2-4 September 2019
School of Tourism and Hospitality
Africa/Johannesburg timezone

Posthumanism And The New Politics Of Difference

3 Sep 2019, 10:15
15m
School of Tourism and Hospitality

School of Tourism and Hospitality

University of Johannesburg Bunting Road Campus Auckland Park Johannesburg South Africa
Speaker Plenary Session II

Speaker

Prof. Fraser Mcneill (University of Pretoria)

Description

In this paper, I explore connections between humanism, posthumanism and neoliberal constructions of difference. I ask questions about the theoretical and applied efficacy of posthumanism as a legitimate way of thinking anthropologically, and argue that, ultimately, anthropology has always been, and should remain to be, a fundamentally humanistic endeavour. I root the paper in the context of increasing global inequalities, ethno-nationalisms, the destruction of ecosystems, the imposition of physical and metaphysical boundaries and other products of neoliberal dynamics. Of particular concern is the impact that neoliberalism has made in the Academy, specifically in anthropology as an intellectual pursuit, giving rise to a plethora of twists and ‘turns’ through which practitioners seek to carve out spaces of particularity through increasing peculiarity. I argue that, in this current global context, posthumanist approaches have the potential to help generate meaningful understandings of contemporary lived experiences only if they remain firmly embedded in their humanist origins.

Primary author

Prof. Fraser Mcneill (University of Pretoria)

Presentation Materials

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