Reflections on Posthumanism and Literacy

 Initially, in my introduction to posthumanism, My understanding of and resonance with the theory was very limited.   Primarily because I was limiting my perspective of posthumanism to consider materials such as natural resources and non-human living organisms.

My reflection of this week’s readings and the topic of posthumanism and literacy education leads me to consider historical contexts of media theory and claims shared by Michael McLuhan that  “The Media is the message”. I also considered Prof. Michael Wesch’s message of  "The Machine is Us/ing Us". In my understanding of posthumanism, these perspectives of media, technology, and non-human materials as living, flowing, and interacting,  foreshadow perspectives and thought processes around posthumanism. It is the acknowledgment that we [humans] aren’t simply “using” non-human materials, but the use, integration, and sophisticated development of non-human materials have profound impacts on human experiences whether intentional or unintentional. 

After engaging in this week’s readings and gleaning more about the topic from this week’s lecture, I have a more rounded and enriched understanding of posthumanism. Some of my questions that I am considering around this topic are: 

How does Posthumanism enable entry points in research education and policy where those who are historically marginalized are?

 ‘‘We need a new political vocabulary that will open politics to nonhuman subjects, which also necessarily entails opening politics to those who have been considered ‘less than human’ by modern imperialist 

What is the difference between posthumanism literacy practices and education research and pedagogical models that allow for materials to be integrated within versus simply used to support learning? I found Wargo’s research to be incredibly intriguing. Specifically the processes for and findings of identifying “how sonic is an “intra-active” agent  in media making and community building.” However, I would love to learn more about how this work differs from integrating materials versus perspectives that simply “use” non-human materials in classroom/ educational environments.