In search of reciprocity: Feminist challenges in Posthumanist thinking – An intellectual meditation

abstract

There are many spokes to the critical wheel of Posthuman Feminism. It is a richly diverse field of thinking, and may be considered from multiple vantage points. Indeed, the metaphor of the rhizome, following Giles Deleuze, is more appropriate here and is, in fact, used more frequently in this context. In this article, I shall sketch simple and broad contours of the move towards Posthumanism in general, and Posthuman Feminism in particular, drawing from key Posthuman feminist theorists, such as Rosi Braidotti. Prompted by my own academic journey and learnings as a literary critic and emerging feminist from the 1970s – the “politics of location” from which I speak − I will highlight some of the signposts I am encountering en route to understanding Posthumanism and Posthuman Feminism, as I revise my ways of reading and inhabiting our common world. Developed, against the broad background of my own journey as a critical scholar, the essay is presented as a simple, exploratory introduction to a wide, engaging and convoluted field, and will conclude with a few important challenges for Posthuman feminist intellectual and activist work in the current global and planetary context.

keywords:

• Posthumanism
• Feminism
• anthropocentric
• Humanism
• reciprocity

Notes

1 I met Paulo Freire at a “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” Conference in Omaha, US, in 1996.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Betty Govinden

DEVARAKSHANAM (BETTY) GOVINDEN is a literary and educational scholar and poet. She is the author of the award-winning book ‘Sister outsiders’: Representation of identity and difference in selected South African Indian women’s writings (Unisa Press 2008) and A time of memory: Reflections on South African Writing (Solo Collective 2008). Email: [email protected]