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Conference at Mälardalen University

We have never been humans

A Posthumanist STS Take to Contemporary Living and Dying.

Welcome to the STS group's (Science and Technology Studies) first public event for collaboration across disciplines and methodological traditions.

  • Study location Room Pi, Campus Västerås
Date
  • 2025-05-09 13:00–20:30

This is the first public event organised by the STS@MDU, It is one of many initiatives taking place at MDU to foster collaboration across disciplines and methodological traditions.

About the conference

This event is meant to be a forum for discussing what being a human means nowadays, whether this category – the human – is still relevant, and how a posthumanist STS view on contemporary life and death on Earth can contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexity of the entanglement between humans, nonhumans, and the more-than-humans.

Since their inception, Science and Technology Studies (STS) have been interested in critically approaching interactions between human beings and others. Actor-Network Theory, by proposing the radical thesis of nonhuman agency (for example, objects, technologies, and infrastructures), has contributed to pointing scholars’ attention to actors other than humans and in so doing has invited them to appreciate the limits of a perspective focused on human primacy. Feminist scholars in STS have, furthermore, highlighted the importance of caring for so called more-than-human worlds – animals, plants, and other biological organisms – emphasising the deep interconnection between humans and other creatures.

By cultivating a posthumanistic posture to studying the entanglement of multiple actors (humans, nonhumans, and more-than-humans) STS has paved the way for investigations that interrogate the meaning of being human. As feminist philosopher Donna Haraway, puts it: We have never been human, riffing on the fact that fungi, bacteria, and other microbes outnumber human cells in the space called human body. With this, she is also pointing out that the human subject has always been in sympoietic relation with other species and constantly transforming together with technological innovations and other nonhuman actors, so much so that human exceptionalism and species supremacy can be considered an artefact, the product of humankind to justify their position in the world.

The effort to decenter the human (the humanist ideal of Man as the universal representative of the human) and Anthropos (the species hierarchy placing the human species on top) pose a serious challenge to the definition of the human inherited from the Western intellectual and philosophical movement of the Enlightenment, which is now showing its cracks against the background of contemporary socio-technical transformations and multiple transitions. Such changes invite scholars in STS and other fields to interrogate their paradigmatic views and reflect on their capacity to account for the multispecies and multiagency complexity of the contemporary world.

This event is meant to offer – through the contributions of scholars and artists – a dialogical and creative space for reflecting upon the important and profound changes we are facing nowadays. Through the embodied and affective power of word, dance, and music, our guests will inspire and bring us to alternative scenarios and perspectives to re-imagine our present and future.

The event is open to anybody curious to learn more about posthumanism and STS and those who would like to engage in and contribute to a conversation about living and dying in our times.

Programme

You can find the full programme here (pdf). Pdf, 2 MB.

9 May, 2025

  • 12:00-13:00 Registration
    The registration takes place at the entrance to building R.
    The conference will be held in Room Pi.

  • 13:00-13:10 Welcome
    Vice-chancellor at Mälardalen University, Martin Hellström, welcomes you to the conference.

  • 13:10-13:30 Introduction by STS@MDU

  • 13:30-14:10 Inspiration
    Speaker: Cecilia Åsberg, Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies in Sweden
    Title: Storying Exposure: Posthumanities and the Promises of Cyborg Knowing.

  • 14:10-14:30 Q&A session

  • 14:30-15:00 Coffee break (Origo Café)

  • 15:00-15:40 Inspiration
    Speaker: Andrea Botero Cabrera, Aalto University, Department of Design in Finland
    Title: Practical doings, reorganizing human-non-human relations

  • 15:40-16:00 Q&A session

  • 16:00-17:00 Inspiration (Origo Café)
    Performance: Henny Stridsberg (choreography), Tuva Nordelius (dance), Ester Larsson (dance), and Desideria Thur (music).
    Title: Waterscaping

  • 17:00-18:00 Inspiration (room Omega)
    Performace: Rikard Vilhelm Lindell, University of Dalarna, Dalarna Audiovisual Academy-DAVA in Sweden
    Title: Tapestry

  • 18:00-20:30 Dinner and mingling (Origo Café)

Registration

There is no fee to pay, but we need to know how many people come in order to organise the meals.

The maximum number of participants is 100. Once we reach this number, we close the registration, regardless of the deadline for registering, 31 March 2025.

Event organisers

  • Michela Cozza
  • Silvia Bruzzone
  • David Redmalm
  • Elin Sundström Sjödin
  • Karolina Uggla
  • Thomas Wahl

Contact Information