Key note 13.30-14.10 hrs in Room Alpha/Room Pi

Inspiration
CECILIA ÅSBERG
Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies – Sweden
Storying Exposure: Posthumanities and the Promises of Cyborg Knowing

We live in troubling times in need of multiple approaches, versatile research and new
solidarities – even beyond the humanist imagination. In this keynote address, Cecilia
Åsberg explores the transformative potential of feminist posthumanities through
“cyborg knowing.” She highlights how historical technologies of gender, race, and
empire contribute to the Anthropocene crisis, or whatever we want to call our
contemporary poly-crisis, with everyday algorithms amplifying biases globally. Åsberg
argues for new knowledge integrations beyond academic confines and disciplines,
emphasizing intellectual generosity and conviviality through storytelling. By
embracing situated cyborg epistemologies, the argument is for a more inclusive and
dynamic approach to knowledge production, acknowledging our entangled realities
and complicit exposures to science, technology and art. Through compelling
narratives and case studies, she illustrates the promises and challenges of
posthumanities to STS, envisioning a future of more-than-human humanities and
epistemic environments where exposures are reimagined and stories shared.
Prof. Dr. Cecilia Åsberg is chair of Gender, Nature, Culture at Linköping University, doing
feminist theory, multispecies- and cultural studies of science, technology, and medicine in
society. Åsberg brings arts and sciences to the more-than-human humanities, and
transformative insights to people. She has pioneered posthuman gender studies and
citizen-driven environmental humanities in Sweden with a focus on environmental
embodiment and embodied environments from starting points in laboratory STS and
feminist new materialist philosophy. Åsberg is the founder and director of the extradisciplinary research group, The Posthumanities Hub since 2008, and 2013-2017 she was
the founding director of the Seed Box, the Swedish national Environmental Humanities
research programme (MISTRA-FORMAS).