BIO
J.J. Sylvia IV is an Assistant Professor in Communications Media at Fitchburg State University. His research focuses on understanding the impact of big data, algorithms, and other new media on processes of subjectivation. Using the framework of posthumanism, he explores how the media we use contribute to our construction as subjects. By developing a feminist approach to information, he aims to bring an affirmative and activist approach to contemporary data studies.
TITLE
“Pedagogical Approaches to Posthuman Agency”
ABSTRACT
Posthuman agency has been widely debated, with scholars such as N. Katherine Hayles and Rosi Braidotti arguing for the increased importance of distributed cognition amongst humans and machines. However, these perspectives have not adequately addressed the issue of posthuman agency in pedagogical practices. Drawing on work in critical posthuman education studies and personal experiences, our presentation explores how the theoretical lessons of posthumanism allow us to experiment with what an education can do.
Specifically, we discuss approaches to pedagogy and curriculum development that challenge the established humanist approaches to educational practice and focus on rethinking agency and the transformative potential of knowledge from the posthuman perspective. We consider several examples from our pedagogical practice that involve students 1) creating cartographies that map their own human and machine relations, 2) analyzing the changing historically and technologically contingent notions of what it has meant to be human and how class, race, gender, sexuality and (dis)ability impact ways of knowing and communicating in the world, and 3) articulating multiple, nuanced, often marginalized subjectivities and situated knowledges through discussions, embodied research practices, and art and media production.
We argue that these approaches demonstrate ways to incorporate critical posthuman pedagogical practices that help students critique traditional notions of agency in the Humanities, developing instead an approach that embraces interconnected human and non-human relations with distributed cognition and situated knowledge. In conclusion, this project explores practical ways to implement pedagogical practices that address agency from a posthuman perspective.
EVENT
NYU Global Posthuman 2020
J.J. Sylvia IV is an Assistant Professor in Communications Media at Fitchburg State University. His research focuses on understanding the impact of big data, algorithms, and other new media on processes of subjectivation. Using the framework of posthumanism, he explores how the media we use contribute to our construction as subjects. By developing a feminist approach to information, he aims to bring an affirmative and activist approach to contemporary data studies.
TITLE
“Pedagogical Approaches to Posthuman Agency”
ABSTRACT
Posthuman agency has been widely debated, with scholars such as N. Katherine Hayles and Rosi Braidotti arguing for the increased importance of distributed cognition amongst humans and machines. However, these perspectives have not adequately addressed the issue of posthuman agency in pedagogical practices. Drawing on work in critical posthuman education studies and personal experiences, our presentation explores how the theoretical lessons of posthumanism allow us to experiment with what an education can do.
Specifically, we discuss approaches to pedagogy and curriculum development that challenge the established humanist approaches to educational practice and focus on rethinking agency and the transformative potential of knowledge from the posthuman perspective. We consider several examples from our pedagogical practice that involve students 1) creating cartographies that map their own human and machine relations, 2) analyzing the changing historically and technologically contingent notions of what it has meant to be human and how class, race, gender, sexuality and (dis)ability impact ways of knowing and communicating in the world, and 3) articulating multiple, nuanced, often marginalized subjectivities and situated knowledges through discussions, embodied research practices, and art and media production.
We argue that these approaches demonstrate ways to incorporate critical posthuman pedagogical practices that help students critique traditional notions of agency in the Humanities, developing instead an approach that embraces interconnected human and non-human relations with distributed cognition and situated knowledge. In conclusion, this project explores practical ways to implement pedagogical practices that address agency from a posthuman perspective.
EVENT
NYU Global Posthuman 2020
