Introduction

  • Francesca Ferrando New York University (NYU)
  • Simonetta Marino Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6092/1827-9198/3663

Abstract

This issue of the Camera Blu is an important contribution to the study of gender and the posthuman for different reasons. Currently, posthumanism has become a highly fashionable academic trend. Considering that anthropocentrism is leading to an environmental eco-disaster so deep as to endanger the very survival of the human species, this breakthrough in academia is a great opportunity for social reform. On the other hand, the hegemonic appropriation of the posthumanist discourse is obscuring the core meaning of the posthuman with ironic consequences. The “neutral” subject, that is male, white, heterosexual, Western etc., is rediscovering the posthuman in the name of the Father, in an ahistorical reconstruction in which the decisive contribution of feminism is gradually superseded by names of male theorists, to ensure a phallocratic genealogy to Posthuman Studies. Is this a defeat of the posthuman? Not at all. The interest that posthumanism is attracting can only bring satisfaction to scholars who have been working for years to its promotion. And still, because in this proliferation of the posthuman, the meaning of the term is taking on different shades, colors and nuances, it is crucial to rediscover its roots. Posthumanism stems from Feminism: forgetting this genealogical debt means giving up the deepest identity of the posthuman. This issue of the Camera Blu wishes to emphasize this powerful genealogy, and to lay a platform for further development of gender through the posthuman, and of the posthuman through gender, reflecting on the possible futures of gender in relation to the human and the posthuman species.

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Author Biographies

Francesca Ferrando, New York University (NYU)
Dr. Francesca Ferrando is a philosopher of the posthuman. Based in New York City, Dr. Ferrando teaches Philosophy at NYU, as an Adjunct Faculty Member of the Program of Liberal Studies. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Roma Tre (Italy), to which the European Doctoral Label was applied; she has earned an M.A. in Gender Studies from the University of Utrecht (Holland), under the supervision of Prof. Rosi Braidotti. Dr. Ferrando is the recipient of the Philosophical Prize "Vittorio Sainati" (2014) with the Acknowledgment of the President of the Italian Republic, for her doctoral dissertation “Philosophical Posthumanism and Its Others” (forthcoming). She has published extensively on the topic of the posthuman in academic journals and anthologies. Her publications include the article “Is the Post-Human a Post-Woman?” (Springer 2014), based on the research on Gender and Artificial Intelligence pursued by Dr. Ferrando under the supervision of Prof. Kevin Warwick at the University of Reading (England). Dr. Ferrando is also a TED Speaker and one of the founders of the NY Posthuman Research Group. She is actively involved in the posthuman scene as a visionary thinker and organizer. For more info: www.theposthuman.org
Simonetta Marino, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Simonetta Marino teaches moral philosophy at the Department of Humanities, University Federico II of Naples. She collaborated with the Department of Women's Studies, University of Utrecht, directed by Prof. Rosi Braidotti, with the Freiburger Frauen Studien, University of Freiburg, and with the Documentation Centre for Women of Bologna. She collaborates with Gender Studies PhD, philosophical sector, Department of Humanities, University Federico II of Naples. Every year she organizes the International Philosophical Seminar of Marina di Camerota. She ran the publishing house Filema, editing directly the collections of Philosophy, Women Narrative and Postcolonial Studies. She collaborated with the Summer School of the Difference of Lecce, directed by Marisa Forcina. Currently she is a delegate for Equal Opportunities, Municipality of Naples. In her institutional environment she coordinates a teaching laboratory on Education Feelings in the schools. Dr. Simonetta Marino won the Ministerial Notice, Department of Equal Opportunities, on the Prevention and Combating of gender-based violence (Gazz.Uf. 284 of 6 December 2007). Among her publications emerges a specific interest in the phenomenology and postmodern philosophy particurlarly on the subject of diffecerce, as: Donne si nasce, differenti si diventa. La relazione madre-figlia nel processo di soggettivazione, MONTANI L., LEO G. (Eds.), Lo spazio velato. Femminile e discorso psicanalitico, Frenis Zero, Lecce; Il disagio di dire il corpo in S. MARINO, M. CIAMBELLI (Eds.), Per un’etica del disagio, Filema, Napoli; La cultura dei sentimenti come antidoto alla violenza e il silenzio delle donne R. BONITO OLIVA, A. DONISE, E. MAZZARELLA, F. MIANO (Eds.), Etica, antropologia, religione, Guida, Napoli; Amore differenza mondo, per un'educazione sentimentale (with G. Ferraro), Filema, Napoli.
Published
2015-09-29
How to Cite
FerrandoF., & MarinoS. (2015). Introduction. La Camera Blu, 11(12). https://doi.org/10.6092/1827-9198/3663
Issue
No 12 (2015): Gender and the Posthuman
Section
Introduction

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