No. 12 (2015): Gender and the Posthuman

Editors:  Francesca Ferrando, Simona Marino, Caterina Arcidiacono This issue of the Camera Blu is an important contribution to the study of gender and theposthuman for different reasons. Currently, posthumanism hasbecome a highlyfashionable academic trend. Considering that anthropocentrismis leading to anenvironmental eco-disaster so deep as to endanger the very survival of the humanspecies, this breakthrough in academia is a great opportunity forsocial reform. On theother hand, the hegemonic appropriation of the posthumanist discourse is obscuring thecore meaning of the posthuman with ironic consequences. The“neutral” subject, that ismale, white, heterosexual, Western etc., is rediscovering the posthuman in the name ofthe Father, in an ahistorical reconstruction in whichthe decisive contribution offeminism is gradually superseded by names of male theorists, to ensure a phallocraticgenealogy to Posthuman Studies. Is this a defeat of the posthuman? Not at all. Theinterest that posthumanism is attracting can only bring satisfaction to scholars who havebeen working for years to its promotion. And still, becausein this proliferation of theposthuman, the meaning of the term is taking on differentshades, colors and nuances, itis crucial to rediscover its roots. Posthumanism stems from Feminism: forgetting this

 genealogical debt means giving up the deepest identity of theposthuman. This issue ofthe Camera Blu wishes to emphasize this powerful genealogy, and to lay a platform forfurther development of gender through the posthuman, and of the posthuman throughgender, reflecting on the possible futures of gender in relation to the human and theposthuman species.