Experimenting with Refrains: Subjectivity and the Challenge of Escaping Modern Dualism

Abstract

The attempt is made to address the question of the ''production of subjectivity'' in relation to those who refer to such productions -that is, the imagined reader of this journal. The envisaged challenge is that of escaping the web of conflicting definitions, which Latour has connected with the ''invincibility of the moderns'', of fabricating a ''line of flight'', which does not denounce, but rather reveals, makes perceptible, the special power of the modern territory. An important step, introduced by William James, is to abandon epistemological questions in favour of the care and concern demanded by that which is ''coming into existence'', and by its milieu, which may nurture or poison it. Poisoning is easy but nurturing is a craft, the neglect of which may be understood in relation to our vulnerability to capitalism. The concept of taking seriously the need to reclaim this craft is developed with the help of neo-pagan witch Starhawk.

Examining work-education intersections: the production of learning reals in and through practice

“…Mulcahy, 2012;Sorensen, 2013), I propose that this is an approach that contributes to more democratic representations of learning in and though practice in terms of who and what are able to be present. Stengers (2008) proposes that the researcher remove themselves from the position of 'knower', to a position of being open to connection (and other ways of being). While Stengers' focus is on the practices of scientists, the questions she asks provide a useful guide for the study of practitioners more generally: 'what situates them, what 'forces' them to think and feel and hesitate in a way that marks them as belonging to this practice, experimental science?…”

“…Next, I turn to Stengers (2008) and discuss her contribution to researching workplace practices. I then introduce the Workplace Learning project, a research site for the exploration of the everyday learning of various occupational groups working in a post-compulsory educational institution.…”

Exploring sociomaterial mediations of human subjectivity

“…On the basis of the complexities they encounter in their empirical work, scholars are increasingly seeking to identify an epistemology allowing them to explore the constitution of subjectivities in their complex relation to social, technological, and other material as well as discursive forces (for example, in this journal: Mol, 2008;Stengers, 2008;Bauchspies and Puig de la Bellacasa, 2009). Hence, Lis Højgaard and Dorte Marie Søndergaard suggest working on a new-materialist framework.…”

Will There Be a Place for my Life?: Cities, Subjectivities and Geographies of Resistance

“…Thus, whenever we think we are seeing an act of resistance, what we really see is another force, another power formation (for a critical account of the attitude with which this sort of thinking exercises critique see Stengers, 2008). However, as Steve Brown & Paul Stenner (2009) have convincingly argued, this kind of work draws upon a very selective reading of Foucault, one which does not account for ways in which subjects may deal with normativity in more creative ways.…”