Nature’s Queer Performativity*

In this article, Karen Barad entertains the possibility of the queerness of one of the most pervasive of all critters – atoms. These “ultraqueer” critters with their quantum quotidian qualities queer queerness itself in their radically deconstructive ways of being. Given that queer is a radical questioning of identity and binaries, including the nature/culture binary, this article aims to show that all sorts of seeming impossibilities are indeed possible, including the queerness of causality, matter, space, and time. What if queerness were understood to reside not in the breech of nature/culture, per se, but in the very  nature of spacetimemattering, Barad asks. This article also considers questions of ethics and justice, and in particular, examines the ways in which moralism insists on having its way with the nature/culture divide. Barad argues that moralism, feeds off of human exceptionalism, and, in particular, human superiority and causes injury to humans and nonhumans alike, is a genetic carrier of genocidal hatred, and undermines ecologies of diversity necessary for flourishing

Performatividade queer da natureza

Neste artigo, Karen Barad levanta a possibilidade de queeridade em uma das mais ubíquas criaturas – os átomos. Com suas qualidades quânticas cotidianas, essas criaturas “ultraqueers”, em seus modos de existência radicalmente desconstrutivos, queerizam a própria queeridade. Dado que o queer é um questionamento radical da identidade e dos binários, incluindo o binário natureza/cultura, este ensaio pretende demonstrar que todo tipo de impossibilidade é, de fato, possível, incluindo a queeridade da causalidade, da matéria, do espaço e do tempo. O que aconteceria, pergunta Barad, se a queeridade fosse entendida não como residente nos interstícios de natureza/cultura per se, mas na própria natureza da espaçotempomaterialização? Este ensaio também considera questões de ética e justiça e, particularmente, examina os modos como o moralismo insiste em reativar a divisão natureza/cultura. Barad argumenta que o moralismo se alimenta do excepcionalismo humano, em especial da superioridade humana, causa danos tanto a humanos quanto a não humanos, é um portador hereditário do ódio genocida e negligencia as ecologias da diversidade necessárias por florescer

Cardiovascular risk and systemic inflammation in male professional rugby: a cross-sectional study

Objective: To investigate cardiovascular risk factors’ prevalence and association with systemic inflammation in professional male rugby players (RP). Methods: A cross-sectional investigation of 46 professional male RP (26.1±4.1 years) cardiovascular risk factors were compared by position. Inflammatory markers were compared with healthy controls (n=13) and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n=10). Results: Twenty-six per cent of RP had no risk factors, 49% had 1–2 cardiovascular risk factors and 25% had 3–4 risk factors. Forwards had greater body fat (p<0.001), visceral fat (p<0.001), glucose (p=0.025), and C reactive protein (CRP) (p=0.023) compared with backs. RP demonstrated more favourable lipid and glucose profiles than reference values for the general population. Most RP (n=28, 61%) had elevated blood pressure (≥140/90 mm Hg). RP had higher vascular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) (p=0.004) and intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) (p=0.002) than healthy controls. RP had lower CRP than patients with RA (p=0.009), while one-third (n=15) displayed equivalent ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 levels. Multivariate clustering and principal component analysis biplots revealed higher triglycerides, inflammatory markers, and worse body composition were associated with forwards. Conclusions: Despite athletic status, most of this rugby cohort had at least one cardiovascular risk factor. Concomitantly, these RP demonstrated increased levels of inflammation, with one-third, primarily forwards, displaying equivalent levels to patients with inflammatory disease. Further studies are needed to unravel the prognostic implications of increased inflammation in RP because unchecked, chronic inflammation may lead to increased cardiovascular disease risk

Corporealities of violence in Southern and Eastern Africa

no abstract availabl

Wasting Breath in Hamlet

This is the final version. Available on open access from Palgrave via the DOI in this recordThis chapter draws on instances of disordered breathing in Hamlet in order to examine the cultural signifcance of sighs in the early modern period, as well as in the context of current work in the feld of medical humanities. Tracing the medical history of sighing in ancient and early modern treatises of the passions, the chapter argues that sighs, in the text and the performance of the tragedy, exceed their conventional interpretation as symptoms of pain and disrupt meaning on the page and on stage. In the light of New Materialist theory, the air circulating in Hamlet is shown to dismantle narratives of representation, posing new questions for the future of medical humanities

Technoscientia est Potentia?: Contemplative, interventionist, constructionist and creationist idea(l)s in (techno)science

Within the realm of nano-, bio-, info- and cogno- (or NBIC) technosciences, the ‘power to change the world’ is often invoked. One could dismiss such formulations as ‘purely rhetorical’, interpret them as rhetorical and self-fulfilling or view them as an adequate depiction of one of the fundamental characteristics of technoscience. In the latter case, a very specific nexus between science and technology, or, the epistemic and the constructionist realm is envisioned. The following paper focuses on this nexus drawing on theoretical conceptions as well as empirical material. It presents an overview of different technoscientific ways to ‘change the world’—via contemplation and representation, intervention and control, engineering, construction and creation. It further argues that the hybrid character of technoscience makes it difficult (if not impossible) to separate knowledge production from real world interventions and challenges current science and technology policy approaches in fundamental ways