Zapatistas Reimagine Science as Tool of Resistance

freeradicalsblog's avatarFree Radicals

by Sophie Duncan

20170404_051728 A digital illustration imagining Zapatista scientists: the first one holds a dropper and beaker, the second on a calculator, and the third is looking under the microscope. All three evoke the imagery of the Zapatista flag with a red star and a black background. Artwork by Keshy Jeong.

“Is it possible to create a science that is truly human?”

April 5, 2017


As scientists grapple with what it means to march for science and defend an apolitical and ahistorical vision of science “safe” from identity, the Zapatistas have put forth the possibilities of a symbiotic relationship between science and social justice. Between December 26 and January 4th, the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN or the Zapatistas) facilitated an interdisciplinary conference in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, México: “L@s Zapatistas y las ConCiencias por la Humanidad”. [1] As part of an armed indigenous resistance…

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Narcissism

larvalsubjects's avatarLarval Subjects .

A brief post before dinner for thoughts that need to be developed in greater detail.  In an interview somewhere or other I vaguely remember that Derrida says that his project, from beginning to end, is an interrogation and deconstruction of narcissism.  Given Derrida’s profound critique of the logic of identity, this comes as no surprise, for while identity is a postulate at the heart of Western philosophy (consider Parmenides or even Plato’s divided line) that functions as a logical axiom of truth and being (A = A), it also goes to the heart of our being as egos.  In this connection, we could say that the thinkers of that beautiful French moment (Derrida, Deleuze, Irigaray, Foucault, and perhaps Lyotard), the thinkers of difference, are each in their own way addressing the problem of narcissism and its political effects.  Here I cannot help but think of Lacan and his analysis of…

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