Event overview
Public lecture by Manuela Rossini as part of the Visual Cultures Public Programme. All welcome.
Critical Posthumanism: For Life's Sake!
For a number of decades now, scholars working in critical and cultural theory, cultural studies of science and new media, and not least of all a growing number of artists, writers and even scientists have contributed to the rise and flourishing of posthumanism – understood in its broadest sense since the late 60s as a world-view, ethical and political standpoint as well as a paradigm, mode of interpretation and epistemology for rethinking Enlightenment humanism and its aftermath. As a critical reflection on „what it means to be human“ that takes the decentring of Renaissance Man to its radical ontological, epistemological and ecological conclusion, posthumanism is to be distinguished from transhumanism and other futurologies that celebrate the advent of the postbiological era. Such technophilic scenarios remain deeply embedded within a humanist and anthropocentric matrix and thus reinforce hierarchical binaries, essentialist and universalist definitions of ‘human nature’ that historically and in the present have caused severe damage not only to nonhuman life but also to bodies not fully or no longer qualifying as ‘human’ according to prevailing norms, laws and values. One of the central aims of a critical posthumanism is precisely to counter these so-called ‘popular’ or ‘cybernetic’ versions of posthumanism by revisiting humanisms and humanistic approaches for their potential use as resources for political agency, justice and an ethics of sustainability on which the well-being of ‘the living in general’ and the survival of the planet as a whole depends. Electrified by Desulfobulbacea, the lecture will juxtapose Shelley Jackson’s digital hyperfiction Patchwork Girl and philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy’s essay “L’Intrus” to artist Natascha Vita-More’s transhumanist design of Primo Posthuman in order to draw out the differences between these two major modes of ‘imagineering’ life and the cosmopolitical implications thereof.
Manuela Rossini is the coordinator of the Graduate School at the Institute of Advanced Study in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, University of Bern. She is the co-editor of Animal Encounters (2009) and The Routledge Companion to Literature and Science (2012). She also acts as the Executive Director and 2nd Vice President of the European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts and edits the book series Experimental Practices: Technoscience, Arts, Literature, Philosophy. In addition, she is an editorial board member of Critical Posthumanisms and Word & Text, and a member of the steering committee of the International Network for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity. Her research interests are mainly in the area of inter- and transdisciplinarity, posthumanism, animal studies and feminism.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Apr 2013 | 5:00pm - 7:00pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
