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Papers by Katherine Bradley

Thesis for Master of Visual Arts and Culture School of Modern Languages and Cultures

In this thesis I analyse examples of intersubjectivity in five science fiction films, two books a... more In this thesis I analyse examples of intersubjectivity in five science fiction films, two books and one TV show, between humans, and with fictional aliens. I describe the visual and narrative forms these exchanges take – like speech, sign, movement and metamorphosis – and consider, by drawing on film phenomenology, how they affectively catch up the viewer. I also excavate their conceptualisations of intersubjective relations by comparing them to the relations between anthropologist and subject. I argue in favour of a valuation of alterity and the transformative experiences that occur on contact with an alien Other in fiction, but critique those figures who undergo a complete dissolution of self. I argue that in order to foster an interspecies ethics through watching science fiction cinema those fictions must narrate intersubjectivity in a way that does not flatten that Other into knowability. I ultimately then work towards uncovering the ways particular
visual exchanges can be supportive of a posthuman ethical strategy for better future interspecies relations.

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This paper examines a variety of cyborg figures in science fiction and art, and investigates how ... more This paper examines a variety of cyborg figures in science fiction and art, and investigates how these posthuman subject’s perceptual capacities are altered through their “cyborging,” how this might lead to greater intersubjective understanding and empathy, and advocates an embodied phenomenology for these figures. The cyborg and the posthuman are not necessarily synonymous but share similar political and ethical goals in theory: to radically redefine the human and the humanities, in order to see a way to better intersubjective and interspecies relations.
Ghost in The Shell, Anne McCaffrey, Neil Harbisson.

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‘Black Mirror,’ a series of cautionary tales told by Charlie Brooker in hour long visually slick ... more ‘Black Mirror,’ a series of cautionary tales told by Charlie Brooker in hour long visually slick snapshots, which take as inspiration a contemporary (or hypothetical) technology and blow it up into a worst-case-scenario - a logical leap into a near future that is often slightly terrifying. This paper shows how an embodied theory of perception and subject formation, and not the transcendent immateriality often shown in science fiction like 'Black Mirror,' is key to theorising future human-technology relations. It is, I argue, dangerous for us to continually represent these virtual subjects when we are both reliant on a physical body and are embedded in complex system of influences and “concrete processes of material production.”

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This commentary explores the shifting hybrid nonhuman forms in Arca and Jesse Kanda's collaborati... more This commentary explores the shifting hybrid nonhuman forms in Arca and Jesse Kanda's collaborative music videos.

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It has been said that in this technologically inundated era, we are all cyborgs. Such a radical r... more It has been said that in this technologically inundated era, we are all cyborgs. Such a radical redefinition of the human being is but one manifested example of how the category ‘human’ and its multifaceted sub-categories have undergone a long process of re-conceptualisation under postmodernism. This paper explores how the concept of ‘the posthuman’ allows for human kind to expand its abilities, its perception and its understanding of our world, as seen through the work of various artists articulating these ideas.

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Drafts by Katherine Bradley

This paper explores how Ana Mendieta’s art might present evidence of a creative ontology, similar... more This paper explores how Ana Mendieta’s art might present evidence of a creative ontology, similar to that of Santería and Candomblé belief. Thinking about her art aesthetically and anthropologically simultaneously demonstrates this ontology, observing “human becomings as they unfold within the weave of the world.” I argue for an ‘artifact-oriented’ methodology that treats ethnographic encounter with objects as an encounter with meaning, rather than an application of meaning onto things, and explore the ways Mendieta's art can ‘do’ ethnographic work.

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Thesis for Master of Visual Arts and Culture School of Modern Languages and Cultures

In this thesis I analyse examples of intersubjectivity in five science fiction films, two books a... more In this thesis I analyse examples of intersubjectivity in five science fiction films, two books and one TV show, between humans, and with fictional aliens. I describe the visual and narrative forms these exchanges take – like speech, sign, movement and metamorphosis – and consider, by drawing on film phenomenology, how they affectively catch up the viewer. I also excavate their conceptualisations of intersubjective relations by comparing them to the relations between anthropologist and subject. I argue in favour of a valuation of alterity and the transformative experiences that occur on contact with an alien Other in fiction, but critique those figures who undergo a complete dissolution of self. I argue that in order to foster an interspecies ethics through watching science fiction cinema those fictions must narrate intersubjectivity in a way that does not flatten that Other into knowability. I ultimately then work towards uncovering the ways particular
visual exchanges can be supportive of a posthuman ethical strategy for better future interspecies relations.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

This paper examines a variety of cyborg figures in science fiction and art, and investigates how ... more This paper examines a variety of cyborg figures in science fiction and art, and investigates how these posthuman subject’s perceptual capacities are altered through their “cyborging,” how this might lead to greater intersubjective understanding and empathy, and advocates an embodied phenomenology for these figures. The cyborg and the posthuman are not necessarily synonymous but share similar political and ethical goals in theory: to radically redefine the human and the humanities, in order to see a way to better intersubjective and interspecies relations.
Ghost in The Shell, Anne McCaffrey, Neil Harbisson.

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‘Black Mirror,’ a series of cautionary tales told by Charlie Brooker in hour long visually slick ... more ‘Black Mirror,’ a series of cautionary tales told by Charlie Brooker in hour long visually slick snapshots, which take as inspiration a contemporary (or hypothetical) technology and blow it up into a worst-case-scenario - a logical leap into a near future that is often slightly terrifying. This paper shows how an embodied theory of perception and subject formation, and not the transcendent immateriality often shown in science fiction like 'Black Mirror,' is key to theorising future human-technology relations. It is, I argue, dangerous for us to continually represent these virtual subjects when we are both reliant on a physical body and are embedded in complex system of influences and “concrete processes of material production.”

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

This commentary explores the shifting hybrid nonhuman forms in Arca and Jesse Kanda's collaborati... more This commentary explores the shifting hybrid nonhuman forms in Arca and Jesse Kanda's collaborative music videos.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

It has been said that in this technologically inundated era, we are all cyborgs. Such a radical r... more It has been said that in this technologically inundated era, we are all cyborgs. Such a radical redefinition of the human being is but one manifested example of how the category ‘human’ and its multifaceted sub-categories have undergone a long process of re-conceptualisation under postmodernism. This paper explores how the concept of ‘the posthuman’ allows for human kind to expand its abilities, its perception and its understanding of our world, as seen through the work of various artists articulating these ideas.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

This paper explores how Ana Mendieta’s art might present evidence of a creative ontology, similar... more This paper explores how Ana Mendieta’s art might present evidence of a creative ontology, similar to that of Santería and Candomblé belief. Thinking about her art aesthetically and anthropologically simultaneously demonstrates this ontology, observing “human becomings as they unfold within the weave of the world.” I argue for an ‘artifact-oriented’ methodology that treats ethnographic encounter with objects as an encounter with meaning, rather than an application of meaning onto things, and explore the ways Mendieta's art can ‘do’ ethnographic work.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact