I am a PhD candidate at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. My research focuses on the meeting point between posthuman theory and feminism. My other academic interests include: contemporary Anglophone fiction, ecocriticism, theory of culture, and modernism. Supervisors: Dr. Christina Dokou
The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of the implications ... more The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of the implications of technological advancement have brought a crisis into the heart of the humanities. Its etymological origin, humanism, a philosophical stance shaped during and perpetuated by the Enlightenment, is becoming more and more redundant. An ecological emergency and advancements in science, especially biology, have created a need for a renewed understanding of subjectivity as well as of humanity’s place in and relation to the rest of the world. Within this context, the introduction of this edited volume begins by highlighting the timeliness and unquestionable relevance of posthumanism in relation to the needs created by contemporary reality, both within and without the academy and the humanities. Beyond merely philosophizing, Danielle Sands seeks to explore the practical applications of posthuman theory by connecting it with the field of bioethics. The theoretical axis of this volume is critical posthumanism, a premise focused on networks, relationality, and the downfall of essentialism, as opposed to transhumanism, which aspires to enhance the human by surpassing its physical limitations; a principle which all the included authors concur is humanist at heart. An overview of bioethics as practiced so far immediately brings to light its outdated philosophical premises, which stem from the same liberal humanist ideals that posthumanism seeks to battle. Unable to move with the times, bioethics finds itself in need of a less normative and “nonsystemic” (Zyliska, 2009, p. xi) critical model that acknowledges difference and interrogates the superiority of humankind by radicalizing the concept of life itself. The ultimate goal is not simply to revolutionize health studies but to facilitate social justice and equality; now and in our posthuman future.
Junctions: Graduate Journal of the Humanities, 2023
Within a world of grand narratives, testimonies from the margins carry the potential to rewrite h... more Within a world of grand narratives, testimonies from the margins carry the potential to rewrite history. Through an examination of Kazuo Ishiguro's renowned novel Never Let Me Go, which places an emphasis on the posthuman subject, this paper approaches the documentation of one's experiences as a revolutionary act. The memoir kept by the cloned protagonist Kathy H. not only sheds light on the inhuman practices exercised by the state, but it also provides a fictional space for the self to be perpetuated. When one's fate is decided beforehand, when the potential of identity development is confined, the documentation of one's experiences constitutes a subversive act that allows the subject to regain control over their self-realization. This is portrayed through the interplay between the narrating, the experiencing, and the narrated self, whose interdependence can be translated into the fluidity of identity. The physical body is complemented and sometimes even replaced by the textual body, while the self is liberated within the ongoing process of becoming offered by the imaginative and reconstructing act of autobiographical narration. Ultimately, the preservation of one's memories constitutes an act of agency that illuminates the dark, silenced side of history.
New technologies of data-extraction, such as Big Data, collect information from online users and ... more New technologies of data-extraction, such as Big Data, collect information from online users and connect them in order to trace behavioural patterns and predict future marketing choices. Online activity is becoming more essential than ever before despite growing concerns about privacy. Personalised advertisements based on prediction not only manipulate online users, but they even create their needs and desires by influencing their decision-making process and choices, thus, facilitating the growth of online capitalism. Is there even a small place for human free will in the age of Big Data? This paper examines the possibility for agency as it is framed in the age of Big Data, and contends that although technology is the offspring of humanity’s alleged scientific rationality, it paradoxically questions the myth of man’s mastery over himself and the world. By exposing humankind’s self-contradictions and vulnerability to control, Big Data dismantles and simultaneously continues anthropocentric myths regarding human reason and supremacy, while promoting new forms of surveillance and state control.
Integrated Journal for Research in Arts and Humanities
Within a world that is suffering from an escalating climate crisis, literature and literary theor... more Within a world that is suffering from an escalating climate crisis, literature and literary theory alike are called to arms. Their mission is to alert both readers and scholars to the looming ecological disaster, but also to encourage the invention and active promotion of ethical ways of dealing with the crisis. Assuming an ecological perspective, this paper turns to the Romantic period and the early signs of industrial destruction and discusses William Wordsworth’s ambiguous, volatile stance towards technology. Building on Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant, this paper contends that Wordsworth’s early poems represent technology as a sublime object. This portrayal, however, invokes feelings of paralyzing terror, thereby promoting inaction as regards industrialism’s environmental impact. Once technological advancement reaches the Lake District, however, and aesthetic distance is compromised, Wordsworth’s attitude changes, becoming a condemnatory one, moving him to start a campaign agains...
The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of the implications ... more The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of the implications of technological advancement have brought a crisis into the heart of the humanities. Its etymological origin, humanism, a philosophical stance shaped during and perpetuated by the Enlightenment, is becoming more and more redundant. An ecological emergency and advancements in science, especially biology, have created a need for a renewed understanding of subjectivity as well as of humanity’s place in and relation to the rest of the world. Within this context, the introduction of this edited volume begins by highlighting the timeliness and unquestionable relevance of posthumanism in relation to the needs created by contemporary reality, both within and without the academy and the humanities. Beyond merely philosophizing, Danielle Sands seeks to explore the practical applications of posthuman theory by connecting it with the field of bioethics. The theoretical axis of this volume is critical posthumanism, a premise focused on networks, relationality, and the downfall of essentialism, as opposed to transhumanism, which aspires to enhance the human by surpassing its physical limitations; a principle which all the included authors concur is humanist at heart. An overview of bioethics as practiced so far immediately brings to light its outdated philosophical premises, which stem from the same liberal humanist ideals that posthumanism seeks to battle. Unable to move with the times, bioethics finds itself in need of a less normative and “nonsystemic” (Zyliska, 2009, p. xi) critical model that acknowledges difference and interrogates the superiority of humankind by radicalizing the concept of life itself. The ultimate goal is not simply to revolutionize health studies but to facilitate social justice and equality; now and in our posthuman future.
The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of the implications ... more The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of the implications of technological advancement have brought a crisis into the heart of the humanities. Its etymological origin, humanism, a philosophical stance shaped during and perpetuated by the Enlightenment, is becoming more and more redundant. An ecological emergency and advancements in science, especially biology, have created a need for a renewed understanding of subjectivity as well as of humanity’s place in and relation to the rest of the world. Within this context, the introduction of this edited volume begins by highlighting the timeliness and unquestionable relevance of posthumanism in relation to the needs created by contemporary reality, both within and without the academy and the humanities. Beyond merely philosophizing, Danielle Sands seeks to explore the practical applications of posthuman theory by connecting it with the field of bioethics. The theoretical axis of this volume is critical posthumanism, a premise focused on networks, relationality, and the downfall of essentialism, as opposed to transhumanism, which aspires to enhance the human by surpassing its physical limitations; a principle which all the included authors concur is humanist at heart. An overview of bioethics as practiced so far immediately brings to light its outdated philosophical premises, which stem from the same liberal humanist ideals that posthumanism seeks to battle. Unable to move with the times, bioethics finds itself in need of a less normative and “nonsystemic” (Zyliska, 2009, p. xi) critical model that acknowledges difference and interrogates the superiority of humankind by radicalizing the concept of life itself. The ultimate goal is not simply to revolutionize health studies but to facilitate social justice and equality; now and in our posthuman future.
Junctions: Graduate Journal of the Humanities, 2023
Within a world of grand narratives, testimonies from the margins carry the potential to rewrite h... more Within a world of grand narratives, testimonies from the margins carry the potential to rewrite history. Through an examination of Kazuo Ishiguro's renowned novel Never Let Me Go, which places an emphasis on the posthuman subject, this paper approaches the documentation of one's experiences as a revolutionary act. The memoir kept by the cloned protagonist Kathy H. not only sheds light on the inhuman practices exercised by the state, but it also provides a fictional space for the self to be perpetuated. When one's fate is decided beforehand, when the potential of identity development is confined, the documentation of one's experiences constitutes a subversive act that allows the subject to regain control over their self-realization. This is portrayed through the interplay between the narrating, the experiencing, and the narrated self, whose interdependence can be translated into the fluidity of identity. The physical body is complemented and sometimes even replaced by the textual body, while the self is liberated within the ongoing process of becoming offered by the imaginative and reconstructing act of autobiographical narration. Ultimately, the preservation of one's memories constitutes an act of agency that illuminates the dark, silenced side of history.
New technologies of data-extraction, such as Big Data, collect information from online users and ... more New technologies of data-extraction, such as Big Data, collect information from online users and connect them in order to trace behavioural patterns and predict future marketing choices. Online activity is becoming more essential than ever before despite growing concerns about privacy. Personalised advertisements based on prediction not only manipulate online users, but they even create their needs and desires by influencing their decision-making process and choices, thus, facilitating the growth of online capitalism. Is there even a small place for human free will in the age of Big Data? This paper examines the possibility for agency as it is framed in the age of Big Data, and contends that although technology is the offspring of humanity’s alleged scientific rationality, it paradoxically questions the myth of man’s mastery over himself and the world. By exposing humankind’s self-contradictions and vulnerability to control, Big Data dismantles and simultaneously continues anthropocentric myths regarding human reason and supremacy, while promoting new forms of surveillance and state control.
Integrated Journal for Research in Arts and Humanities
Within a world that is suffering from an escalating climate crisis, literature and literary theor... more Within a world that is suffering from an escalating climate crisis, literature and literary theory alike are called to arms. Their mission is to alert both readers and scholars to the looming ecological disaster, but also to encourage the invention and active promotion of ethical ways of dealing with the crisis. Assuming an ecological perspective, this paper turns to the Romantic period and the early signs of industrial destruction and discusses William Wordsworth’s ambiguous, volatile stance towards technology. Building on Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant, this paper contends that Wordsworth’s early poems represent technology as a sublime object. This portrayal, however, invokes feelings of paralyzing terror, thereby promoting inaction as regards industrialism’s environmental impact. Once technological advancement reaches the Lake District, however, and aesthetic distance is compromised, Wordsworth’s attitude changes, becoming a condemnatory one, moving him to start a campaign agains...
The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of the implications ... more The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of the implications of technological advancement have brought a crisis into the heart of the humanities. Its etymological origin, humanism, a philosophical stance shaped during and perpetuated by the Enlightenment, is becoming more and more redundant. An ecological emergency and advancements in science, especially biology, have created a need for a renewed understanding of subjectivity as well as of humanity’s place in and relation to the rest of the world. Within this context, the introduction of this edited volume begins by highlighting the timeliness and unquestionable relevance of posthumanism in relation to the needs created by contemporary reality, both within and without the academy and the humanities. Beyond merely philosophizing, Danielle Sands seeks to explore the practical applications of posthuman theory by connecting it with the field of bioethics. The theoretical axis of this volume is critical posthumanism, a premise focused on networks, relationality, and the downfall of essentialism, as opposed to transhumanism, which aspires to enhance the human by surpassing its physical limitations; a principle which all the included authors concur is humanist at heart. An overview of bioethics as practiced so far immediately brings to light its outdated philosophical premises, which stem from the same liberal humanist ideals that posthumanism seeks to battle. Unable to move with the times, bioethics finds itself in need of a less normative and “nonsystemic” (Zyliska, 2009, p. xi) critical model that acknowledges difference and interrogates the superiority of humankind by radicalizing the concept of life itself. The ultimate goal is not simply to revolutionize health studies but to facilitate social justice and equality; now and in our posthuman future.
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