisheteropatriarchy** positionality. We point to the fact that any reimagining of models such as PCC should be carefully done bylistening, following, and ceding power to people with diversity dimensions*** and the lived experience or expertise that exists from diverse perspectives. We point towards Black, queer feminism, and critical disabilities studies to contextualize our point of critique with humanism and PCCto amplify equity for all people and communities. Theory and philosophy are useful to understand restrictive factors in healthcare delivery and to inform systematic strategies to improve the quality of care so as not to perpetuate the oppression of groups of people with diversitydimensions.* We purposely capitalize Black and use lower case for white to decentre whiteness and as an intentional act of antiracism (see White Homework a podcast series by Tori W. Douglas).** Cisheteropatriarchy describes people with intersecting identities of dominant social groups; cisgender is the gender identity that aligns with the gender you were assigned at birth, hetero means heterosexual, and patriarchy refers to structural systems of power based on maleness where women are often excluded and hold less power.*** With diversity dimensions, we refer to subjective lived experience and material realities of people that exist outside the 'dominant minorities'of white-cisheteropatriarchy, meaning groups of people in society who historically and currently hold more power and through this, structurally dominate the norms and possibilities of living for other people.

Preparing Future Scholars in Repressive Times

The need for qualitative research that facilitates understanding of the social world is imperative as people around the globe encounter political, economic, environmental, health, and social crises. Higher education presses for preparing scholars to be creative, collaborative, and productive to examine these problems. In increasingly repressive contexts, the preparation of new scholars entails envisioning post-capitalist approaches to attend to how to live and work in the academy. This article uses concepts from Braidotti’s critical posthumanism and Lefebvre’s work on rhythmanalysis to imagine post-capitalist approaches to preparing future qualitative scholars for work in the neoliberal institution.

Posthumanism and Cross-species Becoming in Zhuang Zi

Posthumanism offers a fresh perspective to reconstructing productive relationships between human and non-human beings, but the prospect of posthumanist egalitarianism has its deficiency. Zhuang Zi’s concept of “cross-species becoming” is an edifying alternative: its monistic ontology resolves the contradiction of binary oppositions, its transversal subject replaces the enfolded self, and its integration of “equality of things” with becoming paves the way for egalitarian existence. Diachronically, “cross-species becoming” reflects cosmic development, the existence of zero boundary and fluid boundary. Rigid boundary corresponds to different stages of becoming. Synchronically, “cross-species becoming” interacts with myriad things to produce a polymorphic existence that is analyzed from three aspects: its definition, conditions, and manifestations. Zhuang Zi’s concept of “cross-species becoming” and posthumanism theory complement each other; together, they aspire us to reconstruct relationships between human and non-human species.

Ontology and Closeness in Human–Nature Relationships: Beyond Dualisms, Materialism and Posthumanism, by Neil H. Kessler

<i>Ontology and Closeness in Human–Nature Relationships: Beyond Dualisms, Materialism and Posthumanism</i>, by Neil H. Kessler

Holograms, (Dis-) Embodied Intimacy, and Posthumanism in an Age of Ubiquitous Computing

AbstractAs computational technology becomes unobtrusive and ubiquitous, interconnections between humans and software are increasingly seamless, challenging clear demarcations between organic and synthetic, material and immaterial. Central to these innovations are theories of posthumanism and scrutiny of the self in relation to technology. Posthumanism signifies a continuum of human existence that involves shaping and being shaped by the environment and innovations. This article examines the use of high-fidelity holographic technologies to facilitate human–software interrelationships. Drawing on fictional representation of human–hologram intimacy in Blade Runner 2049 and real-life creations Azuma Hikari and Hatsune Miku (who sometimes appears in holographic form), it argues that hybridized spaces created by ubiquitous computing coupled with holography promote and naturalize intimate posthuman fantasies. Partial disembodiment of humans in technologically mediated spheres, coupled with partial embodiment of software using holographic interfaces, generates liminal counter sites existing between the real and imaginary-other spaces that align with Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopias; holograms, as visceral interfaces, produce simultaneously mythic and tangible contestations of the space in which we live. High-fidelity holography has the potential to radically transform human–machine interconnections now and in the future.

Dossier: Eduardo Kac’sAdsum, Artwork for the Moon

Dossier: Eduardo Kac’s<i>Adsum</i>, Artwork for the Moon

Human consciousness and prosthetic temporality: On the way to new technological humanities

In Greek myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus, the two figures of promêtheia and êpimêtheia represent the “temporalization” of “advance” and “withdrawal” and reveal a double movement in human temporality: the forward movement of protective prostheticity, and the backward movement of reflective consciousness. The issue of memory and prostheticity in the originary knowledge in the myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus reminds us of what David Chalmers called “qualia,” which represents the hard problem of the phenomena qualities of a conscious mental state. When Stieglerian “originary prostheticity” is brought together with David Chalmer's hard question of “consciousness,” the coupling of knowledge and non-knowledge of promêtheia and êpimetheia will lay bare its double mobile dynamic qualities of forgetting and remembering. We are recently witnessing this epochal breakthrough, which promises to open onto pathways toward a new age of artificial intelligence. What most of today's theories of human cognitive enhancement fail to see is the technogenic and epiphylogenetic origin of human consciousness. Hence, in an era of pandemics and precarity, humans need to materialize new ways of coupling humanities and technology beyond artificial intelligence and critical posthumanism.

Challenging Binaries in Posthuman Worlds

The Material World Knight is an anime-style superhero from Lu Yang’s artwork The Great Adventure of Material World—Game Film (2020) who battles oppressive binary systems on his quest for transcendence. This article uses discourse and visual analysis to study how this short film employs references to Buddhist philosophy and Japanese anime to reconceptualize subjectivity. The study draws on posthuman theory by Rosi Braidotti and Donna Haraway to show how the artwork produces a post-dualist, posthuman, relational concept of subjectivity while also complicating any straightforward interpretations in favor of maintaining complexity and “staying with the trouble.”

Posthumanistyczny potencjał polskiego fandomu komiksowego

The Post-human Potential of a Polish Comic Book Fandom Comic books are an undeniable part of the modern culture, gaining more popularity every year. Reading comics influences the perception of communing with other products of culture, which results in the transformation of reading into new cultural practices. They may be the result of individual participation, however, the effectiveness of undertakings may often depend on the results of teamwork and collective participation practices. Initially, the grassroots movements of comic book enthusiasts are transformed with time into forms of structured activity. Such an organized community has the potential to implement the assumptions of critical post-humanism, according to which man is not hyper-causative and should participate with actors other than human. This work outlines the historical background of the comic book fandom, considers the idea of participation in culture, analyzes the initiatives taken with particular emphasis on socially engaged activities and content, characterizes the problems faced by the community and relates individual aspects of its functioning to critical post-humanism. The research methodology was based on the analysis of the literature on the subject, virtual ethnology and interviews. The obtained results showed the comic book community as a heterogeneous community that grew out of the need for change. This fandom is involved in initiatives related to diversity, ecology, emancipation and equality, at the same time trying to popularize the comic culture medium.

Radykalna inkluzywność. Posthumanistyczne perspektywy podmiotowego włączenia istot poza-ludzkich w procesy zarządzania

Radical Inclusivity. Post-human Perspectives for Subjective Inclusion of Other-Than-Human Beings in Management Processes The subject of the article is the issue of subjective inclusion of other-than-human beings in management processes. Due to the association of participation with human cognitive tools in management theory, consequent exclusion of other-than-human beings occurs. The aim of the research is to find perspectives in the sources of post-humanist philosophy that make it possible to transcend the anthropocentric barriers. Based on a review of selected literature – Actor-Network Theory, Object-Oriented Ontology, Dark Ecology, and Kinship – the research shows that subjective inclusion of other-than-human beings in management processes is possible. It requires abandonment of the judgement of non-human agency measured by humanly perceived consciousness in favour of a vision of symbiotic co-creation. The article also derives the category of radical inclusivity as a process of changing the perception of the role of other-than-human beings within management, with a particular emphasis on the practice of inclusive management.

Dismissed Possibilities: Thingness, Posthumanism and Corporeal Feminism in Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus

In Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus (1984), the protagonist Fevvers is a character with an overwhelming bodily presence, whose identity is mediated through her bodily performances and via the viewership of the spectacle that is her “self”. Always facing the question “Is she fact or is she a fiction?”, the real identity and being of Fevvers seems to escape the reader through her magnified corporeality and performativity. Yet, as the episodes in which Fevvers performs as inanimate objects or is juxtaposed next to them show, the corporeal existence of Fevvers harbors many posthuman possibilities for subjectivity, even though Fevvers is also discovered to be severely marked by her human identity and femininity. Using a theoretical framework informed by writings on thing theory, posthumanism, and posthuman feminism, this paper explores the hybrid bodily existence of Fevvers from a post humanist angle to point out that despite demonstrating a general intuition towards a posthuman understanding of subjectivity and feminism as also claimed by former critics, Nights at the Circus finally dismisses such possibilities for a “corporeal feminism” as manifestoed by Elizabeth Grozs. Staying loyal to her human nature, the novel’s protagonist Fevvers turns down possibilities offered by her animal, thing, and machine beings and subsumes her hybridity under corporeal feminism.

Comte’s posthumanist social science

Auguste Comte’s classical status in sociology and social theory is routinely taken to mean outdated. Coupled with this perception, there has been a pervasive tendency within contemporary discourse to presume a positivism that is largely rationalistic or scientistic and therefore critically and analytically useless. This paper explores how some of Comte’s lesser acknowledged perspectives on science, history, ‘progress’ and what it is to be human may yet compel us to reexamine our ideas about the kind of positivism we think we have inherited and therefore need to renounce. I focus my reading of Comte through the lens of genealogies of thought not normally associated with his work, for instance, science and technology studies (STS) and posthumanist social theory.

Broadening Ontological and Epistemological Possibilities within Early Childhood Teacher Education for Sustainability

The dominant sustainability ethos and discourse within early childhood education pursue a normative ontological and epistemological direction aimed at empowering children’s agency and thus, building certain predefined moral values, knowledge, and skills. Likewise, mainstream early childhood teacher education programmes strive to build early childhood pre-service teachers’ sustainability knowledge and skills, especially to enhance their capacity to be transformative agents and motivators for change to engage children with sustainability challenges. In this conceptual article, drawing on posthuman concepts, I highlight the limits of such orthodox assumptions in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) teacher education and invite broader ontological and epistemic possibilities. I interrogate the human-centric assumptions that unintentionally perpetuate the deep-rooted binary thinking that separates humans from non-humans and other species. In doing so, I offer an expanded understanding of the underlying ontological and epistemic assumptions within teacher education for ECEfS. I conclude by indicating how posthuman theories serve as an impetus for epistemological and ontological multiplicities in early childhood teacher education for sustainability.

Towards a tragic social science: Critique, translation, and performance

Taking ‘the idea of the tragic’ as a point of departure, this article articulates an approach to sociology and social theory from the perspective of a ‘tragic vision’. In arguing for the relevance of ‘tragic thought’ for the analysis of contemporary crises, it suggests that ‘the tragic’ must be understood as a reflection of the long tail of the formation of a particular secular, modern ‘ethico-onto-epistemology’. In making this case, the article provides an ‘interpretive genealogy’ of tragic ethics in social thought, detailing the thought of Lucien Goldmann and Georg Lukács, and putting it in dialogue with contemporary posthumanist theory. It concludes by drawing on recent debates in the latter involving the place of ‘critique’ in contemporary social science, teasing out some implications for thinking about individual action and responsibility.

(Re)Envisioning Childhoods With Mi’kmaw Literatures

A generative reading of four recent children’s books by Mi’kmaw authors through Indigenous and posthumanist lenses, this article suggests that Indigenous children’s literature works at envisioning a “very old” future and highlights the counter-hegemonic potential of that future in the current moment. First, a reading of the Mi’kmaw mythopoetic tradition as speculative fiction is presented. Second, becoming-with Land is discussed as a radical pedagogical future. Third, the tensions between Indigenous and posthumanist theories are discussed, along with the generative potential of those tensions. The article concludes by highlighting the power of the very old futures (re)emergent from very old stories.

What can post qualitative inquiry offer physical activity intervention? An example of intergenerational physical activity

ABSTRACT Post qualitive inquiry offers a potentially innovative research space for sport and exercise psychology scholars by providing alternative ontological premises for researching physical activity behaviour. This article is a worked example of post qualitative inquiry into an instance of physical activity intervention, a digital smartphone app designed to encourage intergenerational physical activity. The (un)methodology rethinks physical activity intervention by following what intervention does and what it makes. Using diffractive analysis, the stories of 10 parents with children aged 3–8 years were read-through poststructuralist and posthumanist theory to produce three material-discursive stories or worldings. The worldings demonstrate three insights for doing physical activity intervention differently by showing that intervention configures its problems, people and resources; its outcomes are dialogical improvisations; and intervention does not finish when it ends. Sport and exercise psychologists are encouraged to think with these insights to open new ways of doing and evaluating physical activity intervention.

Special Issue Introduction: Politicizing agency in digital play after humanism

Although digital games offer pleasures of causal clarity – and moral order – much remains unresolved in their texts, paratexts, and practices. The worldly coherence and agential harmony of digital games are not innocent. They cultivate modes of subjectivity in game culture that vindicate masculinist, colonial, and extractivist ways of being in the world. At the same time, games are used by developers, players, and streamers to wrestle with the limits and complicities of human agency, where stories find no closure and things do not add up. This special issue begins at these rough edges and loose ends to examine the ruptures and residues of agency as a liberal humanist ideology that is crystallized and critiqued by digital play and game making. Drawing from critical posthumanism’s problematization of agency, the articles collected here explore digital play’s mediation of heroism and authoritarianism, contagion and ableism, automatism and creativity. These critical explorations signal a shift in conceptualizations of agency away from agency as a quality afforded in the closed circuit of game and player by building on understandings of play as assemblages co-constituted by players, platforms, and institutions. Instead of agentic qualities, these articles collectively emphasize the plurality of ‘agentic modalities’ that are unevenly interwoven from player interpretations, platform infrastructures, game designs, and developer software tools. This issue’s focus on agency’s modalities instead of substance contributes to the ongoing shift in games research away from the analysis of structural properties of game systems. Instead, this special issue presents contextualized case studies that foreground performances of livability through modalities at and beyond the margins of the agentic frame. Our contribution to these debates lies in this special issue’s collective critique of this agentic frame and its liberal humanism by grounding posthuman theorizations vis-à-vis positionalities of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability.

Transindividual Affect: Gilbert Simondon's Contribution to a Posthumanist Theory of Emotions

The aim of this article is to explore how some aspects of Gilbert Simondon's philosophy of individuation may contribute to outlining a posthumanist theory of emotions. According to Simondon, the relation between affection and emotion is a key case study for examining the transindividual character of psychosocial individuation. Affection and emotion appear to him not as a binary opposition, but as an example of a transductive operation. The article suggests the concept of ‘transindividual affect’ as a way of challenging some key dualisms (rationality and emotion; the individual and the collective; emotion and affect). From this perspective, Simondon can contribute to a redefinition of the human from the non-dualistic and non-anthropocentric perspective that characterises critical posthumanism.

Toward a critical posthuman understanding of teacher development and practice: A multi-case study of beginning teachers

The purpose of this paper is to theorize an alternative, non-linear conceptualization of beginning teacher development based on critical posthumanism, which we illustrate through analysis from three in-depth case studies of first-year science teachers in the U.S. Drawing on the conceptual tools of assemblage, distributive agency, and intra-action, we examine three complex, relational processes that first-year teachers engaged in to construct their teaching practices: translating their pre-professional learning into practice, negotiating with students, and forming their teacher subjectivity. We argue that this framework offers potential for better preparing and supporting new teachers in diverse national settings as well as interrupting the patterns of inequities that are perpetuated through structures of schooling, dominant forms of pedagogy, and deficit-based interactions with students.