This essay sketches cartographies of new materialism with reference to theoretical dynamics and transformations of the category of the body. By tracing interconnections between concepts of corporeality coined by Elizabeth Grosz, transcorporeality developed by Stacy Alaimo, and “viscous porosity” introduced by Nancy Tuana and referring to the philosophical work of Brian Massumi and Erin Manning and also to artistic work by Pinar Yoldas, this article introduces the concept of the body depicted as always gesturing toward what is beyond and more than a body and as intrinsically oriented toward its own “elsewhere.” This reconceptualization of the body proves its ability to “push dualisms to the extreme.”

This article is concerned with new feminist materialism's transformatory ethical potential with regards to the (fast) neoliberal university. It is also shaped and inspired by Karen Barad's question: 'How can I be responsible for that which I love?' (Barad 2016). The text thus investigates possibilities of thinking through new materialist theorising and concepts for examining conditions of the im/possibilities of living live-able academic lives in current political climates. As a response to those conditions a cry for slowing down has surfaced and manifestos for slow scholarship, reading, pedagogy, professors have emerged. The fast-slow dualism seems to be of pivotal importance in the ongoing criticism of neoliberal universities. The authors share concerns expressed by 'slow professors', but at the same time they argue that slow movement in the academia reestablish a problematic dualistic approach. In the text criticism of binary conceptualisations is offered by arriving at ethical considerations (instead of tactical). The article is inspired by Donna Haraway's plea to 'stay with the trouble' (2016) to uncover the complex temporalities of the present and -possiblyits subversive potential. Furthermore, while staying in this troublesome moment, the authors investigate temporal ontologies through the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (2007 [1980]), Henri Lefebvre (2004) and Barad (2012) -as well as the temporalities implied in the 'slow science movement'. Finally, the video art by Bill Viola is considered as a way of accessing problematics of shifting between 'fast' and 'slow'.

The idea to create a Special Issue journal around the topic of feminist new materialisms emerged out of the editors’ collaboration in the frames of European project New Materialism: NetworkingEuropean Scholarship on ‘How Matter Comes to Matter’[...]