Karen Barad

HIV Interventions: Beyond the flesh/information distinction (Review essay)

by Mizanur Rahaman

(2012) 21 Science as Culture (forthcoming)

“A Different Starting Point, A Different Metaphysics”: Reading Bergson and Barad Diffractively (2011)

by Iris van der Tuin

This article provides an affirmative feminist reading of the philosophy of Henri Berg- son by reading it through the... more This article provides an affirmative feminist reading of the philosophy of Henri Berg- son by reading it through the work of Karen Barad. Adopting such a diffractive reading strategy enables feminist philosophy to move beyond discarding Bergson for his apparent phallocentrism. Feminist philosophy finds itself double bound when it cri- tiques a philosophy for being phallocentric, because the setup of a master narrative comes into being with the critique. By negating a gender-blind or sexist philosophy, feminist philosophy only reaffirms its parameters, and setting up a master narrative costs feminist philosophy its feminism. I thus propose and practice a different methodological starting point, one that capitalizes on ‘‘diffraction.’’ This article ex- periments with the affirmative phase in feminist philosophy prophesied by Elizabeth Grosz, among others. Working along the lines of the diffractive method, the article at the same time proposes a new reading of Bergson (as well as of Barad), a new, differ- ent metaphysics indeed, which can be specified as onto-epistemological or ‘‘new materialist.’’

Diffracting the Rays of Technoscience

by Federica Timeto

published in "Poiesis and Praxis", Springer Verlag, 8, 2011, pp. 151-167.

The Donor Egg as a Complex Phenomenon - Visualizing the Practices of Egg Donation

by Julie Richard Fjeldsted

Since January 2007 it has been a legal opportunity for fertile women in Denmark to anonymously donate their eggs to... more Since January 2007 it has been a legal opportunity for fertile women in Denmark to anonymously donate their eggs to childless couples. The legislative review was conducted in order to address the increasing need for donor eggs, which has led to many Danish childless couples investing in treatments with donor eggs, eg. in Spain where the corps of voluntary donors is significantly larger.The current lack of donor eggs has led to a debate between fertility doctors and representatives from feminist organizations about the possibilities and consequences of increasing the financial compensation from the recommended 500 DKK, which is the same amount that Danish sperm donors receive per donation. In spite of several disagreements between the two parties, there is a strong consensus about the basic principle of egg donation being the “giving of a gift”.

In order to bring forth more advanced and complex views in the debate, we must increase the level of visibility of both egg and woman, which is why the basic premise of this thesis is the journey of the donor egg and its material-discursive becoming in relation to the positioning of the woman as a donor, both in and outside of the fertility clinics.

With our aim to access the egg and the body as living materialities, we turn to the material feminist Karen Barad as our primary theoretical framework and methodological strategy. What Barad offers is an understanding of the egg as a complex phenomenon, which means, that we apply an approach that allows us to perceive the egg as a dynamic creation being continuously constituted through junctions and intra-actions with both material and discursive components through different practices. On these grounds we ask: Which role does the financial compensation in fact play in the experiences of the women donating their eggs, according the donors themselves? And how is the donor egg being constituted as a complex phenomenon in interaction with the positioning and recognition of the woman as an egg donor?

This one isn't about you either: The making of animal gender in the archaeological text

by Emma Nordlander

Unpublished work for the course "Theoretical and methodological problems in current archaeology 2" at the historical department, University of Gothenburg. Finished in Januari 2011. IN SWEDISH.

This essay deals with the problematics of using an exclusively human horizon in the archaeological field and the ways... more This essay deals with the problematics of using an exclusively human horizon in the archaeological field and the ways to broaden our reference point to include other, non-human elements in that field. Using queer- and feminist studies and its parallells with the discussion on animal rights, this essay aspires to illustrate how the western dichotomy between human and animal/nature affects our current distinguishment of the paleolithic material of cave paintings and carvings. The purpose of the essay is to find ways to include other aspects of the material world in our lives and our possibilities to perceive them and view them as not seperate entities of ourselves, but as incorporated in the definition of the ”human”.

Keywords: Chauvet cave, paleolithic, queer, feminist, animal rights, cave paintings, cave carvings

Towards a Posthuman Collective : Ontology, Epistemology and Ethics

by Marietta Radomska

published in: 'Praktyka teoretyczna', No 1, 2010