Queer atoms and bacteria: on the uses of scientific concepts in feminist new materialisms

SOLANA, MARIELA

CABA

Congreso; 17th International Congress on Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology; 2023

Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (DLMPST/IUHPST).

Redefining key concepts such as nature, bodyand matter –without falling into biologicist or essentialistaccounts– is one of the most important challenges that feminist newmaterialisms (FNM) are facing today. To that end, FNM have developedimages of the material world that highlight its contingency,creativity and radical transformation. Agency is no longer considereda property exclusive of human beings but also of matter, both organicand inorganic. In the specific field of gender and sexualitystudies, FNM have joined feminist epistemology and philosophy ofscience in their efforts to bring to light the semiotic-materialentanglements that constitute our sexed body. One of the strategiesused by FNM is to turn to the natural sciences to find tools, figuresand models for a deeper understanding of the intertwining of matterand meaning. In this paper, I analyze the work of Karen Barad (2011)and Myra Hird (2004) on the queerness of nature in order to reflecton some of the epistemological and political consequences of thisstrategy. Barad’s essay is titled “Nature's QueerPerformativity” (2011) and its goal is to draw attention to theunpredictability and contingency of the processes of differentiationthat take place in the natural world. To this end, Barad exploresvarious "queer critters": atoms, lightning bolts,stingrays, dinoflagellates. The study of these critters helps her torevise notions such as origin, causality, relationship, and change,but it also allows her to intervene in feminist and queer debates onidentity. In the case of Hird, her source of inspirationis the nonlinear biology of Lynn Margulis and Dorian Sagan. Her essayis titled “Naturally Queer” (2004) and it can be read, accordingto her, as an “ode to bacteria” (p. 86). Paying attention to thehistory of bacteria allows her to minimize the anthropocentricimportance that, even in feminist circles, we usually give to sexualreproduction and to sexual dimorphism. As it is made clear from these examples,talking about the queerness of nature is an opportunity to take astand in feminist and queer debates about identity, gender and sex.The aim of this paper, therefore, is to understand what happens whenwe use scientific concepts not just to rethink nature but also torevise feminist and queer notions. Is there anything to be gained byturning to quantum physics and bacterial biology to understandgender, identity and sexuality? What do we hope to learn from atomsand bacteria that we do not already know from social and culturalanalyses? These are some of the questions that this paper seeks toanswer.p { line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.25cm; background: transparent }