delivered at the conference "Contested Truths", Berlin, Humboldt Universitat, 19 June 2011. by Federica Timeto

1. Articulating representation: Haraway’s semiotics and the politics of diffraction Federica Timeto, Universityof Plymouth, UK, PlanetaryCollegium, Milan Node/ Università di Urbino Carlo Bo 1 Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin

2. ObjectivityasSituatedKnowledge Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 2 StandpointEpistemology: An epistemology, A methodology, A politicalstrategy. Knowledgeisalwayssituated. A standpointisdifferentfrom a viewpointbecauseitisanachievement. Neitheruniversalism Norrelativism How a regime oftruthworksratherthanwhatTruthis The usefulnotionof “less false” claims See: Harding, S. (Ed.) (2004) The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies, S. Harding (ed.), New York: Routledge.

3. ConstrainedConstructivism[Hayles, , N. K. (1991) Constrained Constructivism: Locating Scientific Inquiry in the Theater of Representation. New Orleans Review, 18, 76-85. ] Realism Simmetrybtw. signs and things Affirmation/negation The importanceofconstraints * Asymmetricalcoimplication Assertion/denial 3 Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin CONGRUENCE CONSISTENCY * Note that I am not saying constraints tell us what reality is. This they cannot do. But they can tell us which representations are consistent with reality, and which are not. (Hayles, 1991/1997)

4. SituatedKnowledges Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 4 So science becomes the paradigmatic model not of closure, but of that which is contestable and contested. Science becomes the myth not of what escapes human agency and responsibility in a realm above the fray, but rather of accountability and responsibility for translations and solidarities […]. We do not seek partiality for its own sake, but for the sake of the connections and unexpected openings situated knowledges make possible. The only way to find a larger vision is to be somewhere in particular. (Haraway, 1988/1991, p. 196) Partiality Responsibility Accountability

5. it’s anontoepistemologicalframework (non relativistbutrealist) Are non relativistantirealistpositions 5 Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin Agentialrealism Mostfeminist science studies Accordingto Karen Barad…

6. Baradrefusesmediationbecause: Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 6 Questioning the basisof the Newtoniantradition, Bohrrefusesto take forgranted the delineationof the “object” and the “agenciesofobservation” and makes the constitutionof the inside boundary a centerpieceofhisanalysis. […] In particularheemphasizesthatthe cutdelineating the objectfrom the agenciesofobservationisenactedratherthaninherent. (Barad, 2007, p. 142) Itrelies on a “geometryofabsoluteexteriority” Itpresupposes a dichotomybetweennoumena and phenomena (representationalmodel) Itdoesnot account for the performativityofmatter(ing)

7. The brittlestars challenge notonlydisembodiedepistemologiesbutalsotraditional, and indeednontraditional, notionsofembodiment. Bodies are notsituated in the world; they are part of the world (Barad, 2007, p. 376) The brittlestarsaretheirvisualapparatus 7 Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin

8. … discursivepractices are specific material (re)configuringsof the world throughwhich the determinationofboundaries, properties and meaningsisdifferentiallyenacted. Thatis, discursivepractices are ongoingagentialintra-actionsof the world throughwhichspecificdeterminacies (alongwithcomplementaryindeterminacies) are enactedwithin the phenomenaproduced. (Barad, 2007, pp. 148-9) Intra-actionmeansthat: 8 Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin

9. Harawayvaluesmediationas: Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 9 anactiveoperationoftrasformationthatstandsinside the practiceitactivates (< Latour) the specificityofsituatedknowledges, embodiments and visions the connectionsof the semiotic and the material the articulationofrepresentation

10. Non-RepresentationalTheory(Thrift, 2008) Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 10 Radicalempiricism Anti-subjectivism Generativityofpractices Performativityofevents Posthumanist stress on affect Situationalapproach

11. RepresentationsasFigurationsaccordingtoHaraway Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 11 Figurations attempt to draw a cartography of the power relations that define these respective positions. They don’t embellish or metaphorize: they just express different socio-economic and symbolic locations. They draw a cartographic map of power relations and thus can also help identify possible sites and strategies of resistance. (Braidotti, 2003, p. 54) Strong link with location Living and trasformative accounts Situatedcartographies Matter + meaning (the material + the semiotic)

12. First and foremost, as Haraway suggests, a diffractive methodology is a critical practice for making a difference in the world. It is a commitment to understanding which differences matter, how they matter, and for whom. It is a critical practice of engagement, not a distance-learning practice of reflecting from afar. (Barad, 2007, p. 90) Diffraction 12 Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin

13. HowDiffractionworks Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 13 Opticalmetaphor + physicalphenomenon Itmapswhere the effectsofdifferenceappear Itdisplaces the sameelsewhere

14. SeeBarad, 2007, chapter 2 for a detaileddiscussionof the two-slitexperiment. The two-slitexperiment 14 Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin

15. The politicsofdiffraction, or enactingthe cut Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 15 Dealingwithheterogeneityratherthanwithoriginality Historicity Unpredictability and emergenceofevents Possibilityofinterveningto produce “consequentialmeanings” The diffractionfringescreatedby the diffractionofwavesaround the edgesof a razorblade

16. Thankyou!  federica.timeto@plymouth.ac.uk Contested Truths. Re-Shaping and Positioning Politics of Knowledge. June 16-18, 2011, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin 16