Review of Rosi Braidotti (2019). Posthuman Knowledge
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Review of Rosi Braidotti (2019). Posthuman Knowledge Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. 210 pp. ISBN 9781509535255 (Hardcover) Marguerite Koole 1
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Introduction Why would a non-philosopher read Posthuman Knowledge (Braidotti 2019)? My interest in posthumanism is connected to my work as an educator in instructional design and educational technology; a field in which there are lingering arguments about the disembodying effects of information and communication technologies. I regularly encounter colleagues eagerly investigating artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, and digitization, all of which facilitate the transformation of material to digital and back again. As such, it is increasingly apparent how human activity, materiality, and digital spaces are entangled. Regardless of whether learning takes place as blended or online, our human-material situatedness presents itself and leaves traces in our virtual interactions—albeit in different ways than in face-to-face conversations. Posthuman Knowledge is a challenging read partially because it is written more so for a philosophy audience. While this book might feel overwhelming for the uninitiated, it offers some very timely ‘affirmative’ messages that are much needed in society generally as we cope with current complexities—not the least of which includes the current Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has emerged through the interaction of humans and animals; it has spread rapidly around the world due to global travel; and news of its impact invades our awareness through television, radio, news apps, and social media. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed numerous social issues that have been quietly converging for decades. It has brought to light wealth disparities in which the ability to work from home via technology is available only to the wealthy; the poor are forced to continue working in unsafe conditions potentially exposing them to the virus. Furthermore, wealthy and powerful entities are actively using social media to discredit scientific evidence supporting social
* Marguerite Koole [email protected]
1
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Postdigital Science and Education
distancing and self-isolation practices. These examples attest to the complex and dynamic convergence of socio-cultural, political, environmental, technological, and capitalist practices that are continuously reshaping and legitimizing certain kinds of power and knowledge. Braidotti’s posthumanist approach, however, ‘foreground[s] the critical potential of the PostHumanities’ (Braidotti 2019: 104). Her materialist affirmative ethics offers the posthuman subject a way to move towards empowerment and creativity rather than despair and nihilism. Posthuman Knowledge comprises seven chapters: (1) The Posthuman Condition, (2) Posthuman Subjects, (3) Posthuman Knowledge Production, (4) The Critical PostHumanities, (5) How to Do Posthuman Thinking, (6) On Affirmative Ethics, and (7) The Inexhaustible. This book can be read as an
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