The Critical Posthumanities; or, Is Medianatures to Naturecultures as Zoe Is to Bios?

Abstract

This article situates the geological turn in media theory within the critical posthumanities, defining them in both quantitative and qualitative terms. They can be assessed quantitatively by reviewing the proliferation of interdisciplinary “studies” areas—such as media and gender studies—that have transformed the modes of knowledge production within the academic humanities and beyond. They are framed qualitatively by the neomaterialist, vital philosophy proposed by Gilles Deleuze’s Spinozism, based on the concepts of monism, radical immanence, and relational ontology. They not only support the idea of a nature-culture continuum but also provide the philosophical grounding for technological mediation to be defined not as a form of representation but as the expression of “medianaturecultural” ethical relations and forces.