Overthepastdecadeculturaltheoryhasseenanumberof’turns’-thematerialistturn,theanimalturn,theaffectiveturn-thataddressthehumanasanaffective,embodied,andultimatelyvulnerableanimalembeddedindensewebsofmore-than-humanrelations,inshortasaposthumanphenomenon.Carephilosophysharesthisfocusonembodimentandvulnerabilityinitsinsistenceoninterdependenceasthedefiningconditionofhumanlife,makingitwellpositionedforaposthumanturn.Tothisend,CuriousKininFictionsofPosthumanCaredrawstogethercontemporarynarrativefictionsthatchallengehumanistconceptionsofcareintheirimaginativedepictionofmore-than-humanaffectivebonds,arguingforanexpansioncarephilosophy’scentralfigure:theembodied,embedded,andencumbered’human’.Fictionalnarrativesofcarebetweenhumansandrobots,bioengineeredcreatures,clones,nonhumananimals,aliensorinanimatethings,highlightthelimitsofhumanistethicalmodels’capacitytoregisterandaccommodateposthumanrelationalintimacies,whilegesturingtowardsamodelofcareabletoaccommodatenetworkedinterdependenciesthatextendbeyondthehumanrealm.TextsbyMargaretAtwood,LouiseErdrich,LouisaHall,EvaHornung,KazuoIshiguro,BhanuKapil,andJesmynWard,alongwithfilmsandtelevisionprogrammeslikeRobotandFrank,UndertheSkin,andRealHumans,depictarangeofscenariosinwhichmore-than-humancarerelationsnotonlysupersedehuman-humanrelationships,butsuggestnewhuman/animal/machinewaysofbeingthatoffernovelinsightsintothepossiblepresentsandfuturesofposthumancare.CuriousKininFictionsofPosthumanCarerevealshowthesefictionsdotheirowntheorizing,imaginingthepolitics,ethicsandaestheticsofspecific,contextualizedscenariosofposthumancontactandcompanionship.Interweavingposthumantheory,carephilosophyandcontemporaryfiction,CuriousKininFictionsofPosthumanCareoffersgenerativevisionsofcarethatmakeroomfortheincrediblerangeofaffects,energies,behaviours,attachmentsanddependenciesthatproduceandsustainlifeinmore-than-humanworlds.
ANIMAL embodied ENERGIES clones HUMAN
