Quote
"What is needed is a starting point for analysis that does not presume that the terms on either side of equivalence relations [between humans and non-humans] are given, but instead takes up the matter of the cuts that produce distinctions between "humans" and "nonhumans"--where the differential constitution of both terms is important, and so are their respective constituitive exclusions--before any such comparisons get off the ground. That is, what is needed is accountability for the cuts that are made and the constituitive entanglements that are effected. In particular, the "posthumanist" point is not to blur the boundaries between human and non human, not to cross out all distinctions and differences, and not to simply invert humanism, but rather to understand the materializing effects of particular ways of drawing boundaries between "humans" and "non-humans." Crucially, then, such an analysis cannot figure cuts as purely a matter of human practices of differentiating, that is, as cutural distinctions. Whatever a "cut" is must not assume some prior notion of the "human." (Barad, 2011, pp. 123-124)
Reflection
- As I dance, I connect to the imporance of the word "iterative" in Barad's "iterative intra-activity." Extending the "iterative" outside of Barad's metaphysical account and towards their urge to recosiderer how cuts are made, I feel incapable to thinking any other way. When I do what I imagine Barad calls for, aka when I attempt to loosen my relation to a variety of conceptions which firmly define notions of the human, I notice that I lose some mannerisms I use to position myself. I feel a little adrift. Sometimes, I don't like the feeling. It makes me a bit shakey, unsure when to speak or not, unsure of my positionality, in the process of loosing some of my habits (like the "three boy rule".. ask me about it). Then, I do imagine that most of the criticality of loosening these cuts lies below the surface of consciousness. When it comes to my learned habits or behavioral rules, I imagine I could also reason my way towards them using posthumanist accounts of racism, sexism, classism, ableism, ageism, etc.
- I wonder why Barad seems to have a strong investment in "casality." Personally, I strongly associate it being a central concern in analytic philosophy. Yet, I also encounter it within my dancing (and also as I am coding this website).
- I am acutely aware of the lack of nonhuman animals in the rehearsal room.
- While I am moving, I don't consciously perceive my colleagues as "humans." Surely, if you asked me about it, I would at all times give you that answer: "they are human." Yet, no one asks. And, I forget. Rather, I see swirls of arms and legs, I hear breathing, I feel the touch of someone rubbing up against me. While none of these thing may be actual--while there may be no "actual" touch--this is notheless what I attune to. While the "human" (or "Man") may permeate all that I am doing, it does so from outside my awareness.
Score
While dancing, once every minute, attend to some other entity in the room.
Make a cut: what is a relevant relation of distinction between you and the other entity.
Can you dance with the identity which you were given in this intra-action?