Welcome to Whenever. Exploring Suspended Life in Cryopreservation Practices.

online first from Thomas Lemke

Sage Journals (2021). Welcome to Whenever. Exploring Suspended Life in Cryopreservation Practices. Science, Technology, & Human Values,

online first. DOI: 10.1177/01622439211057860.

The Government of Things. Foucault and the New Materialisms.

New book by Thomas Lemke

Materialism, a rich philosophical tradition that goes back to antiquity, is currently undergoing a renaissance. In The Government of Things, Thomas Lemke provides a comprehensive overview and critical assessment of this “new materialism". In analyzing the work of Graham Harman, Jane Bennett, and Karen Barad, Lemke articulates what, exactly, new materialism is and how it has evolved. These insights open up new spaces for critical thought and political experimentation, overcoming the limits of anthropocentrism.

Drawing on Michel Foucault's concept of a “government of things", the book also goes beyond new materialist scholarship which tends to displace political questions by ethical and aesthetic concerns. It puts forward a relational and performative account of materialities that more closely attends to the interplay of epistemological, ontological, and political issues.

Lemke provides definitive and much-needed clarity about the fascinating potential—and limitations—of new materialism as a whole. The Government of Things revisits Foucault's more-than-human understanding of government to capture a new constellation of power: “environmentality". As the book demonstrates, contemporary modes of government seek to control the social, ecological, and technological conditions of life rather than directly targeting individuals and populations. The book offers an essential and much needed tool to critically examine this political shift.

Thomas Lemke: The Government of Things. Foucault and the New Materialisms. New York: NYU Press 2021. 

Further Information

Book-Launch: Thomas Lemke's „The Government of Things“

between 5 and 7 pm (Only via Livestream)

Thomas Lemke's „The Government of Things. Foucault and the New Materialisms“ has just been published by NYU Press. The book launch will include a discussion between Ute Tellmann (Darmstadt), Reiner Keller (Augsburg) and Thomas Lemke on October 29th 2021 between 5 and 7pm. Katharina Hoppe and Frieder Vogelmann will host the event. For registration please send an email to zoeller@soz.uni-frankfurt.de, you will receive the link for the online event just in time for the event.

Beyond reflexivity and representation: diffraction as a methodological sensitivity in science studies

New article by Josef Barla

Barla, Josef (2021). Beyond reflexivity and representation: diffraction as a methodological sensitivity in science studies. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, DOI: 10.1080/1600910X.2021.1934506.

Further Information

Ensuring public health through mobilizing death: Expectations as future-making practices in the bioeconomy of transgenic mosquitoes

New research project by Josef Barla

Mosquito-borne diseases such as the Zika virus and malaria are increasing dramatically word wide. As traditional methods of vector control prove to be little effective and often harmful to local ecosystems, new approaches are sought for tackling this public health crisis. Amongst the most promising ones are genetic strategies which use the mosquitoes' own biology and reproductive capabilities against themselves. These approaches not only turn the mosquitoes into a public health tool but also promise the large-scale eradication of mosquito-borne disease. Starting from the hypothesis that rather than only commodifying the vital processes of 'life itself' (Franklin; Rose), death and eradication is inscribed into the mosquitoes' genetic code in order to ensure public health, the aim of my research is twofold: First, I explore the role of expectations as future-making practices in the bioeconomy of transgenic mosquitoes through which not only 'speculative value' (Sunder Rajan) is generated but also particular futures made present at the exclusion of others. Second, I argue that these novel genetic strategies mark a broader shift in molecular genetics from the production of 'biovalue' (Waldby) to what I will call 'necrovalue'—that is, the technoscientific mobilization and economization of death itself as that which entails value.

Research funded by Fritz Thyssen Stiftung für Wissenschaftsförderung (Az. 20.21.0.010SO). Duration 1.10.2021-30.09.2023.

New Materialisms - Book Launch on the 29th of April 2021, at 6 p.m.

New book by Katharina Hoppe and Thomas Lemke

On the occasion of the publication of the volume „New Materialisms for Introduction“ by Junius Verlag, we would like to cordially invite you to the digital Book Launch.

This will take place via Zoom on the 29th of April 2021 at 6 p.m. The moderator will be Josef Barla.

Please register for this event by mail: zoeller@soz.uni-frankfurt.de.

For the past twenty years or so, an important shift in emphasis has been taking place in the cultural and social sciences: Materialities, objects, and artifacts are receiving increasing scholarly attention and are being reconceptualized. Central to this are the so-called New Materialisms, which examine the dynamic interplay of meaning processes and material assemblages. This introductory volume offers the first overview of central strands of debates in this research perspective. It introduces important representatives of neo-materialism such as Jane Bennett, Karen Barad, Rosi Braidotti, and Donna Haraway and shows its innovative potential as well as analytical inconsistencies and conceptual voids.

200 pages, ISBN 978-3-96060-322-1

Katharina Hoppe / Thomas Lemke

New Materialisms

www. junius-verlag.de.

Making Post/Anthropocentric Futures in Agrobiodiversity Conservation

New Article by Franziska von Verschuer

von Verschuer, Franziska (2021): "Making Post/Anthropocentric Futures in Agrobiodiversity Conservation", Nature and Culture, 16(1), 47-64.

Allowing the Data to 'Speak for Themselves'

New Article by Jonas Rüppel

Rüppel, Jonas (2021). "Allowing the Data to 'Speak for Themselves'“. Die Klassifikation psychischer Störungen und das Imaginäre der computationalen Psychiatrie. Psychiatrische Praxis 48(S 01):S16-S20.