The term posthumanism has, throughout its relatively short lifespan, swelled to encompass any number of definitions and permutations, ranging from a descriptor for a technological afterlife of the “human” to a critical look at ways of being within a wider ecology. The immediate quandary that any scholar of the posthuman faces is the wrangling of a proper definition for such an expansive yet timely topic. It is precisely this ambiguity that we hope to engage with in this issue of Synoptique, as the amorphous idea of the posthuman offers us the chance to re-examine the “human.”
Traditionally, posthumanism has remained “committed to a specific order of rationality, one rooted in the epistemological locus of the West” (Jackson 2013, 671). By building upon such legacies of radical perspectives that decentre traditional Western humanist paradigms, such as deanthropocentrism, decoloniality, feminist, and Queer lenses, we aim to place posthumanism in conversation with film and media studies, with the goal of highlighting the historically marginalized perspectives central to this intersection. We believe that film and other new media are uniquely situated to address these sets of questions due to the breadth of disciplines they intersect with, as well as their positions between the technological and the cultural. We invite submissions to consider how different forms of media may challenge, transform, and transcend traditional paradigms of the posthuman; we especially invite submissions of alternative media such as video essays, zines, or other art pieces.
In the midst of a pandemic that has both exacerbated our differences and underscored our interconnectedness – particularly through widespread digital platforms – we might ask how the posthuman may act as a remapping of humanity away from Eurocentric individualism and onto one woven through with networks of relationality first expressed by marginalized communities. This issue of Synoptique looks to re-evaluate the notion of “moving beyond” the “human,” identifying the limitations of the posthuman movement in critical academic discourse – what we are moving away from, who is permitted to be seen as posthuman, what a posthuman world may entail – as well as reframing and renegotiating the normative, hierarchical configurations of the “human” that we wish to transcend (Muñoz 2015).
Drawing on recent work by scholars such as Kathryn Yusoff, Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, and Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, this issue centres marginalized perspectives and stewardship, and departs from Western notions of linear time, uninhibited technological advancement, and individualism. In countering these traditions, we can instead expand upon the posthuman as it pertains to: postcolonial visions and our different places within those futures, technological futures and bodily enhancements, communal networks and infrastructures, ontological reconfigurations of the “human,” and temporal disruptions as decolonial knowledge production, among a vast array of other research areas. In mapping these points of tension, we hope to examine the renewed posthumanist perspectives and pathways forged by their interaction and intersection, which can be seen in works such as Asinnajaq’s “Three Thousand'' and her reading of Inuit futurism, as well as Janelle Monáe’s ‘emotion picture’ “Dirty Computer,” which interrogates and queers the idea of cyborg. Through a multiplicity of such approaches including historical surveys, textual analyses, and more, we want to reassess film and media’s place in this conversation in conjunction with new ideas of what posthumanism can do, and it is our hope that you will explore these possibilities alongside us.
We are inviting submissions from scholars of all disciplines to submit works that interrogate the intersection between posthumanism and film and media, and that centre critical lenses including, but not limited to, the following:
- Critical race and/or postcolonial theory
- Afro and/or Indigenous futurisms
- Queer studies
- Trans studies
- Feminist and gender studies
- Disability studies
We ask how classic sites of interrogation for posthumanist discourse, such as the cyborg and the (post-)apocalyptic, might be re-examined in a new light through these richly vibrant and still under-explored critical formulations. Essays submitted for peer review should be approximately 5,500 - 7,500 words and must conform to the Chicago author-date style (17th ed.). Video essays submitted for peer review are also accepted. All images must be accompanied by photo credits and captions.
We also warmly invite submissions to the review section, including conference or exhibition reports, book reviews, film festival reports, thought pieces and interviews related to the aforementioned topics. All non-peer reviewed articles should be a maximum of 2,500 words and include a bibliography following Chicago author-date style (17th ed.).
Creative works and interventions in the forms of digital video, still imagery, creative writing, and other multimedia forms are also welcome. These works will be embedded on the Synoptique website, and/or otherwise linked to in the PDF version of the journal. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions regarding your submission ideas for the non-peer reviewed section.
All submissions may be written in either French or English.
Please submit completed essays or works to the journal editors (editor@synoptique.ca) and the issue guest editors Brianna Setaro (brisetaro@gmail.com), Jess Stewart-Lee (Jess.stewart-lee@mail.concordia.ca), and Marielle Coleman (marielle.coleman@mail.mcgill.ca) by August 31, 2021.
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