About

Please sign up to the APH mailing list for direct access to the Zoom webinar links for each month. Register for this month's seminars on Eventbrite, or apply to present on Typeform.

Overview

The Australasian Post-Humanities seminar series challenges the barriers of western academia, creating new space for thinkers both inside and outside of the Australasian arts and humanities. Run remotely via Zoom, it seeks to generate an inclusive, digital community for interdisciplinary conversation. These conversations will undoubtedly give shape to what the 'posthumanities' means in the Australasian context.

Posthumanities thought provides a useful, relational lens through which to generate critical conversations, especially given the various structural oppressions which shape our worlds. This seminar series is organized by Dr Elese Dowden, and shelters under the Women and Power Network at the University of Queensland, which is run by Professor Megan Cassidy-Welch.

What are the 'posthumanities?'

In thinking about the posthumanities, Rosi Braidotti conceptualizes ‘a relational community, defined as a nomadic, transversal assemblage that involves non-human actors and technological media. Material, mediated posthuman subjects constitute a materially embodied and embedded community, a ‘people’, bonded by affirmative ethics.’1

The Australasian posthumanities, then, is a critical interdisciplinary space which welcomes thinkers from across disciplines - philosophy, critical theory, feminist thought, history, sociology, literary studies, education, and the humanities more broadly. The posthumanities differs from traditional conceptions of the humanities in that it moves away from anthropocentrism and Cartesian dualism, in favour of relational approaches to the world which embrace multiplicities.

Feminist thought also has its own long tradition in relationality, phenomenology and community as a critical lens to examine social relations, particularly gender inequalities. Accordingly, there is nothing more feminist or posthuman than a digital seminar series which generates an inclusive and interdisciplinary community of thinkers across Australasia, united through an affirmative view towards critical, relational thought.

Goals

1. To provide a digital space for the development of critical theory, feminist thought, and posthumanist ideas in the Australasian academy.

2. To generate an inclusive and equitable community of interdisciplinary scholars from diverse backgrounds, with an invitational emphasis on participation by those traditionally excluded from philosophical, historical, and academic circles. 

3. To develop and adapt new and existing methodologies in the Australasian posthumanities in light of the changing nature of academic work.

Format

The Australasian Post-Humanities seminars are a series of 1-hour Zoom webinars, revolving around a monthly theme. Seminars and themes are announced via our mailing list, which you can sign up to here. There are 1-4 papers scheduled each month according to interest, with an open theme every 3 months to accommodate a wider range of topics. 

Presenters are free to do what they like with their allotted hour, and panels, performances, or creative responses are openly welcomed. At a baseline level, we suggest 30-45 minute papers, with remaining time for questions and discussion.

Seminars are held at 12-1pm Wednesdays, 3-4pm Wednesdays, or 12-1pm Fridays, and can be recorded at the presenter’s request for inclusion in our podcast series on Spotify. Participants are to indicate in their proposals whether they would like their presentations recorded for this podcast series.

The deadline for each month is the third Friday of the prior month. Accordingly, the deadline for October submissions is the 18th September.

Cited

1. Rosi Braidotti, "A Theoretical Framework for the Critical Posthumanities," Theory, Culture & Society 36, no. 6 (2019). 35