ABSTRACT
This paper purports to present some characteristics of the posthuman perspective and relate them to contemporary understanding of applied linguistics and literacy studies with preliminary activities in this direction and interrogations for future studies. As interdisciplinary studies, posthumanism draws on Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of assemblage (2005) and has been gaining relevance according to theorists such as Barad (2007)BARAD, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: quantum physics and the entanglement of mater and meaning. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press., Bennet (2010)BENNET, J. Vibrant matter. A political ecology of things. (2010). Durham, NC: Duke University Press., Braidotti (2018)BRAIDOTTI, R. The posthuman. (2018). Cambridge: Polity Press , 2018. and Pennycook (2018)PENNYCOOK, A. (2018). Posthumanist applied linguistics. New York: Routledge., among others. One of their concerns is the future of language research, teaching, learning and enacting in philosophical, transcultural and educational ways. Barad (2007)BARAD, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: quantum physics and the entanglement of mater and meaning. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. and Bennet (2010))BENNET, J. Vibrant matter. A political ecology of things. (2010). Durham, NC: Duke University Press. use the terms humans and nonhumans while Braidotti (2018)BRAIDOTTI, R. The posthuman. (2018). Cambridge: Polity Press , 2018. and Pennycook (2018)PENNYCOOK, A. (2018). Posthumanist applied linguistics. New York: Routledge. write humans and non-humans. At times, Bennet (2010)BENNET, J. Vibrant matter. A political ecology of things. (2010). Durham, NC: Duke University Press. prefers human-nonhuman(s) to emphasize the idea of assemblage. They consider such agents in vibrant interconnected assembles within a broader range of semiotic, spatial and ethical complexities in the emergence of posthuman humanism as Braidotti (2018)BRAIDOTTI, R. The posthuman. (2018). Cambridge: Polity Press , 2018. argues. This calls for applied linguistics and literacy studies willing to recognize that they themselves are products of such entanglements for which a revision of ontologies influencing epistemologies and methodologies might be productive.
Keywords:
posthuman perspective; applied linguistics; expanding literacy studies