# Affirmative Posthumanism [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posthumanism) ( 1980s–present ) ## Description Strand of critical theory affirming a relational, embodied, non-unitary subject beyond humanism's universal "Human," in contrast to transhumanism's techno-enhancement project (see [[Techno Posthumanism]]). Developed by [[Rosi Braidotti]] out of [[Donna Haraway]]'s cyborg feminism and [[N. Katherine Hayles]]'s critique of disembodied "informatics," extending into nonhuman becoming and nonnormative [[The Body|embodiment]]. ## Key Tags #posthumanism #affirmative-posthumanism ## Essential Works - Braidotti, Rosi. *The Posthuman*. Polity Press, 2013. - Central statement of affirmative posthumanism as an ethics of "monistic vitalism" - Haraway, Donna. "Ecce Homo, Ain't (Ar'n't) I a Woman, and Inappropriate/d Others: The Human in a Post-Humanist Landscape." n.d. - Key essay extending cyborg feminism into posthumanist critique of "the human" - Hayles, N. Katherine. *How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics*. University of Chicago Press, 1999. - Chapter 1, "Toward Embodied Virtuality" — critiques the disembodiment fantasy in cybernetics discourse - Ferreday, Debra. "Becoming Deer: Nonhuman Drag and Online Utopias." *Feminist Theory* 12, no. 2 (2011): 219–25. - Nonhuman/animal becoming as a mode of online posthuman identity play ## Details ### Key Theorists - [[Rosi Braidotti]] - coins and develops affirmative posthumanism as an ethics of relational, embodied, nomadic subjectivity - [[Donna Haraway]] - cyborg feminism and critique of the humanist "Human" via "Ecce Homo" and related essays - [[Karen Barad]] - agential realism and posthumanist performativity extend feminist science studies into posthumanist theory - [[Susan Stryker]] - her "Frankenstein" essay links transgender embodiment to posthumanist and monstrous figuration ### Exemplary Practitioners %% none yet %% ### Related Concepts - [[Techno Posthumanism]] - the technological/enhancement strand Braidotti's affirmative posthumanism defines itself against - [[The Body]] - posthumanism extends embodiment questions into the nonhuman and technological - [[Philosophy]] - shares Haraway and Hofstadter's "strange loop" as common ground - [[Transpersonal and Consciousness Studies]] - shares Spinner's work on spiritualism as a case of nonstandard subjectivity - [[Queer Theory]] - shares questions of embodiment and nonnormative becoming ### Creative and Technical Practices %% none yet %% ### Associated Movements or Institutions %% none yet %% ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography %% none yet %% ### Secondary Sources Bibliography Braidotti, Rosi. *The Posthuman*. Polity Press, 2013. Ferreday, Debra. "Becoming Deer: Nonhuman Drag and Online Utopias." *Feminist Theory* 12, no. 2 (2011): 219–25. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700111404288](https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700111404288). Haraway, Donna. "Ecce Homo, Ain't (Ar'n't) I a Woman, and Inappropriate/d Others." n.d. Hayles, N. Katherine. *How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics*. Chapter 1, "Toward Embodied Virtuality." University of Chicago Press, 1999. Spinner, Codee Ann. *Resonant Spirits: Spiritualism, Music, and Community in Lily Dale, NY (1848-1920)*. n.d. Lewis, Richard S. *Technology, Media Literacy, and the Human Subject: A Posthuman Approach*. n.d. - Media-literacy framework for the technologically mediated posthuman subject