Introduction: New Materialism(s) and the Question of the Non-human

Abstract

This introduction attempts to briefly trace the diverse cartographies and philosophical lineages of new materialism. It charts their multidirectional, multispecies, multidisciplinary orientations in the attempt to liberate conceptualizations of matter and materiality beyond the limits of anthropocentrism and dualistic frameworks of humanist scholarship. However, such attempts don’t remain completely free from contradictions and the introduction, therefore, simultaneously traces the dialogic and critical approaches within new materialist scholarship that accepts their limitations and urges on the necessity of continuous generation of newer ways of questioning and rethinking materiality. The introduction, therefore, attempts to remind that neither the question of matter nor the epistemological approaches of new materialism are one. With such a brief tracing of the essentially pluralistic character of new materialism, the introduction, therefore, gathers together the thematic concerns of this volume, and how the essays engage with cautious experimentations on what the doing of new materialisms in newer, non-western contexts can offer for a fresh re-examination of non-human matters as well as enabling newer ways of engaging with new materialist scholarships.