Journal of Posthumanism

Front Matter

2024-12-19

Karen Bray, Heather Eaton, and Whitney Bauman, eds. (2023). Earthly Things: Immanence, New Materialisms, and Planetary Thinking.

Todd LeVasseur — 2024-12-19

Containing an Introduction and twenty-two stand-alone chapters, Earthly Things is the culmination of five-years of the editors and contributors meeting face-to-face at annual American Academy of Religions gatherings, which were structured around the goal of providing “a new turn to ontology” (1). This turn centers upon “how our ideas materialize in the world and how our entanglement with other bodies in an evolving planetary community shape our ideas [and] have great potential for rethinking human-technology-animal-Earth relationships” (1). The editors explain that during this gestation period they discussed the themes of Earthly Things and workshopped ideas and drafts that eventually became the respective contributions from those involved (three editors, nineteen other contributors). Overall, the book is structured around three “main, intersecting themes: Immanent Religiosities, New Materialisms and other theories of Immanence, and Planetary Thinking” (2-3).

Clarke, Bruce. (Ed.) (2020). Posthuman Biopolitics: The Science Fiction of Joan Slonczewski. Palgrave.

Soorya Alex Kadookunnel — 2024-12-19

Posthuman Biopolitics (2021) is a thoroughly researched collection of critical studies, which focuses solely on the science fiction novels of microbiologist Joan Slonczewski within the framework of posthumanism. These critical studies amply and substantially throw light upon the posthuman world of biological/ecological upheavals. They take the readers on a futuristic journey into the narrative diversities of liminal worlds where humans coexist with other organisms, actors, and objects on an egalitarian plane of existence. Bruce Clarke’s book anthologizes the novel age of the Anthropocene and provides fictional insights that texture Slonczewski’s work, through a diverse range of essays contributed to by a galaxy of academics, including; Christy Tidwell, Chris Pak, Derek J. Thiess, Sherryl Vint, Colin Milburn, and Alexa T. Dodd.

Forlano, L., & Glabau, D. (2024). Cyborg. The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series.

Ujjwal Khobra — 2024-12-19

Laura Forlano and Danya Glabau’s Cyborg (2024), part of the MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series, situates complex debates surrounding contemporary cyborg studies for nonspecialist readers. By providing a detailed analysis of the challenges faced by the term ‘cyborg’ since its inception, Cyborg presents ‘cyborg-thinking’ as a way forward in confronting our collective technologized present(s). In the Introduction, the cyborg figure emerges as a sociocultural phenomenon, transgressing oppositions such as nature/artificiality, man/woman, and mind/body to understand disability, labor, human/nonhuman entanglements, and the future of inequalities with interconnected crises. In mapping the cybernetic, popular, and feminist discourses that have employed cyborg-thinking as a cartographic tool, Cyborg introduces “critical cyborg literacy” as a distinct approach to critically and creatively analyze the relationship between technology, society, and culture (4).

Cameron, F.R. (2024). Museum Practices and the Posthumanities: Curating for Planetary Habitability. Routledge.

Nina White — 2024-12-19

In the nascent field of posthuman museum studies, Fiona R. Cameron cuts a singular figure. Since their conceptualisation of the ‘liquid museum’ in Andrea Witcomb and Kylie Message’s 2015 collection Museum Theory (Cameron, 2015), Cameron has been a crucial driver in theorising and applying posthumanism to the multifarious field of museum governance and practice. Their work navigates and encompasses curatorial documentation practices (Cameron, 2018), digital data and heritage (Cameron, 2021), as well as the museum’s complicity in the conditions of the global Covid-19 pandemic (Cameron, 2022). Museum Practices and the Posthumanities: Curating for Planetary Habitability (2024) presents Cameron’s– and indeed, anyone’s– most comprehensive thinking, writing, and action around posthuman museum practices yet.

Ferrando, F. (2023). The Art of Being Posthuman. Who Are We in the 21st Century? Polity.

Stefano Rozzoni — 2024-12-19

While posthumanism has become an established framework for critically approaching a wide array of phenomena and challenges, its creative and generative potentials do not appear to cease. On the contrary, posthumanism manifests in ever-new, original forms and topics within processes of academic knowledge production and writing. This is exemplified in the latest book by Francesca Ferrando: The Art of Being Posthuman: Who Are We in the 21st Century?

Thomas, A. (2024). The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism. Techno-Human Evolution and Advanced Capitalism. Bristol University Press.

Nicolás Rojas-Cortés — 2024-12-19

Criticisms of transhumanism are often as weak or even weaker than transhumanist proposals. If we consider that a significant number of criticisms arise from the fear of the dangers that techno-optimistic proposals might pose to human nature—whatever that might mean—then the effectiveness of arguments against transhumanism is null. When technical production is effective, no one cares about the complaints of sages who are detached from the world we inhabit. In this sense, it is refreshing to find a systematic argument against transhumanism that does not rehash conceptual clichés that contribute little, especially when cutting-edge technology belongs to a few entrepreneurs who care little or nothing for the complaints reminiscent of the Vatican.

Marchesini, R. (2023). Posthumanist Manifesto. Lexington.

Jonathan Hay — 2024-12-19

Although it is often frustrating, Roberto Marchesini’s Posthumanist Manifesto makes a number of valuable contributions to Critical Posthumanist discourse. The extent to which it questions many of the accepted principles in the discipline renders it a challenging read, but one which should be rewarding for those scholars who take the time to parse its depths. The verbosity of the whole is incipiently apparent in its opening, whereupon Marchesini proposes that ‘Hybridization is the moment of the Appollonian becoming while staying within a Dionysian flow of possibilities and transitions’ (2).

Introduction: Posthumanism and Media Studies

Poppy Wilde — 2024-12-19

Posthumanism fosters a more inclusive and less hierarchical approach to our entanglements with both human and non-human elements. Posthuman theory, particularly as articulated by N. Katherine Hayles and Rosi Braidotti, has long been influential in media and cultural studies. Ferrando (2020) argues: posthuman ethics invites us to follow on three related layers. First of all, as a post-humanism, it marks a shift: from universalism to perspectivism, from multiculturalism to pluralism and diversity. As a postanthropocentrism, it induces a change of strategy: from human agency to agential networks, from technology to eco-technology. As a postdualism, it requires an evolution of our awareness: from individuality to relationality, from theory to praxis. (147) This Special Issue of the Journal of Posthumanism therefore asks, how does such posthuman perspectivism, pluralism, agentiality, eco-technology, relationality, and praxis, apply to the future of media and cultural studies? How might we understand the very concept of “future”?

We Have Never Been Acafans: Notes Towards a Posthumanist Approach to Media Fandom

Mandy Elizabeth Moore — 2024-12-19

Media fandoms highlight the power nonhuman actors have to move, shape, and perhaps even possess us. In stating, “I am a fan of this thing,” we have already signaled a new state of being for ourselves rooted in a deep investment with something nonhuman. However, despite the foundational nonhuman entanglements of fandom, fan studies as a field has yet to engage in a sustained, comprehensive dialogue with posthumanism. In this article, I propose a theoretical vision for posthumanist fan studies, outlining how this framework would both compliment and complicate existing fandom scholarship and explicating an emergent, intra-active view of fandom. I then offer two potential methodologies that would prove useful in posthumanist fan studies research.

There is No Videogame: Nishida, Posthumanism, and the Basho of Gameplay

Andrea Andiloro — 2024-12-19

This article traverses from humanist to posthumanist philosophies to analyse videogame ontology. It challenges Cartesian dualism, understood as emblematic of humanist thinking, by bringing the philosophy of Nishida Kitarō in conversation with posthumanist thought. Nishida’s rejection of the subject-object split and his concepts of ‘pure experience’, ‘basho’ and ‘action-intuition’ provide a framework for understanding games as dynamic events in a relational matrix of nothingness rather than as discrete entities. The game Jetpack Joyride is analyzed through this lens, illustrating how gameplay is a co-creative experience within a complex interplay of technology and human agency. This approach promotes an inclusive and global understanding of the interconnected nature of videogames and player identities, challenging entrenched Western paradigms in game studies and posthumanist thought.

Bear(ing) Down: Encountering Posthuman Critical Media Studies through the (Re)tracing of Object and Embodiment

Asilia Franklin-Phipps — 2024-12-19

This paper explores the how of posthuman theory by a collaborative and conversational visual reading of FX’s The Bear. In both the shared and individual encounters with the show, we consider how objects produce relational affects across characters, objects, time, and space. We insist that unique shows like The Bear, expand beyond a “use” orientation of objects, instead producing objects as central to the narrative. Some objects become, in one way, another character as the action does not occur separate from the objects. We argue that while that is often the case, this is not often made visible. The Bear, while still being a character-driven show, emphasizes the agency of the objects. Objects get long takes, close-ups, and meaningful space in dialog, making the show a meaningful text for temporary withdrawal from human-centered ways of seeing and knowing.

From Microfascism to Joyful Affects: A Posthuman Approach to Social Media Redesign

J.J. Sylvia IV — 2024-12-19

This paper scrutinizes the micropolitical fascism latent in social media platforms' algorithmic designs, which, according to Deleuze & Guattari (2009) and Crano (2022), foster desires for uniformity and control that may escalate into authoritarianism, threatening democracy and free speech. It considers the paradoxical nature of social media in enhancing connectivity while potentially inducing loneliness, an emotional state Arendt links to fascism, and their role in amplifying negative emotions, spreading disinformation, and conspiracy theories, such as QAnon. Delving into the mechanics of such designs, the paper leverages a monist informational ontology to dissect subjectivation processes and envisage overcoming these microfascist inclinations. It suggests a radical redesign of social media platforms that eschews analytics-driven narratives in favor of fostering joyful affect and novel subjectivities. This reimagining aims to detach social media storytelling from analytics and data exploitation, promoting a posthuman model for platform design that resists the generation of microfascist desires.

Towards a Posthumanist Critique of Large Language Models

Claudio Celis Bueno — 2024-12-19

This article develops a critique of large language models (LLMs) from a posthumanist perspective. The first part focuses on Emily Bender’s critique of LLMs in order to highlight how its conceptual and political axioms have informed recent critiques of ChatGPT. We make a case that this anthropocentric perspective remains insufficient for adequately grasping its conceptual and political consequences. In the second part of the article, we address these shortcomings by proposing a posthumanist critique of LLMs. To formulate this critique, we begin by drawing on Eric Hörl’s contention that the age of digitalization (what he calls “cybernetization”) demands a radical redefinition of the concept of “critique” (Hörl et al., 2021, 7). Relying on Hörl’s intervention, we then gradually develop a posthumanist framework by grounding it in four interlinked concepts: general ecology, machinic agency, machinic surplus value, and cosmotechnics. After advancing the said theoretical framework, our conclusion mobilises it to outline a posthumanist critique of LLMs.

Mutation Materialized: The Concept as Method

Rosa Stilgren — 2024-12-19

Concepts have been disregarded from posthuman studies as static entities that constitute and reinforce anthropocentric categories. This article explores how concepts can be used as methods, investigating the intersection between posthuman theories, media studies and algorithmic audio production. Following Mieke Bal’s framework of concept-based methodology (Bal, 2009) as source of inspiration, this paper explores how concepts work as socio-material entities to analyze specific arrangements, exploiting the concept’s multiplicity (Deleuze & Guattari, 1994) defining the concept as an agent that “works” (Slaby et al., 2019). Thereby acknowledging that the concept itself will not be unaffected by process of analysis. The article focuses on the concept of mutation as an autonomous process of being and becoming that identifies specific transformations in digital audio production, illuminating the interplay between concept-ualization as normative systems of being and concept-ing (Taylor et al., 2023) as active processes of becoming.

Digital Milieus: A Posthumanist Media Ecology for a Planetary Computation Era

Joaquín Moreira Alonso — 2024-12-19

Media ecology introduced a fresh perspective to media studies, previously dominated by content analysis, effects research, ideologies, and flux studies. This approach allows us to understand media in a non-linear manner, seeing them as constructors of our everyday contexts rather than mere tools for specific purposes. Despite this shift, classical media ecology often views media as information transmitters for discrete human beings, rooted in modern humanist rationalism. This article suggests that a posthumanist approach to media ecology can help overcome modern anthropocentrism by studying the mutual ontogenesis between humans and their media environments. This change offers a fruitful framework for studying contemporary media, characterized by ubiquity, hyperconnection, and planetary-scale computing. The analysis emphasizes the interdependence between humans, technology, and the environment, highlighting the diminishing human agency amid automated systems and ubiquitous computing.