Affirmative Ethics in the COVID-19 Moment: Perplexities, Paradoxes, and Surprises

Abstract

Posthumanism locates, progresses, and asserts knowledge in the openings for interconnection. In this article, we undertake a collective biography using an interconnected arts-based practice that affords us complex relations with each other and material ways of thinking and being together. With a shared interest in posthuman theory and memory work, the authors connected online from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa to address the question: What can we learn about the perplexities, paradoxes, surprises, and frustrations associated with our academic work during COVID-19? Using an arts-based methodology and a cartographic analytical approach for our critical posthuman research, our assemblage charted the power relations operating in and immanent to the construction and circulation of academic knowledge during COVID-19.