Speculative 'before' the Turn: Reintroducing Feminist Materialist Performativity

Abstract

This is a moment for new conversations and new synergies. Whilst a wealth of contemporary speculative materialisms is currently circulating in academia, art, and activism, in this article we would like to focus upon a few ethico-political stakes in the different, loosely affiliated conceptions of ontologies of immanence. More specifically, we are concerned here with the very meaning of speculation itself after the many new headings of immanent ontologies, such as object-oriented ontology (OOO), speculative realism, or the (feminist) new materialisms. Our concern is a feminist concern, as some of the immanent ontologies seem to actively connect with the varied feminist archive of speculative thought while others seem to actively disconnect from the very same archive. What does this imply for the feminist scholar who is in want of tools for navigating the contemporary landscape of ontologies of immanence? In this essay we strive to highlight some important overlapping as well as poignant clashes between various feminist materialist genealogies and OOO/speculative realism. In our discussion we underline the importance of situatedness and context, relationality and affinity—and the possibility for re-wiring relations—amidst a plethora of lively historiographies and emergent post-disciplinary movements and world-makings.